HRC Research Fellows

HRC’s Research Fellows are three-year appointments. They are extremely accomplished in their fields, and work closely with our program directors to collaborate on meaningful projects.


Kathi Lynn Austin headshot

Kathi Lynn Austin 

Kathi Lynn Austin is a former United Nations arms trafficking expert and current founder and executive director of the Conflict Awareness Project, a non-governmental organization dedicated to investigating, documenting and bringing to justice major arms traffickers, war profiteering networks, and transnational criminal operations that fuel conflict, human rights abuses, pillage and environmental crime around the world. he is internationally recognized for her work on sanctions-busting, illicit supply chains and exposing the most notorious merchants of death, including Viktor Bout—a Russian now serving prison time on terrorism charges in the U.S. Ms. Austin has carried out precedent-setting field investigations spanning Africa, Latin America, East and Central Europe and South Asia. Read more about Kathi Lynn Austin's work here.


Stephen Smith Cody

Stephen Smith Cody

Stephen Smith Cody, PhD, is a visiting assistant professor of law at McGeorge University, where he teaches criminal law, international criminal law, and civil procedure and supervises legal research on human rights. He formerly directed the Atrocity Response Program at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law, where he designed and managed research on the International Criminal Court. Cody has conducted fieldwork in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, the Netherlands, and northern Uganda. His interviews with hundreds of atrocity crime survivors have helped determine how best to prepare, support, and protect victims and witnesses who testify against perpetrators of mass violence. Read more about Stephen Smith Cody's work here.

Jackie GeisJacqueline Geis

Jacqueline Geis is a member of the International Criminal Court’s Technology Advisory Board, and a sought-after advisor and speaker on security and documentation efforts in complex human rights environments. Until recently she was the CEO of Videre est Credere, which under her leadership exposed genocide; revealed systematic political violence; uncovered widespread corruption affecting the lives of millions; and spurred concrete policy changes and action. Jackie’s experience spans start-ups and large institutions; the public and private sectors; and work across justice, human rights, technology, and climate. A keen strategist, she has conceptualized, built, and led internationally-focused initiatives at a wide range of organizations, including the Brookings Institution, US State Department, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and American Bar Association. 


Amanda Ghahremani HeadshotAmanda Ghahremani

Amanda Ghahremani is an international lawyer and consultant. Her expertise includes international criminal law, corporate accountability, universal jurisdiction, and transitional justice, for which she was nominated as Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers three years in a row. As a consultant, Amanda is currently involved in several criminal and corporate accountability investigations. She also advises the Iran Prison Atlas project, which is the most comprehensive public database of political prisoners in Iran. Her recent work includes co-authoring the legal analysis on genocide for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Read more about Amanda Ghahremani's work here.

Ritwik Gupta Ritwik Gupta

Ritwik Gupta is an artificial intelligence researcher focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster response. His work focuses on reducing the amount of time, effort, and danger first responders face when heading into chaotic, unpredictable events such as natural disasters and wars. His research on topics such as automated building damage assessment and detection of illegal fishing vessels have been deployed worldwide for numerous events such as the Australian bushfires, the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, and at task forces to curb IUU fishing. Ritwik is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley in Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy where he leads Berkeley's AI Research Climate Initiative and also serves as the Deputy Technical Director for Autonomy at the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit. He has been detailed as an Advisor for AI Policy to the Department of Justice and previously led a research lab at Carnegie Mellon University on AI for disaster response.


Rohini HaarRohini J. Haar

Rohini J. Haar, MD, MPH, is an emergency medicine physician with expertise in health and human rights. Her work focuses on the protection of human rights in times of complex humanitarian crisis and conflict. She is particularly interested in the protection of health workers and health services. As an emergency medicine physician, she has worked both as academic emergency medicine faculty in New York City and Oakland, as well as on numerous international projects including in Haiti, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco, Palestine/Israel, India and the Thai/Burma border. Dr. Haar has published articles on issues including health in post-conflict states and the reconstruction of health systems after humanitarian disasters. Read more about Rohini J. Haar's work here.

Dr. Mohamad KatoubMohamad Katoub

Dr. Mohamad Katoub is an advocacy expert whose experience focuses on humanitarian policies and the protection of aid workers in Syria and neighboring countries. During his work for humanitarian and human rights organizations, Mohamad focused his work on documenting attacks on health workers and health infrastructures and on fighting impunity for the usage of chemical weapons. Mohamad has published articles on humanitarian operations and medical evacuation in conflict areas, attacks on health and deconfliction of humanitarian facilities, the politicization of aid, and other issues related to the right to health, and the usage of unconventional weapons. He is a licensed dentist, and a former relief worker, having worked to establish field hospitals, and support decaying local governance structures since the Syrian conflict began.

Andrea LamprosAndrea Lampros

Andrea Lampros is the Communications Director at UC Berkeley's School of Education. She is the former Associate Director at the Human Rights Center, co-founder of the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab, and the Resiliency Manager of the lab. Prior to joining the Human Rights Center, she worked on grassroots efforts related to U.S. policy in Central America and immigrant and refugee rights. She was a principal editor and chief proposal writer on the marketing and communications team at Berkeley’s University Relations, now University Development and Alumni Relations. She was the first development director for UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Read more about Andrea Lampros' work here.


Patricia del Carmen Vásquez Marías headshot

Patricia del Carmen Vásquez Marías

Patricia del Carmen Vásquez Marías graduated with a doctorate degree in medicine in 1999 from the University of El Salvador and a doctorate from the Department of Pathological Anatomy, Legal and Forensic Medicine, and Toxicology at Zaragoza University in Spain in 2003. She was a professor on the medical faculty of the University of  Dr. José Matías Delgado in San Salvador. Since 2007, she has been a geneticist at the Asociación Pro Búsqueda de Niñas y Niños Desaparecidos de El Salvador. For nine months in 2011–2012, she worked as a DNA analyst in the forensic genetics department of the Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala. Read more about Patricia del Carmen Vásquez Marías' work here.