Staff
Grace Harris
Chief Operating Officer
Great Lakes & Central Africa Team Leader
Grace is a graduate student at Columbia pursuing a Master of International Affairs degree with a concentration in Human Rights, Gender, and Equity. She recently graduated with a B.A. in International Development Studies from UCLA. There, she was the recipient of the International Development Studies Activist Award for her departmental honors thesis exploring the intersections of development, aid, genocide, and genocide prevention. Originally from Tampa, Florida, she has fostered an interest in human rights issues and genocide and atrocity prevention since high school. She first got involved in this field when she joined her school's chapter of STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities, eventually becoming a member of its Managing Committee. Grace has been with Genocide Watch for two years, and has taken on a number of roles from running the Alliance Against Genocide Division to leading and co-leading two task forces. This summer, she looks forward to serving as the new COO and driving the future of the organization! She is motivated by a passion for global justice and a desire to make the world a better place.
Editorial Board
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Frankie Condon
Lead Editor
US and Canada Team Leader
Frankie Condon is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo and the Associate Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). Frankie’s recent co-edited collection, CounterStories from the Writing Center (with Wonderful Faison) is the winner of the International Writing Center Association’s 2023 Outstanding Book Award. Among her other books are her monograph, I Hope I Join the Band: Narrative, Affiliation, and Antiracist Rhetoric; Performing Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Rhetoric, Writing and Communication, co-edited with Vershawn Ashanti Young; and The Everyday Writing Center: A Community of Practice (co-authored with Geller et al). Her current projects include new monographs: The Road to Hell: Radical Precedents of Post-Racial Rhetoric in the 21st Century, a genealogical history of the metaphor of colourblindness for racial justice, and Encounters with Bean: Contending with White Supremacy in the Antiracist Classroom.
Jennifer Mitchell
Co-Senior Editor
Jen Mitchell is an Associate Professor in the English Department and director of the writing center at SUNY Potsdam, a public university in northern New York. She has over 25 years' experience teaching courses in first-year composition and professional writing, including courses for incarcerated students. As a community volunteer, she has written grant proposals and standard operating procedures for local nonprofits. Jen earned a BA in sociology at Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in English at the University at Albany.
Sheryl Ruszkiewicz
Assistant Editor
Sheryl Ruszkiewicz is a Special Lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at Oakland University and a Mental Health First Aider. She has self-published a collection of community stories, along with published co-authored chapters and books on content strategy, user experience, and technical communication. Sheryl has experience as a technical writer and has edited and indexed works of various lengths including book-length manuscripts. She is interested in researching antiracist, accessible, and inclusive teaching practices; using storytelling and counterstories as community building; and community engagement with nonprofit organizations.
Asmita Ghimire
Assistant Editor
Asmita Ghimire is a scholar, practitioner, and educator in the fields of writing, rhetoric, and technical communication. She specializes in international, intercultural, and transnational technical and professional communication. Her research focuses on critical AI literacy, machine learning platforms, global public policy, and transnational technical communication. In her work, she draws on transnational feminist methods and methodologies, as well as Global South epistemologies, to examine, critique, and reimagine technical and professional communication documents. She is deeply committed to exploring how technical and professional documents can be designed to promote transparency, accountability, and social justice.
Benny Skinner
Assistant Editor
Benny Skinner (they/them) is a PhD, Global Governance student and fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and an instructor at St. Jerome's University College. They are a Two Spirit thinker, creator and educator living on The Haldimand Tract in Waterloo, Ontario (Canada). Benny specializes in information governance, institutional history, and decolonizing methodologies.
Beth Paul
Podcast Director
Beth Paul is an honors graduate of Western Washington University with a B.A. in Political Science & Government, and a concentration on International Relations and Religious Studies. Beth has a background in local grassroots campaigns and has managed four successful bids for local and legislative office, including the most competitive Washington US House seat. She has worked two sessions with the Washington State Senate and now works at a social impact nonprofit.
Management Team
Kolby Phillip
Research Director
Kolby Phillip is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX. He majored in History with minors in Holocaust & Genocide Studies and Government. At UT Austin, Kolby authored a prize-winning History honors thesis that examined the role of gender within the Auschwitz concentration camp in the context of Primo Levi’s “Gray Zone.” He was a writer and editor for the Texas Undergraduate Law Journal, where he wrote a piece on the role of precedent concerning humanitarian interventions in international law, specifically the “Kosovo precedent.” Kolby also interned at the Texas Law Human Rights Clinic, where he worked with law students to form a database of countries’ human rights provisions in their governing sports association’s documents used in consultation with the 2024 Paris Olympics and 2026 World Cup committees. For his academic performance, leadership, and service to his University, Kolby was recognized as one of thirteen Dean’s Distinguished Graduates, the highest award given to students. He joined Genocide Watch in Fall 2024 and is currently the Research Director and a member of the Balkans task force.
