Experts on countries of origin by country

Dr. Walker DePuy is an anthropologist specializing in political ecology, human rights, science and technology studies (STS), environmental justice, climate change, and conservation/development studies. He earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Integrative Conservation from the University of Georgia and an M.S. in Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan. He is currently an affiliated researcher with the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Indonesia, Kenya, and the United States and has worked as a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund and Center for International Forestry Research.

C. Christine Fair is a Professor in the Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She previously served as a senior political scientist with the RAND Corporation, a political officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul, and a senior research associate at the United States Institute of Peace.  Her most recent book is In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2018/2019).  She has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books, including Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War (Oxford University Press); Pakistan’s Enduring Challenges (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents (Oxford University Press, 2014); Political Islam and Governance in Bangladesh (Routledge, 2010); Treading on Hallowed Ground: Counterinsurgency Operations in Sacred Spaces (Oxford University Press, 2008); The Madrassah Challenge: Militancy and Religious Education in Pakistan (USIP, 2008), and The Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States (Globe Pequot, 2008), among others.  

She is a member of Women in International Security, International Studies… Read more

Dr. Shaul Gabbay completed a BA at Bar Ilan University and an MA at Tel-Aviv University. In 1991 he received a Presidential Fellowship from the U.S. to continue his studies. In 1995 he completed the PhD program at Columbia University in New York and received an invitation from the University of Chicago for a Post Doctoral program. In 1998 Dr. Gabbay returned to Israel to join the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Professor Gabbay joined the University of Denver as the Director of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2001- 2010.  He continued his research at DU as a Senior Scholar until 2015 when he was appointed Director of the Global Research Institute.

His areas of expertise include Middle East cultures and societal norms,   Middle East conflicts, and human rights issues existing in Muslim societies.  He is regularly cited and acts as a commentator in national and international media such as the Associated Press, CBS, NBC, FOX and MSNBC.

I, Dr Serena Hussain, am an Expert Witness and Associate Professor at the Centre for Peace and Security, Coventry University. I specialise in providing country expert reports for UK First tier and Upper Tribunal proceedings, as well as international jurisdictions, focusing on risk on return and the credibility of claims in light of prevailing country conditions. My expertise is deeply informed by over 15 years of fieldwork in Pakistan and the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir, including intensive data collection within the Afghan-Pakistan border region (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and examining the policies of right-wing majoritarian governance in India towards minorities. 

Experience as an Expert: I provide comprehensive expert reports across a broad range of human rights and asylum categories, including:

Professor and Head of Research Group Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., Germany. 20 years of experience preparing expert reports concerning the issues mentioned under “Expertise: Areas of expertise”.

Joshua Kurlantzick is Senior Fellow for South Asia and Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he studies South Asian and Southeast Asian politics and economics, with a particular focus on democracy, authoritarianism, human rights, and political transitions. Experienced country of origin expert for all nationals from Southeast Asia and China; specialist from one of the leading think-tanks in the world. Have provided expert witness reports for fifteen years for asylum cases in the UK, Europe, and US for nationals from across South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia – related to political issues, trafficking, slavery, gangs, religion, and many other issues. Also have provided expert witness reports for non-asylum immigration cases for nationals from South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia.

Tim Lindsey is leading expert on Indonesian law, and has advised governments, business, international organisations, courts and legal practitioners around the world, giving expert evidence in many courts and tribunals. He is Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the Melbourne Law School. He holds a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters from the University of Melbourne and completed his PhD thesis in Indonesian studies. A fluent Indonesian speaker, he is a specialist in a wide range of aspects of Indonesian law, including public law, citizenship law, criminal law, commercial law, inheritance, and family law. He has won teaching awards and has previously practised as barrister. His more than 100 publications include Indonesia: Law and Society; Islam, Law and the State in Southeast Asia (three volumes); The Indonesian Constitution; Drugs Law and Practice in Southeast Asia; Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia; Strangers Next Door: Indonesia and Australia in the Asian Century; Crime and Punishment in Indonesia; Indonesian Law; and The Routledge Handbook of Indonesian Law (in press, 2026) He is a founder and an… Read more

The Expert is an academic researcher and independent consultant whose expertise ranges from the study of Vietnamese and South East Asian socio-political issues to global labour exploitation and migrant workers' rights.

Criminologist and gender expert with over 15 years’ experience advising the United Nations, academia, and international organisations on gender justice, conflict sensitivity, social inclusion, and the protection of vulnerable populations across Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Ukraine, and the wider Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Specialist in gender-based violence, policing and security services, prisons and the criminal justice sector, women’s and children’s rights, and victim-centred approaches. Demonstrated ability to operate in politically sensitive and fragile contexts and to author reports for ministries, private sector clients, and UN entities. Fluent in Arabic and Ukrainian.