Our international team brings together researchers, practitioners, civil society partners, and community organisations. We bridge in-depth research with practical engagement and advocacy.
Dr Keren Weitzberg is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. Working at the intersection of the history of science, migration studies, and critical race studies, she examines digital and biometric systems and its implications for refugees and marginalized citizens, digital economies, and border making. She has over fifteen years of experience carrying out archival research, fieldwork, and interviews in cross-cultural, multilingual settings in Kenya and collaborating with civil society groups, artists, and practitioners across the US, Europe, and Africa.
Dr Margie Cheesman is a Lecturer in Digital Economy at King’s College London. She is an anthropologist specialising in the social and political dimensions of emerging technology. Her work examines how blockchains, alternative currencies, digital IDs, and other innovations are designed, used, and adapted in sensitive environments. This includes humanitarian aid, migration management, and financial inclusion initiatives.
Dr Emrys Schoemaker is Director of Policy and Advisory at Caribou and a Senior Researcher at the Global Governance Centre at the Graduate Institute. His work focuses on digital transformation and infrastructure with a focus on governance, policy and strategy. He specialises in policies and outcomes from digital identification, data exchange and platforms in global majority and humanitarian contexts.
Dr Aaron Martin is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Data Science at the University of Virginia. His research examines data governance in development and humanitarian contexts. He also studies the social and political implications of digital identity, biometrics, and surveillance technologies. His current project explores the political economies of low earth orbit satellite connectivity in aid contexts.
Yussuf Bashir is the Executive Director and a founder of the Haki na Sheria Initiative. The Haki na Sheria Initiative is a human rights organization working in northern Kenya. It is dedicated to ending the discrimination and promoting the rights of marginalised communities in Northern Kenya. Yussuf is also an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with extensive experience in successfully litigating public interest cases, including the Huduma Namba case where he served as a lead counsel for the Nubian community.
Marianne Samaha is a researcher and humanitarian practitioner with experience in the SWANA region and Europe. Her research, including her PhD work, focuses on migration, asylum, gender and intersectionality. She has extensive experience leading humanitarian and development programs with international and local NGOs, with a focus on health, mental health, protection, education, food security and livelihoods. She is dedicated to bridging academic research, policy and practice across different contexts and multilingual settings.
Sophie is a DPhil student at the Oxford Internet Institute and a freelance consultant. Her prior research has looked at the intersection of financial technology and asylum welfare, AI policy, and digitisation in the humanitarian sector. Her doctoral research examines open-source digital identification systems used in the field of international development. Sophie has conducted freelance research with organisations including the UNHCR, the European Centre for Privacy and Cybersecurity, the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, and Harvard Berkman Klein Centre for Internet & Society.
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Thea Kirsch is a political scientist based in Berlin. She specializes in the intersection of migration, technology, and innovation governance, with a particular focus on biometrics, digital identification, and other technologies of the datafied self. For her PhD work at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, she has conducted extensive qualitative research in Europe and Africa on transnational expert networks and knowledge production around biometrics. Throughout her various projects and roles, she has had the opportunity to be both a critical observer and an implementer in the field of digital identification. These experiences have helped her gain a nuanced understanding of its dynamics and challenges.
Ana Werkstetter Caravaca is a political scientist based in Berlin, specializing in global governance, migration, and social justice. Her PhD research at Freie Universität Berlin explores epistemic inequality in international education policy. Ana has worked across Latin America, Africa, and Europe, conducting field research and coordinating projects on migration, gender, and human rights. With experience in both academic and policy settings, she connects critical research with practical impact.
Dr Silvia Masiero is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is a long-term researcher of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), with a focus on the role of digital platforms in socio-economic development processes. She has authored over 80 peer-reviewed research papers on topics including digital social protection, platform-mediated surveillance and decolonial approaches to information systems research.
Dr Hanna Stoll is a Swiss attorney specialising in data and digital identities, migration, and access to justice. She has practiced as a refugee and human rights lawyer, with a focus on strategic litigation. She holds a PhD from the University of Zurich, where her research explored access to justice in the context of large-scale EU information systems. Hanna currently works in Kenya, focusing on discrimination, data protection and migration law.
Asha Jaffar is a journalist and communications professional. She has contributed to international and local media and in 2014 won the Special Award of the Haller Prize for Development Journalism. She has also worked as an assistant producer,translator and editor for Clear WaterProductions and for the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa. Asha, was Born and raised in Nairobi and currently managing the award winning initiative, Kibra Food Drive, an initiative I started to provide food for the needy during these times of Covid. She was also voted recently as the Africans Rising Activist of the Year Award.
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Saada is a first class Law graduate. Her areas of interest include: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Financial Law, Cybersecurity Law and Aviation law. She is passionate about engaging in legal research and shaping policy initiatives.