Juliana Giorotto
Alliance Against Genocide Director
Juliana Girotto is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with a minor in Anthropology. She has developed her interest in global justice through studying abroad in The Hague, focusing on human rights governance and international human rights law. Currently, she is a Research Scholar with UCLA’s Internet Research Initiative, analyzing grassroots digital infrastructure initiatives through frameworks of inequality, policy, and infrastructural power. Beyond academics, Juliana is an active member of the United Nations Association at UCLA, where she has organized and participated in advocacy and educational initiatives around human rights and sustainable development. Passionate about cultural preservation, she has pursued research and professional experiences that highlight the importance of safeguarding history and community heritage alongside human rights work. At Genocide Watch, Juliana serves as a member of the Central Asia, Southeast Asia/East Asia, and Balkans teams as well as the Alliance and Research Divisions. She aspires to continue her academic and professional development in the fields of human rights and international affairs, with the goal of working for NGOs supporting vulnerable communities worldwide.
Trinity Huynh
Finance & Fundraising Director
East & Southeast Asia Team Co-Leader
Trinity Huynh is an MSc student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she continues her work at the intersection of international human rights law, conflict resolution, and atrocity prevention. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Peace and Justice Studies from Chapman University.
At Genocide Watch, Trinity founded the Southeast Asia and East Asia team and formerly led the China Action Task Force. In her current role, she co-leads the East and Southeast Asia task force, where she authors country alerts and monitors human rights developments across the region.
Her research spans a range of issues in international law and transitional justice, including nuclear disarmament, disability rights, and the legal and collective memory of mass atrocities. She has contributed a book review to H-Genocide on witness testimony in international criminal tribunals and conducted independent research on the legacies of Agent Orange. She also contributed to a legal database documenting the Russian-Ukrainian war for future scholarly use.
Trinity has co-authored work on bottom-up approaches to human rights change with Open Global Rights, and has engaged with questions of AI policy and the role of education in genocide prevention and peacebuilding
Colin Stiles
Communications Director
Colin Stiles is a graduate of Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. While there he studied the history of mass atrocity and genocide, earning a Masters of Arts in History and a certificate of Graduate Education in Genocide & Holocaust Education. His background includes studying alongside fellow scholars at the University of Toronto in The Zoryan Institute’s GHRUP program, presenting at Rowan University’s Post Graduate poster session for his work in Gender Matters, in a presentation examining the genocides of Rwanda, China and Myanmar through the lens of gender. He has published in the Nobel Prize Committee’s digital museum on the differences between the town of Oswiecim and the site of Auschwitz, based on accounts from those who live there.
As the Communications Director, Colin oversees the creation and distribution of both long and short form media to Genocide Watch’s social media accounts. He has over 14 years of experience in graphic design and 16 years in content creation for educational, recreational, and commercial content. As the Director of the Communications Team, Colin manages Genocide Watch's Social Media accounts.
Colin lives in Pennsville, New Jersey with his cat Roo and works within a law firm in Wilmington, Delaware. In his free time, he enjoys exercise, camping, painting, practicing the lute, researching the history of food, playing card games and writing fiction. His future plans are to enroll in law school to become an attorney for international human rights and join the ICC as one of their members.
Areeka Khan
Sudan and North-Central Africa Team Leader
Near East Team Co-Leader
Coordinator, Alliance/IRF Genocide Working Group
Areeka holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Sophia College for Women in Mumbai, India, where she conducted extensive research on topics such as abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, and women's rights. Her academic background is complemented by practical experience in human rights advocacy.
In her previous role as an International Justice Intern at the Advocates for Human Rights, Areeka prepared reports for submission to various United Nations treaty bodies, gathering comprehensive and reliable data on human rights issues, including gender-based violence, the death penalty, and discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community in countries such as Eritrea, Oman, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Guyana, Egypt, Albania, Somalia, and Qatar.
At Genocide Watch, Areeka serves as the Sudan Task Force Co-Leader. She is also a member of the India and South Asia Team, as well as the Near East Team. She has co-authored UN Resolutions on Sudan presented to the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. She originated Genocide Watch's Sudanese Gold is Blood Red campaign, for which she spearheads initiatives to raise awareness about the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Sudan. She has written reports on the rising anti-minority,
Islamophobic Hindutva movement in India. Her efforts include producing a variety of advocacy materials on both Sudan and India. She is the Coordinator of the Alliance/IRF Genocide Working Group.
Areeka aspires to pursue a degree in international law to deepen her understanding of the field and to develop effective mechanisms for addressing the UN's limitations, aiming to strengthen enforcement and implementation of human rights law.
