Author: Earth Refuge

Darina is from Bulgaria. She received her BA in International Relations at Sofia University. During her studies, she was actively volunteering in various initiatives such as Team Europe Junior and the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the European Union. Thanks to this, she gained deep knowledge of the European Union, its history, institutions, and policies and she was able to share this experience with the general public, specifically young people and students.

After her BA she spent three years in Spain where she taught English.

She is interested in learning more about environmental and human rights issues and in pursuing her further education in that area. She is an advocate for environmental law and its promotion.

In her free time, she enjoys reading and spending time on the beach. She’s passionate about traveling and exploring new places.

Email: [email protected]

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights from 2014-2018; and in 2002, he was elected the first president of the governing body of the International Criminal Court (ICC) — guiding the court’s growth in its first three years (9/2002-9/2005).

He twice served as Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York City and once as Jordan’s ambassador to the United States (2007-2010). He is currently the CEO of the International Peace Institute and the Perry World House Professor of the Practice of Law and Human Rights at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In 2019, he was appointed a member of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, and human rights, founded by Nelson Mandela.

Ayodele Gansallo qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales and is also admitted as an attorney with the New York State Bar. She has been working on Immigration and Nationality issues exclusively with non-profit organizations both here and in the U.K. for nearly thirty years. She is currently the Co-Director of Legal Services with HIAS PA and Vice-Chair to the Philadelphia Chapter of AILA.

Ms. Gansallo is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Transnational Legal Clinic and is co-author of the textbook Understanding Immigration Law and Practice.

Ms. Gansallo is also a member of the Mayor’s Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs and a recipient of the AILA Philadelphia Chapter Matthew Baxter Mentorship Award, co-recipient of the AILA Philadelphia Chapter 2017 Pro Bono Champion Award, a recipient of SEAMAAC’s Unsung Heroine Award 2017, the Philadelphia Bar Foundation Award 2017, a recipient of the 2018 Global Woman Legal Award from the Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation and the 2018 Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Immigration Law Pro Bono Award.

Daniel Briggs is a researcher, writer, and inter-disciplinary academic who studies social problems. Over the last 20 years, he has undertaken a significant amount of mixed-methods and ethnographic research into various social issues. He has also been lecturing undergraduates and postgraduates across Criminology, Law, Sociology, and Social Policy for the last twelve years.

In this time, he has published over 100 books, chapters, and articles and presented at over 50 conferences worldwide. His penultimate book, which was based on two-year photo-ethnographic project, titled Drugs, Crime and Life in the City Shadows (2017, Policy Press) won the Distinguished Book Award from the International Division of Criminology at the American Society of Criminology.

Daniel has recently concluded Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery (2020, Routledge) and Researching the Covid 19 Pandemic: A Critical Blueprint for the Social Sciences (Bristol University Press, 2021). 

Dr Chris O’Connell is a CAROLINE Research Fellow at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. His research interests centre on alterative and sustainable models of development and their political realisation.

Chris holds a PhD in Political Science from Dublin City University. His thesis analysed the influence of civil society on the environmental and development policies of leftist presidents in Latin America. His current research is co-funded by the European Commission and the Irish Research Council, and was developed in collaboration with Anti-Slavery International. The project focuses on the relationship between and responses to climate change, environmental degradation and contemporary forms of slavery in Peru and Bolivia.

Chris is committed to engaged research and impact, and has a long history of solidarity action, in particular with communities and movements in Latin America.

Tasneem Siddiqui is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Dhaka and Founding Chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).

She has extensively published on forced and voluntary migration and climate change-related migration. She led the drafting of the National Strategy for Internal Displacement in Bangladesh 2021, the Overseas Employment Policy 2006, and was a committee member that prepared the draft of the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act of 2013.

She is on the Global Editorial Board of Oxford Journal of Migration Studies and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD).

Ignacio Hierro is from Madrid and a state exam candidate at the University of Deusto Law School. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Alcalá. Currently, Ignacio is studying for a BSc in Environmental Sciences. He is passionate about bioethics, environmental law, administrative law, and human rights. He also enjoys learning about ecology.

Ignacio believes that we must do everything we can to take care of our planet and help those affected by climate change and environmental disasters.

When Ignacio is not studying, he is swimming, listening to music, or at the cinema.

Email: [email protected]

Lilly Millette is a recent graduate from Boston College in Political Science and History. While she is from New York, she currently resides in Boston. 

Throughout her life, Lilly has carried a strong passion for environmental policy and has taken a series of courses throughout college to explore that passion. She hopes to utilize her understanding of the field to pursue a lifelong career advocating for an end to the fast fashion industry.

Lilly currently acts as the Digital Media Fellow for a think tank in Boston. She hopes to use her knowledge of social media to spread Earth Refuge’s message to a wider audience, as she believes the legal approach to climate-related migration will continue to be vital in seeking sustainable solutions to the issue of climate change as a whole.

Email: [email protected]

Md Rafiqul Islam Ph.D. is a Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Aside from his Bachelor’s and MPhil, which he completed at the same university, he also holds a MA degree in Environmental Security and Peace from the Un-University for Peace in Costa Rica and a Ph.D. from Flinders University, Australia. His thesis secured the John Lewis Silver Medal in South Australia. Dr. Islam’s primary research interests are peace and conflict studies, displacement, and development. He also has a keen interest in global politics and security.

Dr. Islam is currently working as an Advisor of the Dhaka University Environmental Society (DUES) and volunteers for the greater cause of our earth, and humanity.

Charis Hesketh is our Volunteer Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Sussex in 2021 with a master’s degree in International Human Rights Law. She specializes in Indigenous rights, specifically the rights of Indigenous women in Canada. She continues her work in human rights with the organization Earth Refuge, assisting with recruitment and HR. In her spare time, you can find her reading articles about critical race theory, watching Twilight for the millionth time, or trying to figure out what degree she should do next.

Email: [email protected]