Experts on countries of origin by surname

Journalist and Broadcaster, with direct experience of 'post-war' Iraq

Dr. Sonali Gupta, LL.B., Ph.D. (UCLA), is an anthropologist, legal expert, and educator specializing in migration, asylum, cultural resilience, and narcotics law. As President and Co-Founder of the Himalayan Conservation & Preservation Society (USA) and Founder-Director of the Himalayan Institute of Cultural & Heritage Studies (India), she has devoted over two decades to research, migration policy, and community engagement across the Himalayas and South Asia. Her experience includes six years of legal practice in India, handling asylum, migration, and narcotics cases, which provided in-depth insight into both legal and prison systems. She has also worked as legal staff in the United States, conducted extensive ethnographic research on caste, gender, resilience, and climate-driven migration, and served as adjunct professor at UCLA in anthropology and regional studies.

Dr. Gupta’s work creates bridges between ground-level realities and global advocacy frameworks, advancing social justice and sustainable development for marginalized communities. She leads initiatives on cultural preservation, legal empowerment, and grassroots healing—from founding a migrant memory hub in Delhi and innovative field programs in Himachal Pradesh, to advising… Read more

The expert is a specialist for Nepal and Bhutan – the countries in the Himalayan belt. Since he embarked on his doctoral research project in 2019, he has been assisting the UK, U.S., and European courts, including NGOs and business organisations, with country expert reports on his area of expertise. Apart from the trajectory of his academic career within the areas of his expertise, he has led community projects in Nepal and the UK – and in doing so; he has spent a substantial length of time in Nepal and with Nepali communities in the UK. Moreover, the expert actively engaged and collaborated with Nepali civil societies while working for INGOs in Nepal. He regularly travels to Nepal for research and social enterprise projects – and closely collaborates with native organisations based in Nepal and Bhutan. The Nepal-raised expert has experience of the immigration litigation process and has appeared in court to provide testimony. Besides providing country expert reports both in the form of high depth and breadth, he also provides Nepali language and cultural expertise.

The expert is currently a PhD candidate – and conducting his doctoral research on Nepali politics at Birkbeck, University of London. Prior to Birkbeck, he was associated with the Queen Mary University of… Read more

Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia)​. She studied political science (Freie Universität Berlin) and anthropology (Universidad de los Andes- Colombia). ​​Her research includes urban violence, contemporary prisons, youth and street gangs, gender and urban planning, community leaders, and state responses to crime and violence in Latin America, particularly Honduras and Colombia.​ Her research has been funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Latin American Council for Social Research. Her book, Territories of Violence. State, Marginal Youth, and Public Security, was published in 2013 with Palgrave. She is currently working on her second book on women community leaders and high risk urban contexts in Colombia.

The Expert is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics and International Relations of the Middle East. 

Jordyn Haime is a skilled China-focused journalist and researcher whose work sheds light on religion, civil society, and human rights under complex political conditions. Her field reporting and academic research bridge the gap between investigative journalism and policy insight. With deep regional knowledge, Mandarin proficiency, and practical training experience, Jordyn is a valuable asset for organizations covering East Asia’s most sensitive social and political issues and empowering ethical, fact-based reporting on China’s global impact.

Costa Rican Expert - Dynamic legal specialist with expertise spanning criminal justice, human trafficking, and international law. Proven track record in designing and executing training programs, collaborating with diverse teams, and providing technical assistance to enhance governmental responses. Skilled in litigation, case management, and legal research across various legal domains.

Expert Witness, former diplomat, Ph.D. Candidate in law specializing and providing expert report on  human rights, asylum and immigration cases of nationality assessment, gender-based violence with a focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Dr. Harding earned a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Miami with specializations in Latin American Politics, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Relations. His major professor and dissertation chair was the late Dr. Enrique Baloyra, a renowned Cuba-born scholar. Dr. Harding has held full-time academic appointments in Virginia, Alabama, and most recently Georgia, where he is the Professor of Political Science at Valdosta State University. He is the author of three books and several book chapters as well as over a dozen journal articles. Dr. Harding has been an invited presenter on Latin American politics in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has been a federally recognized asylum expert since 2018, working for asylum attorneys throughout the United States as well as the UK and and the Netherlands.

Dr Jawad Hassan Zadeh is an Expert Witness with experience of working in Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s affairs. As of February 2022, he has prepared 1,128 expert reports for over 200 law firms and non-legal organisations based in France, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The Expert provides three services concerning cases from Afghanistan (1) country of origin expert opinions on human rights, culture, ethnic groups, religions, laws, government and non-state actors (2) conducts forensic examination of all types of documents originating from Afghanistan (3) interviews the ‘disputed nationality’ claimants from Afghanistan with a view of producing linguistic and nationality of the disputed clients.

The expert provides country expert reports for Pakistan, conducts nationality assessment interviews for Pakistani nationals whose nationality and origin are disputed and verifies the authenticity of Pakistani documents. 

Marta Havryshko is a Dr. Thomas Zand Visiting Assistant Professor in Holocaust Pedagogy and Antisemitism Studies at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She teaches courses on antisemitism and racism in the modern world and on gender, war, and genocide in Eastern Europe. Her recent publications include a book, "Overcoming Silence: Women's War Stories (2018), and book chapters and articles on gender, WWII, and the Russo-Ukraine war. She has conducted numerous expert interviews with the media and is a columnist in Berliner Zeitung on politics, war, and society in Ukraine. 