Franzie Schatzl
Europe Team Co-Leader
Armenia and Turkey Team Leader
Middle East and North Africa Team Co-Leader
Shaped by hands-on experience in post-conflict settings across Rwanda, Cuba, Ukraine, Türkiye, and Southeast Europe, Franzie Schatzl is dedicated to memory justice, advocacy, and peacebuilding through education and public engagement.
She is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Vienna, with a focus on genocide prevention, transitional justice, and international diplomacy. In 2021–22, she completed her Austrian Peace Service at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, contributing to survivor interviews, educational programmes, and historical research.
As COO of Ronja – Association for the Promotion of Human Rights – she leads initiatives at the intersection of urban activism and political education. She also works as a Junior Project Manager for Fix in Art (Thessaloniki) and other civil society organisations in Ankara and Vienna, coordinating EU-funded projects on displacement, discrimination, and gender-based violence.
In 2024, she co-developed a cultural empowerment initiative in Kyiv, Ukraine, using music and public art to support local resilience. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Hil-Foundation, selecting projects that address gender-based violence, and regularly participates in international youth-led initiatives promoting anti-discriminatory frameworks.
Driven by a belief in memory as resistance, Franzie is committed to building cross-border solidarities that centre memory, justice, and lived experience.
Michał Jagielski
Central Asia Team Leader
Middle East and North Africa Team Co-Leader
Michał Jagielski is a recent graduate of Lund University in Sweden, where he majored in Middle Eastern Studies, defending his master’s thesis on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s framing strategies in exile. Previously he received his bachelor's degree in Iranian Studies from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Michał has experience working for NGOs and INGOs where he participated in projects focusing on humanitarian aid, advocacy and human rights protection.
At Genocide Watch he is co-leader of the Sudan and North-Central Africa Team and leader of the Central Asia Team. He is also a member of the Research Division and Alliance Division and the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Africa Teams.
His current research interests include the remnants of colonial mentality in international law and geo-politics, political persecution, state building and resolving generational traumas and prejudices.
Madelyn Smith
Southeast and East Asia Team Co-Leader
Madelyn Smith is an undergraduate student at Leiden University College in Netherlands pursuing a degree in Global Challenges focusing on World Politics and International Justice. She has previously interned at two U.S. Embassies, including for U.S.A.I.D. where she created more efficient office webpages that generated inter-office awareness and coordination. She has fostered her passion for human rights, refugee work, and education as a board member and student coordinator of IncLUsion, by connecting asylum seekers with university education opportunities. She was responsible for the application process of over 150 prospective students, as well as the communication and organization of the social and academic wellbeing of active students. At Genocide Watch, Madelyn continues to put her passion for human rights issues to use as the Co-Leader of the East/Southeast Asia Task Force and a member of the Central Asia Task Force team. In the future, Madelyn plans to pursue a graduate level degree at the intersection of law and international relations in the field of human rights.
Shannon McMahon
Balkans Team Leader
Shannon McMahon is a current Master’s student in Political Science, concentrating in International Relations at Northeastern University. With nearly four years of experience in genocide studies, Shannon has developed and taught curricula in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Egypt, and Turkey, where she engages students in critical discussions about the long-term effects of genocide and the importance of remembrance. Her research focuses on the international implications of genocide denial, exploring how the distortion or erasure of historical atrocities impacts contemporary global politics. Regionally, she concentrates in the Middle East and post-Yugoslavia.
Shannon is committed to using education as a tool for combating denial and fostering awareness. She plans to pursue a PhD in Political Science, concentrating on genocide studies, with aspirations to continue her work in educational development, creating curricula that address both the history and ongoing consequences of genocide to ensure future generations are equipped to prevent such atrocities.
Francisco Perpuli
Latin America Team Leader
Francisco Perpuli holds a BA in History from Universidad de Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico. Born in Los Cabos, Mexico, he grew up surrounded by tourism and experienced at first hand the effects of globalization. As an undergraduate, Francisco balanced his academic interests by participating in extracurricular activities related to international affairs and public speaking. He developed an interest in genocide studies whilst studying abroad at the University of Leeds. Francisco is bilingual in English and Spanish and is currently learning French and Japanese. He has research experience in environmental history and a keen interest for interdisciplinary studies.
He is a collaborator in El ojo que piensa: Revista de Cine Iberoamericano, an academic film journal from Guadalajara. He is also a dedicated member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the Mexican Association of Film Theory and Analysis (SEPANCINE).
Francisco intends to continue his studies by pursuing a master’s degree in the field of arts and culture. At Genocide Watch, Francisco hopes to develop solid experience in advocacy work and further his knowledge in genocide studies.
Shriya Hegde
India and South Asia Team Co-Leader
Shriya is a current master's student in Human Rights Policy and Practice. Her research examines militarization and state accountability in conflict-affected regions of Northeast India, focusing on gendered forms of resistance and everyday peacebuilding.
