Speaker Bios
Alison Brown
Professor of Urban Planning and International Development, Cardiff University, and head of the Informality Research Observatory. Alison is an urban planner and development policy expert with experience in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe, and research expertise on urban informal economies, post-conflict cities, refugee economies and rights-based approached to development. She is Principal Investigator on several major development research projects, and livelihoods lead on the IIED-run GCRF-funded project on ‘Realigning Response to Protracted Displacement in an Urban World’. She has worked extensively with UN-Habitat and is a presenter on their ‘Global Urban Lecture’ series.
Michael Collyer
Professor of Geography, University of Sussex. During the 2012/13 academic year he held a Fulbright scholarship in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has held other visiting positions at Universities in Egypt, France, Morocco, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Before his appointment as lecturer at Sussex he held a three-year Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship, based at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was previously a Nuffield Foundation New Career Development Fellow at Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tétouan, Morocco. He completed his PhD, on the dynamics of the Euro-Algerian migration system, in 2002.
Rediet Abiy Kassaye
Professor of Geography, University of Sussex. During the 2012/13 academic year he held a Fulbright scholarship in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has held other visiting positions at Universities in Egypt, France, Morocco, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Before his appointment as lecturer at Sussex he held a three-year Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship, based at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was previously a Nuffield Foundation New Career Development Fellow at Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tétouan, Morocco. He completed his PhD, on the dynamics of the Euro-Algerian migration system, in 2002.
Prof. Dr. César Augusto Silva da Silva
Adjunct professor at the Law School (FADIR) of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS). He has experience in the area of Law, with emphasis in Human Rights, working mainly on the following topics: refugees, international migrations, human rights, international law, citizenship and international relations. Prof. Cesar holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1995), Master of Laws from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1998) and PhD in Political Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (2013). He holds an Academic Certification from the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights of San Jose da Costa Rica (2006) and is responsible for the implementation of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Chair at the Federal University of Grande Dourados.
Dr Sarah Singer
Brad K. Blitz is Professor of International Politics and Policy in the Department of Education, Practice and Society at the University College of London’s Institute of Education, Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics & Senior Fellow of the Global Migration Centre, Graduate Institute, Geneva. He is also a co-Investigator on Gender and Forced Displacement (Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Turkey) at the UKRI Gender, Justice and Security Hub
Najeeba Wazefadost
Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific Network of Refugees. She has graduated from a Bachelor of Medical Science at the University of Western Sydney and is now studying a second degree at the University of Technology Sydney. Najeeba has been actively involved in the development of refugee-led networks at both the regional and global level, which focusses on bringing together refugee-led organizations and refugee change-makers from around the world to discuss their lived experiences and propose solutions for more effective and sustainable refugee policy. She is the founder of an Afghan women business network in Asia Pacific, supporting women to establish their own businesses.