Dr. Hawthorne is  a Professor of African History, a director of Enslaved.org, and an editor of the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation at Michigan State University. His areas of research specialization are West Africa, the Atlantic, and Brazil. He lived in Guinea-Bissau for two years and return frequently for research. Dr. Hawthorne also travels frequently to The Gambia and Senegal. He has lived in Cape Verde, Portugal and Brazil for research purposes. He is particularly interested in the history of slavery and the Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans. Much of his research has focused on African agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and family structures in the Old and New Worlds. His first book, Planting Rice and Harvesting Slaves: Transformations along the Guinea-Bissau Coast, 1400–1900 (Heinemann: 2003), explores the impact of interactions with the Atlantic on small-scale, decentralized societies. His most recent book, From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade 1600-1830 (Cambridge: 2010), examines the trade in enslaved people from Upper Guinea to Amazonia Brazil. He has published in a range of scholarly journals such as Journal of African History, Luso-Brazilian Review, Slavery and Abolition, Africa, Journal of Global History,… Read more

The Expert has a diverse background in roles such as project management, program development, and research in international affairs. The expert’s current position as a Project Manager and Researcher reflects her commitment to making a meaningful impact on regional and global development efforts with the specialism in Balkan affairs.

John Heathershaw is Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter.  His research addresses conflict, security, and development in global politics, especially in Central Asia.  He is author of Post-Conflict Tajikistan (Routledge, 2009), Dictators Without Borders (Yale, 2017), The UK’s Kleptocracy Problem (Chatham House, 2021) and over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles including in International Studies Review, the European Journal of International Relations, the Journal of International Relations and Development, the Review of International Studies, and the Journal of Democracy.  John is currently the principal investigator of a research project which seeks to identify the characteristics of kleptocratic enabling networks via an analysis of the data of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.  In 2021/22, he was a senior fellow of British Academy studying relations between postcommunist elites and British professional service providers. 

Heathershaw  has previously been on the faculty of the American University in Central Asia, the London School of Economics, Kings College London, and the University of Notre Dame.  Prior to entering academia, Heathershaw was a research analyst at the Ministry of Defence… Read more

N'Deane Helajzen is a Serbian-Australian anthropologist and leading expert in human rights, gender equality, and women's empowerment, with a particular focus on conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, international humanitarian law, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), ethnic conflict, and genocide. She is the founder and director of Ethnovision, a storytelling agency based between Belgrade and Sarajevo, dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalised communities.

With over 25 years of experience, N'Deane has worked in 32 countries—primarily post-conflict regions across the Asia-Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe. Her expertise spans advising governments, multilateral agencies, and international organisations on refugee issues, minority rights, and inter-ethnic relations, offering practical, strategic insights informed by years of hands-on experience.

N'Deane has also contributed expert country reports for asylum and immigration cases, specialising in LGBTQI+ rights, political oppression, social discrimination, human trafficking, and sexual and gender-based violence. Her reports have been instrumental in successful refugee claims from the former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and… Read more

Rebecca Henderson is a medical anthropologist (PhD completed 2022) and MD candidate with expertise working in Haiti from 2017-present. Her focus is on the effects of ongoing political instability, gang violence, kidnappings, and material shortages on the care for individuals with cancer and other chronic conditions. She has conducted fieldwork around the country, including in Port-au-Prince, the southern peninsula, and the central plateau, specifically examining the effects of insecurity, stress, and lack of access that stem from Haiti's violent and chaotic political instability.

Luke Heslop trained in anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, earning a PhD in 2015, and was a Fellow at the London School of Economics prior to joining Brunel University as a Lecturer in Anthropology. He has worked for many years in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. His ethnographic work engages with the lived experience of macro-economic and political change and global challenges in emerging economies.

He is a Director for the Policy Research Institute of South Asia (PRISA), based in London, UK, working on issues concerning inequality, well-being, and access to services for diaspora communities in the UK. He is also co-Director of the Brunel South Asia Studies Research Group, a multidisciplinary research group based in West London, focusing, among other things, on the large South Asian population in the West London region.

Luke Heslop is the lead anthropological consultant for Dar al Handasah, with research work focusing predominantly in the Middle East. Additionally, he is the Producer and Co-Producer of The Migration Menu, a podcast series that explores migration stories from South Asia to the UK through food.

Rommel St. Hill is a rare expert who brings both depth and breadth to complex legal, trade, and governance matters across the Caribbean and international development spaces. From drafting laws and managing treaty negotiations to advising on AML/CFT and environmental governance, his fingerprints are on some of the region’s most important policy reforms. His leadership, versatility, and unmatched technical knowledge make him a go-to expert for institutions seeking real impact through legal reform. Rommel doesn’t just know the system, he helps build better ones, and any project would benefit from his strategic legal insight and regional fluency

Lecturer at the Institute for Anthropology, University of Leipzig. Conducted in total three years of field research in northern Somalia. Published author and experienced in expert reports on Somalia/Norther Somalia, in particular, northern Somali clans (Isaaq, Darood/Harti, Dir), minorities in (southern) Somalia such as Midgan, Asharaf and Sheikhaal, and issues of health care and mental health.