Prior to her graduate studies, Shriya worked as a human rights lawyer with NGOs and government institutions in India, focusing on child protection, anti-trafficking, and migrant rights. She contributed to drafting child protection guidelines and juvenile justice rules, and designed and led capacity-building programs for law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and child welfare authorities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked with an organization coordinating large-scale volunteer networks to support access to healthcare across states, and worked on public health policy. She has also completed a specialized program on Migration and International Protection, where she gained comparative insights into asylum systems, migration governance, and protection frameworks.
At Genocide Watch, she co-leads the India and South Asia Task Force and is a member of the Sudan Task Force and the Legal Division.
Kristie Moore
Ukraine, Russia, and Post-Soviet Space Team Leader
Armenia & Turkey Team Co-Leader
Kristie Moore is a Mexican-Slovak American from the United States. She is currently an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley where she studies Global Studies with a concentration in peace and conflict studies. Within this broader field, her academic and research interests center around mass atrocity prevention and reconciliation in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, specifically as it connects to multiculturalism, migration, displacement, and violent conflict. She brings extensive research experience having previously served as a student researcher at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and as a fellow for the REEES Think Tank at Howard University. Her professional experiences are complemented by a depth of regional knowledge from her time intensively studying foreign languages and conducting research in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, and Tajikistan. Kristie is currently based in Dushanbe, Tajikistan where she is beginning her studies of Tajiki and pursuing research on migration in Tajik society. As the descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia and Mexican immigrants, Kristie's interest in this field and desire to contribute to a more peaceful world, are directly informed by the experiences, struggles, and perseverance of her family.
Returning Staff
Tara Davis
Artificial Intelligence Project
Tara Davis holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in pure mathematics as well as an M.B.A. She worked for 12 years as an Assistant, then Associate Professor of Mathematics at Hawaii Pacific University. She taught a variety of upper and lower division math classes, as well as interdisciplinary courses spanning education and psychology. She enjoys curriculum development, mentoring students and junior faculty, and collaborating on research with colleagues.
From 2023 to 2025, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In her capacity as an English Literacy Resource, she worked harmoniously with local staff, teachers, principals, and government officials. She created a data-driven literacy pullout program in a low-resource primary school, which resulted in 73% of participants gaining at least one reading level; she co-founded a sustainable teacher community of practice; and she delivered professional development to secondary school mathematics teachers focused on inquiry-based learning and problem solving.
Tara is currently a professor of mathematics in Oregon. She brings a lifelong interest in human rights and a passion for reading memoirs of genocide survivors. She is excited to apply her interest in AI as the leader of the anti-hate speech team at Genocide Watch.
Jeanne Macé
Jeanne Macé is a Master's student in the Human Rights program at Sciences Po Paris, after having graduated with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations. Her interest in genocide prevention stems from a meeting with Félicité Lyamukuru, a survivor of the Tutsi genocide, with whom she has collaborated on a number of projects, including a commemorative trip to Rwanda, the organization of a commemorative musical event, etc. Among a variety of other topics in genocide studies, she is currently particularly interested in the challenges surrounding the use of the word “genocide” in national and international affairs. Within Genocide Watch, she hopes to develop solid experience in advocacy work. She is currently a member of the Europe Task Force.
Brenda Salazar Lamar
Brenda is an International Relations graduate and law student from Madrid, Spain. As an undergraduate, she contributed to humanitarian aid and international cooperation projects aimed at addressing the needs of women and children in Syria. She has also played an active role in Amnesty International Spain, where she helped organize national and international events promoting human rights.
Currently, Brenda is a dedicated member of the International Peace and Security Research Group at the Center for Strategic Studies of International Relations (Centro de Estudios Estratégicos in Spanish). In this capacity, she contributes to weekly reports on the situation in the Middle East and monitors developments in other international conflicts.
At Genocide Watch, Brenda is part of the Legal Team, and Sudan and North-Central Africa Teams. She co-authored Genocide Watch's Training Manual on Genocide and Genocide Prevention for African Lawyers. She presented a paper at the 2025 Biennial Meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars on "Genocidal Rhetoric in the Israel-Gaza War." With a strong interest in international criminal law and transitional justice, she plans to pursue an LL.M. in Public International Law upon completing her law degree. She is committed to advocating for justice for victims of international crimes.
Emma Munnelly
Emma Munnelly is a graduate of Maynooth University in Ireland, where she holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Justice and a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) in Law and Criminology. Her master’s dissertation examined the powers of the United Nations Security Council in relation to the use of force and the resolution of international conflicts. She has research experience in Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, and International Human Rights Law, with a particular focus on peace and security, armed conflict, and conflict resolution.
