MEET THE TEAM

Ryan D’Souza

Director / Founder

Ryan Xavier D'Souza has been working on human rights advocacy and genocide prevention for the past 10 years. He has worked for the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia and was a visiting fellow with the Blavantik School of Government, University of Oxford. 

Before joining the United Nations peace operation in Somalia, he led advocacy and policy at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, a New York-based human rights organization. During this time, he supported efforts by Yazda, Nadia Murad and Amal Clooney to mobilize the UN Security Council to support efforts to hold ISIS accountable for the genocide in northern Iraq.

He is currently a consultant for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

Dijon Dajee Hierlehy MA

Art Director / Co-Founder

Dijon Dajee-Hierlehy has been working as an artist and curator for the past 14 years. He has exhibited internationally including at the Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins and Miami Art Basel. He was a resident artist at Lights of Soho where he was exhibited alongside Tracy Emin and Chris Levine.

He has curated exhibitions and designed events for a number of high profile clients including, Cartier, Aspinals of London, TEDx, Gleneagles Hotel, Lisson Gallery and HRH Prince of Wales.

Güley Bor

Legal Adviser

Güley is a lawyer, researcher and consultant with a focus on transitional justice, human rights and gender in Iraq and Turkey. As a Harvard Law School Satter Fellow, she spent a year managing the Yazidi Genocide Documentation Project of Yazda in Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She is currently researching reparations in Iraq post-IS, particularly for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

Oscar Fisser

Advocacy Officer

Oscar is a law and philosophy student at the Ludwigs Maximilians University (LMU) Munich. His special interests lie in the fields of refugee- and asylum law, international law and the philosophy of law. As a member of the Refugee Law Clinic Oscar provides free legal advice to asylum seekers in Munich. He is a fellow of the German National Merit Foundation and works as a research assistant at the chair for philosophy of law of LMU Munich.

Anushka Kurian

Research and Advocacy Officer

Anushka graduated from the University of Toronto with an HBA in International Relations and Ethics, Society and Law in 2020. During her undergraduate degree, Anushka completed research projects that focused on refugee and displacement crises through policy analysis and comparative research with academics at UCL and UofT. She is a researcher with the G20 Research Group at UofT, has worked in Provincial Government in Ontario, Canada, and has a background in communications and social media management.

Anushka is an incoming MA student at UofT in Political Science with a specialization in the political economy of international development.

Dr. Alexander M Gross

Copy Editor

Alexander is a writer, historian and teacher living in London. In 2016 he completed his PhD in English Language and Literature at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. He is a specialist in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama, in particular the London contexts of Shakespeare’s work. Alexander has a passion for the English language and works as a freelance writer and copy editor across all manner of disciplines.

Dr. Sarah Whittaker

Clinical Psychologist 

An expert in the psychological injuries and recovery from traumatic events, Sarah has over 10 years of experience working worldwide with survivors of human rights abuses and organised violence.She has travelled to northern Iraq on a number of occasions to collect testimony and provide psychological support to the Yazidi community. Sarah has provided expert witness for war crimes investigations and asylum tribunals.

Susanne Stampf-Sedlitzky

Consultant

Susanne Stampf-Sedlitzky is an award-winning author, journalist and media producer. She is a member of International Women in Power (IWP) and on the board of Frauen Union (Women's Union in Germany). She currently serves as President of Direct Humanity.

Exhibition Writer

A freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years experience creating exhibitions and other visitor experiences, Steven has worked on an eclectic mixture of museums and cultural attractions in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Recently he wrote and co-curated Nelson Mandela: the Official Exhibition, exploring the life and legacy of South Africa’s first democratically elected president, and the struggle against apartheid. He is also working with the Plastic Oceans UK Foundation, developing materials for educating and empowering schoolchildren to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.

A past recipient of the BBC Wildlife Travel Writer of the Year Award, Steven is also a contributing author and editor of books on wildlife, heritage, photography, art and science.