Author: Earth Refuge

Stephanie Hader is the Director of Legal Education at Earth Refuge. Alongside Co-founder Yumna Kamel, she runs innovative legal and field research programmes with law faculty students across Asia and North America. These interactive sessions serve a dual purpose, in that they not only allow Earth Refuge to put forward original legal arguments, but also help students to think about the law as a tool for change.

Stephanie Hader is a Penn LLM Graduate with experience in drafting government reports for both the Australian and German Parliament. She also holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Hong Kong. Outside of Earth Refuge, she is a researcher for the Institute of the North where she critically explores different theories of natural resource management.

When she is not researching, Stephanie is a Sofar Sounds Ambassador and reads Jorge Louis Borges, as he continues to rewire her perception of the world.

Email: [email protected]

Ottoline recently completed her Master’s degree in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. She believes that sustainable development is indissociable from global justice, and thus aims to take part in ethical initiatives in the fields of the defence of human rights, environmental protection, and the fight against financial crime. Currently interning as a Research Assistant with the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Dharamsala, India), she joined Earth Refuge to deepen her understanding of climate-induced migration, and (hopefully!) contribute to raising awareness around said topic.

Outside of work, Ottoline spends most of her time watching horror films surrounded by her five cats.

Email: [email protected]

Yusuf Lahham, previously a violist at the Royal College of Music, completed an accelerated LLB at SOAS, University of London. He is currently studying on the Bar Course at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy as an Inner Temple scholar, with a view to a career at the Bar of England and Wales. Yusuf’s predominant legal interests lie within English land law and EU environmental law, with a particular focus on the intersection of human rights legislation with the latter. Outside of work, Yusuf continues to play the viola da gamba and enjoys cycling around rural Oxfordshire, where he has lived his whole life.

Email: [email protected]

Antonia looks after our digital platforms, ensuring our website and legal database work well and stay secure. She is passionate about technology, data, innovation, and accessible services. In her day-to-day, she works in the UK government testing ideas for how data can be used more effectively, ethically, and securely to create a better user experience for all.

Antonia is fascinated by ideas for how to use data and innovative technologies to create solutions for the most pressing climate problems too as sustainability is a personal passion.

In the time that’s left, she likes to keep busy with various outdoor adventure sports, travel, growing plants, and a bit of first aid volunteering.

Email: [email protected]

Ilana Cohen is an organizer with the Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard and Fossil
Free Research campaigns, a climate journalist and policy consultant, and a rising senior at Harvard where she studies the ethics of climate change and environmental policymaking.

Email: [email protected]

Virginia De Biasio is a PhD candidate in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at the University of York. Her research interests are related to issues of global justice, distributive justice, the capabilities approach, environmental ethics, natural resources justice, territorial rights, and climate migration. Virginia’s PhD dissertation is on “Natural Resources Justice and Capabilities,” and it is supervised by Prof. Martin O’Neill and Dr Gabriele Badano. She has an MSc Politics, Economics, and Philosophy (University of Hamburg – 2017-2019) and a BA in Philosophy (University of Padova – 2014-2017).

Email: [email protected]

Jake Clarke is an MA Migration and Diaspora Studies graduate from SOAS University of London. He’s touched on a range of migration-related concepts and cases, specifically dedicating his time and dissertation research on the intersection between disability studies and climate migration studies, conducting interviews to place the experiences of disabled people at the forefront of his research.

Jake has volunteered in the refugee sector with a range of NGOs in Greece, Calais, and at home in the UK. He lives by Dina Nayeri’s poignant assertation: “It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks.”

In his free time, Jake has a passion for films and you will regularly see him at the BFI in Southbank, London. He is also a bartender, loves hiking, and is an avid sports enthusiast.

Email: [email protected]

Ole ter Wey is the Faces Coordinator of Earth Refuge. ‘Faces’ is meant to provide a platform for people directly affected by climate change, to reach a broader public with the important issue of climate migration, and to also inform the legal work of Earth Refuge. Ole is the contact point for people interested to share their experiences of climate change as well as for everyone interested in joining the correspondent team.

Ole recently graduated in International Law and Human Rights from the UN-mandated University for Peace in San José, Costa Rica. He previously lived with a local community in Kiribati for over a year. There, he experienced first-hand the consequences of climate change endangering the existence of an entire state.

When not studying or working, Ole is a passionate musician and crazy about football.

Email: [email protected]

Robert Los is a law student originally from Hamburg between the state exams with a completed specialization in corporate and capital markets law. He is working as Research Assistant at a law firm and has dealt with the topics of migration and climate mainly in the context of voluntary work.

As part of a Hamburg subgroup of Lawyers Without Borders, he has been involved in a study on the legal protection of unaccompanied minor refugees, and with fellow students he is involved in setting up a Climate Clinic as well as an interpreter and adviser in social law and deportation cases at the local law clinic.

At Earth Refuge he is responsible for coordinating and driving research projects and the resulting development of legal media products such as the database and toolkits.

Robert is also passionate about politics, economics, music, and a little too much about all kinds of sports.

Email: [email protected]

As a correspondent for Earth Refuge, Polly Nash hopes to raise awareness about climate migration and give a voice to climate migrants and first responders around the world. Polly is a writer and journalist, completing her master’s degree in International Journalism at City, University of London.

Recently finishing an editorial internship at an online news and culture magazine in East London, Polly hopes to pursue a career in print journalism, with a particular focus on social issues and humanitarian reporting.

Polly completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, and studied abroad at UC Santa Barbara. Her love of travel has further convinced her of the vital need for a unified global response to tackle climate change and migration.

Email: [email protected]