Currently, Emma is a Project Coordinator and Editor at the Platform for Peace and Humanity, where she manages the Weekly News Recap. She previously served as a researcher with the Platform’s South-East Europe and Black Sea Region Programme, where she examined the post-conflict situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) region, and the ongoing war and peace process in Ukraine.
As an staff member at Genocide Watch, Emma is a member of the Research and Legal Divisions and serves on the Southeast Asia & East Asia Team and the Armenia and Turkey Team. She monitors developments in Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Romania, and Paraguay. Emma hopes to pursue a career in international law and human rights law.
Shreya Arur
Shreya Arur is an Indian-qualified lawyer with over four years of experience in litigation before courts and tribunals in India. Her practice has included work on gender-based violence, where she has represented and worked directly with survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and mental assault.
She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she studied international criminal law, human rights, international dispute settlement, and the law of the sea. Drawing from her litigation background, her LL.M. thesis examined mechanisms to make reparations for environmental damage caused by armed conflict a practical reality, through the lens of the human right to a healthy environment.
Following her graduation, Shreya worked with a team of lawyers in The Hague on matters concerning State responsibility and accountability for violations of treaty obligations, including under the UN Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Her work involved legal research, developing case strategy, and support for strategic litigation and advisory proceedings before international courts.
Shreya also holds bachelor degrees in Law and Business Administration.
At Genocide Watch, she is committed to contributing to accountability, justice, and the development of public international law through practice and research.
Anita Lesniak
Anita holds a Master’s degree in Public International Law, specialising in Conflict and Security, from Utrecht University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in International Law and German from Birkbeck, University of London. Her Master’s thesis examined the “reasonable military commander” standard, analysing how proportionality is assessed in attacks with secondary effects under international humanitarian law. Alongside her academic work, she has practical experience supporting vulnerable and marginalised communities affected by conflict and displacement. She previously volunteered as a caseworker with Bail for Immigration Detainees in London, where she worked closely with individuals held in immigration detention, assisting with bail applications and navigating complex legal processes. She continues this work as a volunteer helpline agent with the Red Cross Netherlands, providing information and support to migrants and refugees in need. In addition, Anita contributed to Action on Armed Violence’s Global Mass Shooting Database by researching and documenting mass shooting incidents in the United States. She is motivated by a strong commitment to justice, accountability, and the protection of vulnerable populations, and aspires to work in the fields of international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and human rights.
Vladimir Kovtun
Vladimir Kovtun is a third-year undergraduate student at American University in Washington, DC, studying International Relations. His research interests deal with the structural origins of genocidal behavior, seeking to understand the factors behind the behavior of state actors and the continuation of ethnic conflict. In his academic work, he has mainly focused on Europe and the post Soviet space, nurturing a deep passion for International justice. At Genocide Watch, he hopes to convert these passions into impactful advocacy work, fostering awareness on conflicts slipping out of the public eye. He is a member of the Communications Team, the Europe Task Force, the Balkans Task Force, and the Ukraine, Russia, and Former Soviet Union Task Force. After graduating from American University, Vladimir plans on pursuing a career in public policy analysis and working towards a doctorate in International Relations.
Rebeca Ancer Gómez
Rebeca is a second-year law student at Northeastern University School of Law and holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Justice from the University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace Studies. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Ethics, Society, and Law from the University of Toronto, where she interned with the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (CCR2P), monitoring and reporting on human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes worldwide. Rebeca has also served as a legal intern with Human Rights First and Casa Cornelia Law Center, where she worked closely with asylum seekers and refugees fleeing persecution in their home countries. Originally from Monterrey, Mexico, she grew up volunteering at local migrant shelters, an experience that inspired her lifelong commitment to defending the rights of displaced people. At Genocide Watch, Rebeca is a member of the Legal Team; the Latin America, East/Southeast Asia, and Balkans Teams; the Alliance Against Genocide Team; and the Communications Team. She is passionate about human rights, refugee and asylum law, international law, and corporate accountability. Through her work with Genocide Watch, Rebeca hopes to strengthen her skills in atrocity prevention and help amplify the voices of communities affected by mass violence.
Anne-Sophie Hellman
Anne-Sophie Hellman graduated from Buffalo State University with a bachelor’s degree in History. In 2022, she became an intern for Sophia’s Legacy at the Anne Frank Project, and one year later, she became Program Coordinator. Over the course of three years, Anne-Sophie worked with Holocaust survivor, Sophia Veffer, and a team of educators to build a professional development program to train high school teachers and social workers from the Buffalo City School District how to teach their students about the Holocaust, Rwanda’s Peace and Values Education, and Story-Based Learning. Anne-Sophie was one of twelve students accepted into the Anne Frank Project’s Study Away Program to Rwanda in the summer of 2023, where she visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Nyamata Genocide Memorial, and Mbyo Reconciliation Village. During the 2023-2024 academic year, Anne-Sophie held positions as the State-Level Genocide Education Lead and United States Action Committee co-Lead at STAND: The Student-led Movement to End Mass Atrocities. She helped implement their genocide education campaign and lobbied her representatives for genocide education and atrocity prevention legislation. Anne-Sophie looks forward to joining Genocide Watch this year and contributing to their mission of monitoring and reporting mass atrocities.
