Dr. Andraž Zidar is the new E.MA Programme Director
EIUC is glad to announce the appointment of Dr. Andraž Zidar as the new Programme Director of the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation (E.MA) for academic year 2015/2016.
Dr. Andraž Zidar holds a PhD in international law form the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva), a university degree in law (University of Ljubljana) and even our master's degree in human rights and democratization, from which he graduated in 1999.
Before joining EIUC as E.MA Programme Director, Dr. Zidar was the Dorset Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London, Director-General (Legal Adviser) for International Law and Protection of Citizens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia (MFA), a human rights diplomat at the MFA and Mission of Slovenia to the UN Office in Geneva, legal counsellor at the Ministry of the Interior of Slovenia, and a lecturer on international and constitutional criminal law at the European School of Law in Nova Gorica.
His area of expertise covers human rights, international law, international criminal law, global health law, international organizations and international adjudication. His publications include books “Lustration: Removal of Opponents of Democracy from Public Positions” (author), “Contemporary Challenges for the International Criminal Court” (co-editor) and “The Law of Treaties: Handbook, Articles and Documents” (co-editor), as well as articles on international law, human rights, diplomacy and international relations. Andraž is also Editor-in-chief of a Slovenian book series in international law, editor of the Rights! blog and a Visiting Lecturer in International Law and International Humanitarian Law at Regent's University London.
The academic work of Dr. Zidar and the E.MA team will be supported by two proficient scholars who recently joined EIUC: Dr. Wiebke Lamer, E.MA Fellow in International Relations, and Dr. Chiara Altafin, E.MA Fellow in International Law.
Dr. Wiebke Lamer holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and Master’s degrees in International Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy from the University of Leicester and the University of London, respectively.
Her doctoral dissertation examines the treatment of press freedom in the international human rights framework, specifically at the UN. Her current research interests include communication rights, international organizations, and the global politics of press freedom.
Dr. Lamer taught several courses on International Relations, International Political Economy and Comparative Politics at universities in the Norfolk, Virginia area (U.S.), where she also freelanced for a local, educational non-profit organization, and interned for NATO’s Civil-Military Fusion Centre and Allied Command Transformation. Before embarking on her graduate studies, Dr. Lamer worked as an online marketing specialist at Google’s European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
Dr. Chiara Altafin holds a Ph.D in International Law from the European University Institute (EUI), an LL.M in Comparative, European and International Law from EUI, a Master’s Degree in Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights from LUISS University, and a Master of Laws (LL.M, cum laude) from Roma Tre University.
Her doctoral dissertation examines the role, function and adequacy of public international law to deal with civilians’ access to, enjoyment and progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights as controversially affected during and in the aftermath of contemporary scenarios of armed conflicts and contexts of occupied territories.
Over the last eight years Dr. Altafin has worked as research and teaching assistant to the chairs of International Law, International Criminal Law, Human Rights and International Protection, International Organizations and Human Rights, at the Departments of Law and of Political Science of LUISS University in Rome. She was a member of the LUISS research team for the 7FP PRIV-WAR Project on “Regulating privatisation of ‘war’: the role of the EU in assuring the compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights”. She has also conducted research and editorial activities for the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, in particular concerning contemporary piracy, the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh, coercive diplomacy and sanctions in international law. Before passing the Italian Bar Exam, she worked as a lawyer trainee at Avvocatura Generale dello Stato in Rome.
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