Experts on countries of origin by surname

Andrea S. Allen research has addressed matters of race, sexuality, gender, violence, and religion in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Her first book Violence and Desire in Brazilian Lesbian Relationships (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) focused on the experiences of lesbian women in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Dr. Allen is currently working on a second book project about LGBT evangelical Brazilians, race, religious identity, and sexual subjectivity.

Dr. Allo is a senior legal scholar specializing in human rights, political repression, conflict sensitivity, social movements, political parties, post-conflict reconstruction, peace-building, and transitional justice. A native of the Horn of Africa, Dr. Allo possesses extensive knowledge and experience in the region.

Over the past five years, Dr. Allo has been commissioned by law firms, public bodies, and NGOs to prepare country expert reports on various issues, including political repression, political parties, social movements, protests, nationality laws, healthcare provisions, national service, trafficking, and other cultural and social matters.

Dr. Allo has authored over 100 country expert reports for solicitors and attorneys in the UK, USA, and Europe.

Afrah Almatwari is an academic researcher, Middle East analyst, and professional Arabic-English translator specializing in contemporary Iraqi socio-political dynamics, governance structures, and human rights frameworks. Currently reading for an MRes in Politics at Birkbeck, University of London.

Her research evaluates the complex intersections of formal statutory law, parallel non-state structures, and localized conflict resolution mechanisms.

She produces objective, tribunal-ready country-of-origin assessments for UK legal proceedings, with expertise evaluating gender-specific security risks, state protection capabilities, and tribal clientelism across federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region (KRI).

Niki Alsford is Professor of Anthropology and Human Geography, and Director for the Institutes for the Study of the Asia Pacific (ISAP), and the Institute for Area and Migration Studies (AMIS) at the University of Central Lancashire. He is a Research Associate at the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS and an Associate Member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. In 2023, he was selected as the Ewha Global Fellow at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. Alsford's research focuses primarily on Taiwan, Korea, and the Pacific Islands. He is the book series editor for the Taiwan Series at BRILL, the Korean series at Routledge, and a new series on Asia Pacific Cultures, Communities, and Landscapes at Palgrave Macmillan.  Alsford is the author of Taiwan Lives: A Socio-Political History, published by the University of Washington Press in 2024. 

Alsford’s research focuses primarily on comparative anthropology within the Asia Pacific region. Chief among these is an engagement with Austronesian migration and the maritime cultures of Pacific islands. His present work is bridging a cognitive divide in environmental discussions between Indigenous knowledge and climate science. Alsford is a registered… Read more

Independent country expert specialising in human rights, governance, and protection risks across North Africa. Provides expert reports, document verification, and country conditions analysis for asylum and immigration proceedings in the UK and US. Over fifteen years of professional experience in compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, sanctions, and human rights due diligence under international frameworks.

Doctor of International Relations (PhD, Jilin University, China) and human rights researcher specialising in political opinion, religion, ethnicity, gender-based and LGBT cases, and nationality across South Asia and China. Specialises in country expert reports, document verification, nationality assessments and expert testimony in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Political scientist with comprehensive experience from research and Country of Origin reports and documents assessments. Research experience on political economy, opposition and political parties, political rights, democratic institutionalisation, NGOs. Expert on human and political rights abuse, political persecution, LGBT persecution, risk of return and of brutal and degrading treatment and torture.

Goal-focused, strategic planner, and passionate leader with extensive experience implementing effective, global strategies to stabilize communities through capacity building, promoting human rights and democratization, and amplifying the value of communication. Skilled in collaborating with all members of the organization to build bridges across ideological divides, trusted to tailor language, tone, style, and format to match the audience. Passionate educator with two years’ experience as a High School Principal. Proactively pursues the development and execution of ethical leadership, personnel management, and clear research/discovery goals with comprehensive plans delivering measurable impact to in-house operations. 

An accomplished expert in Lebanese, Levantine, and MENA law, politics, and culture, Dr. Isaac Andakian brings extensive experience and a proven track record in political advisory roles. From 2001 to 2009, Dr. Andakian served as a trusted senior political adviser to two members of the Lebanese Parliament and a minister in the Lebanese cabinet. Over nine years, he counseled the Armenian Orthodox Community Court of Lebanon and the Municipality of the City of Anjar, Lebanon, from 2003 to 2012.

During Dr. Andakian’s… Read more

Danielle Annoni is an associate professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Federal University of Parana (UFPR-Brazil), where she coordinates the Human Rights Observatory and Legal Practice in Human Rights and Migration. She has been conducting human rights research for 18 years. She is an educator, a mother and an active human rights defender, with a focus on migration, gender and the Latin American human rights protection system. Because of her work developed with vulnerable groups regarding the education of labor rights, the empowering of women through handicraft and gastronomy fairs, advocacy in the mediation of cultural conflicts, and access to justice and education, she has received several awards.

PhD in Social Science, sociologist and human rights expert specialising in country conditions analysis related to political violence, forced displacement, and asylum claims in Latin America. 

Dr Abdoul Aziz Dieng is a Senegalese-born, UK-based Senegal Country Expert and Sociolinguistic Consultant specialising in Senegalese language, culture, migration, diaspora identity and multilingual practices. His doctoral research focused on Senegalese transmigrants and their cultural and language practices and is the author of Urban Wolof across Borders: Translanguaging while Transmigrating (2024, Palgrave).

His expertise is particularly relevant to asylum and immigration matters involving Senegal, including Wolof and Fula/Pulaar language issues, cultural plausibility, family and community dynamics, migration histories, diaspora experience, reintegration, and the interpretation of Senegalese social and linguistic practices. He is also NRPSI-registered and a full member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.