Leonardo Monopoli
Leonardo Monopoli is a graduate of King’s College London, where he completed a BA in War Studies and History with First Class Honours. His academic focus includes post-conflict peacekeeping, internationalism in the twentieth century, human rights and and conflict resolution. His dissertation examined the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analysing the shift from UN peacekeeping to peace-enforcement and the institutional limits of UN intervention.
In September 2025, he represented Human Rights Now at the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He delivered two oral statements on the situations in Gaza and Cambodia, drafted analytical reports on Council debates, tracked state policy positions, and engaged in advocacy coordination with other NGOs and civil society organisations. He also authored written submissions to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly on the situation in Gaza.
He has additional experience in sustainability and ESG consulting at Ernst & Young and has held leadership roles in academic societies, including Vice-President of the King’s College London War Studies Society. Leonardo intends to pursue a masters in the field of human rights and conflict resolution.
Cooper Denison
Cooper Denison is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied Political Science with a concentration in Comparative Politics. His current research interests include the role of cultural institutions in shaping post-genocide healing, as well as the impact of social media in spreading genocidal propaganda. Previously, Cooper has worked at the Kenya Human Rights Commission on issues of LGBTQ+ discrimination, refugee resettlement, and data privacy violations; he has also interned with the Vienna State Opera and the Columbus City Council. At Genocide Watch, Cooper is a member of the Business and Development and Research Divisions, as well as the Horn of Africa, Nigeria and West Africa, and Central Africa Teams. He currently monitors human rights violations in Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Sudan. Cooper hopes to pursue a career in international human rights law, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa.
Grace Lew
Grace Lew works as a Policy and Campaigns Officer in the rare and genetic disease sector, contributing to health policy development, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement within the UK health system. Her academic and professional background reflects a progression from health sciences to international development and human rights–informed policy and public affairs. Although she comes from a background in health, her exposure to structural violence and systemic inequities led her to develop a strong interest in human rights and mass atrocity prevention, which brought her to Genocide Watch.
She holds an MSc in Health and International Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) from the University of Calgary in Health and Society, with a concentration in Economics. Her master’s dissertation analyzed academic and grey literature on how formal and informal health systems respond to the mental health needs of survivors of collective and conflict-related sexual violence in post-conflict settings. Using pluralistic health systems and bio-psychosocial frameworks, her research synthesized evidence across multiple contexts to identify structural, social, and health-system drivers relevant to upstream mass atrocity prevention and survivor-centred recovery.
Grace’s research background includes peer-reviewed and applied work in geriatrics, palliative care, including Medical Assistance in Dying, and emergency medicine, alongside broader research ventures in global health and the analysis of nationally representative datasets across multiple countries. Across these settings, she has employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, with particular expertise in interview-based qualitative research centred on lived experiences.
In parallel, she volunteers as a Legal Assistant with the ROMILDAMOR Foundation, supporting survivors of human trafficking, gender-based violence, and modern slavery through survivor-centred legal documentation, case preparation, and reintegration support. This work has further strengthened her commitment to bridging health, human rights, and justice-based responses to structural harm.
Outside of research and advocacy, Grace is a competitive freestyle wrestler and volunteer coach, delivering regular training sessions and actively working to increase women’s participation and leadership in the sport. She has also held multiple leadership roles, including Vice President of Finance and Legality positions across student and nonprofit organisations, managing organisational budgets, compliance requirements, and governance processes.
Flora Tu
Flora Tu is a senior at Burnaby North Secondary School in Vancouver, Canada, with a strong interest in law, human rights, and international justice. She has a background in public forum debate, earning national-level recognition through placing in the top 8 teams at the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament in 2025, and top 16 at the National Speech and Debate Opener the same year. Beyond debate, Flora also has a passion for music and piano performance, placing 1st at the Pacific International Youth Music Competition (19 & Under). She serves as Co-President of the Lower Mainland Music Students’ Association, where she has coordinated large-scale fundraising and community outreach initiatives benefiting local charities and vulnerable populations. She also helps expand access to debate lessons as the Vice President in the Pacific Northwest Debate Society. Through PNDS, she organized and coached free debate classes that saved $50,000+ in tuition for students. Flora is eager to contribute to Genocide Watch’s research and advocacy efforts and is looking forward to working with the team.
Deana Syrneva
Deana Syrneva is a graduate of American University in Washington, DC, where she majored in International Relations and Political Science. She was actively involved in campus life as a member of the Club Swim Team and Pre-Law Society. She currently serves as the Professional Development Chair for the Sisterhood of International Engagement and as Social Media Coordinator for Amnesty International, where she has helped lead a Uyghur Muslim Awareness Exhibition alongside tabling events on issues including the Sudan conflict, the death penalty, and genocide prevention.
Deana’s commitment to genocide prevention emerged through her academic focus on political violence and human rights. She was particularly influenced by Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, which deepened her understanding of the Rwandan genocide and the global failure to intervene. This experience motivated her to join Genocide Watch and apply her passion for justice to real-world early warning and prevention efforts.
At Genocide Watch, Deana is part of the Research and Communications Team and contributes to the Gaza, India, and South African Great Lakes Task Forces. She brings a strong interest in legal accountability and international justice to her work. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in international law focused on atrocity prevention, legal reform, and the protection of vulnerable communities worldwide.
Interns
Alexander Smith
Alexander Smith is an undergraduate at Tufts University double-majoring in International Relations (concentration in Europe and the Former Soviet Union) and Russian and East European Studies. As a student leader, he is President of Tufts’ Amnesty International Club and has organized panels on freedom of expression, held events on campus that supported grassroots advocacy organizations, and overseen weekly informational meetings. He is the founder of the Tufts chapter of Students Demand Action, where he is mobilizing his peers to prevent gun violence in the United States. As a native bilingual Serbo-Croatian speaker, he founded the Tufts Slavic and East European Association, which has promoted cross-cultural discussions and events, including a talk by an ambassador from Montenegro. Alex is also an avid photographer, traveler, and soccer player. As an intern at Genocide Watch, he will be writing alerts and monitoring developments in Europe and the Balkans, and will assist the effort of the Alliance Against Genocide. Later this summer he will be conducting field work in Bosnia, and in the fall plans to study abroad at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
August Wyma
August Wyma is a Canadian student of International Relations who is graduating this summer with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia (UBC-O). Coming from a settler background, August quickly adopted a passion for understanding and preventing genocide, as his own country was built on the persecution of Indigenous peoples. Since studying at UBC-O, August has taken a structuralist approach to understanding genocide and seeks to develop this understanding further as he continues his academic journey. Apart from his studies at UBC-O, he has also spent a semester at Sciences Po Lyon in late 2025, where he received a Diploma of French and European Studies. He sees this experience as extremely valuable to his role as an anti-genocide activist, as it provided him with an alternative perspective on global justice and diplomacy. Additionally, August worked as the podcast host of UBC-O’s student news broadcast in the Spring of 2026, where he had the opportunity to discuss the intricacies of genocide with the leading scholar, Dr. Adam Jones. August hopes to have built the required foundation for a future in anti-genocide advocacy. Accordingly, he sees a position at Genocide Watch as the natural progression towards making a positive change for at-risk peoples
Erik Heyman
Erik Heyman is a current undergraduate at Drexel University pursuing a B.A. in Global Studies (concentration in Global Health and Sustainability) with double minors in Asian Studies and Political Science. He has a background in journalism, environmental policy, and political activism. Currently, he is the Co-Chief News Editor for The Triangle, Drexel’s independent student-run newspaper currently celebrating its hundredth year in circulation. Erik has a primary interest in foreign policy and affairs, wanting to understand how international systems directly impact those around the world. This desire for understanding manifests not only in his writing, but also in the study of how colonialism impacts the global community today, as well as conflicts and their impact on the environment. Geographic areas of interest for Erik have been Latin America, Africa, and East Asia. He hopes to expand his understanding of conflicts and genocide directly impact communities, with the eventual goal of going into either conflict and or environmental journalism.
Fauwaz Khan
Fauwaz Khan is currently pursuing an M.S. in Urban Planning at Columbia University in New York. Trained in architecture, his interests have gradually expanded toward understanding how identities, differences, and forms of belonging are shaped through social, political, and spatial processes.
Prior to Columbia, he was a Fellow at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), where he worked on interdisciplinary urban research alongside planners, lawyers, journalists, and policymakers. Through his work and studies, he has become increasingly interested in the relationship between knowledge, advocacy, and accountability, particularly in how societies engage with competing histories, lived experiences, and understandings of reality.
At Genocide Watch, he looks forward to contributing to research, monitoring, and advocacy efforts related to genocide prevention and early warning.
Kara Esplin
Kara Esplin is a current Master’s candidate studying Ethics, Peace, and Human Rights with a concentration in Genocide and Mass Atrocities Studies at American University. Her research interests focus on the intersection of gender, mass violence, and post-violence memorialization. In addition to her studies, Kara is a fellow with the Mass Atrocity Research Initiative at American University, where she is researching the United States' involvement in mass atrocities and the suppression of atrocity narratives. Prior to attending American University, Kara graduated from the University of Utah with Bachelors’ in Geography, International Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as a minor in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. At the University of Utah, Kara completed her capstone research project analyzing gender based violence and post-genocide birth rates in Rwanda. In addition to her academic experience, Kara has lived in Germany as a State Department Youth Ambassador and in Brazil as a Global Citizen Year Fellow.
Maria Khachatryan
Maria Khachatryan is a student pursuing a B.A. in Politics and Governance at the American University of Armenia, where she is also completing a minor in Human Rights and Genocide Studies. Simultaneously, she studies Law at the Yerevan Institute of Forensic Expertise and Psychology. Born and raised in Armenia, Maria is of Armenian-Greek heritage and a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors from Moush, a background that has profoundly shaped her academic interests and commitment to genocide prevention and human rights advocacy. Her academic work focuses on genocide studies, international law, human rights protection, and transitional justice. Maria has conducted research on women’s resistance during the Armenian Genocide, exploring how Armenian women preserved cultural identity and protected their communities amid persecution. She is particularly interested in the role of legal institutions in addressing mass atrocities, ensuring accountability, and preventing future crimes against humanity.
Beyond her academic pursuits, Maria has actively participated in leadership and civic engagement initiatives. She served on the Student Council of the American University of Armenia and has been involved with organizations and programs, including the European Youth Parliament, Model United Nations Yerevan, Global Shapers Community, and the Armenian Assembly of America’s Terjenian-Thomas Internship Program. Through her work, she hopes to strengthen international legal mechanisms that protect vulnerable populations and promote justice for victims of mass atrocities.
Renata Lampert
Renata Lampert is a Brazilian-qualified lawyer with over five years of experience in legal practice. She holds a Law Degree from Universidade Feevale in Brazil and is currently pursuing an LL.M. in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Germany.
Her academic and professional interests are in policy development, international justice and advocacy. Renata’s current academic work focuses heavily on international criminal law, specifically the critical intersections of human traffickingand child soldier recruitment under international law, examining how these violations operate as structural indicators and weapons within broader systems of mass atrocities.
As a legal intern for Genocide Watch, Renata hopes to develop solid experience in advocacy work and atrocity prevention while learning how early-warning indicators are monitored in practice. In the future, she intends to pursue a Ph.D. to further advance her academic research in international law.
Solaris Ahmetjan
Solaris Ahmetjan is an undergraduate student at American University studying International Studies (concentration in Justice, Ethics, & Human Rights) through an accelerated three-year program, with a Minor in Korean. They are Editor-in-Chief of The World Mind and a Division Chief of Global Public Health and Environment at The Pericles Institute, where they have written on the politics of genocide recognition. Under their university’s Mass Atrocity Research Initiative (MARI), Solaris conducted archival and comparative research for the project “In Remembrance and Responsibility: How Societies Confront Mass Atrocities Through Accountability, Conflict, and Memory,” examining how states acknowledge domestic and foreign perpetrators of violence through memorialisation practices. They presented their findings during Genocide Awareness Month, contributing to discussions on historical accountability and collective memory. This summer, they will continue their work with MARI on a project exploring unrecognised atrocities and the limitations of international law. Solaris is also conducting independent research on the influence of colonial-era legal systems on contemporary genocide adjudication before the International Court of Justice. Their paper, “Justice or Power? Colonial-Era Legal Systems and Their Influence on Genocide Adjudication in Modern International Law,” has been accepted for presentation at the 10th International Conference on Genocide, hosted by the International Network of Genocide Scholars. Their academic and professional interests include human rights and international law, with a particular focus on genocide studies, development, and transitional justice.
Sophia Khan
Sophia Khan is a recent graduate from the University of British Colombia Okanagan (UBCO) with a B.A in International Relations, concentrated in History and Political Science. Living and learning as an uninvited immigrant settler on unceded Syilx First Nations territory, she has explored the intersections of settler colonialism with human rights issues, while weaving historical matters with contemporary problems. Sophia has written and researched extensively on both Soviet and post-Soviet countries within political context and hopes to continue to integrate this interest during her internship at Genocide Watch. This year, she received the Peter and Claire Hanretty Prize in History at UBCO for her paper written on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Islam. As an undergraduate, she continued to foster her interest in human rights and social justice by exploring avenues for advocacy, including becoming Vice President of the student-led non-profit Angels Without Boundaries, helping fundraise for children in underserved communities both locally and globally to make education more accessible. At Genocide Watch, she hopes to contribute research and communication skills by monitoring countries in the post-Soviet and Central Asian regions. In the future, she plans to pursue a Master’s that blends her interest in human rights advocacy, migration, and political patterns.
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