I am a human rights researcher with academic and practical experience in international human rights law. My interests include law and emotions, identity, belonging, attachment, and dignity. My work has been funded by, among others, the Fulbright Program, the Yale Robina Foundation, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and the Dutch Ministry of Education, and has earned multiple national and international awards.

I hold a Ph.D. from the European University Institute (2021) and an LL.M. from Yale Law School (2022). My Ph.D. examined the intersection of identity and emotions in human rights law. My research challenges the idea that law is rational and argues that involving emotions makes legal judgements more considerate and humane. In 2022, I was awarded the Antonio Cassese Prize for the Best Dissertation in International Law. I defended my Ph.D. before Judge András Sajó, a prominent former judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Professor Sarah Nouwen of the University of Cambridge, and my two supervisors, both leading experts in their field, Martin Scheinin (human rights law) and Kwame Anthony Appiah (philosophy). During my Ph.D., I published peer-reviewed articles in Social & Legal Studies, Social Identities, and Philosophy and Public Issues and was lead editor at the European Journal of Legal Studies. I was a visiting fellow at NYU School of Law and the Center for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. I presented my work at numerous conferences and seminars. I am currently in talks with Oxford University Press about publishing a monograph on identity, emotions, and human rights.

Prior to my Ph.D., I developed a new method for analyzing the language used by human rights courts. This discursive approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, earned two awards and swift publication in the European Journal of Human Rights. My work on the protection of vulnerable groups in human rights law was cited by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. Subsequently, I taught and supervised student theses at VU Amsterdam. I also contributed to research at the faculty, co-authoring work on asylum procedures, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, and co-organizing an academic petition against the seizing of an NGO rescue boat in Italy.

After receiving my Ph.D., I earned a Fulbright scholarship to Yale Law School and received a Yale Robina Fellowship to clerk at the European Court of Human Rights. At Yale, I was editor at the Yale Journal of International Law and a member of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. I conducted collaborative research on the international right to reparations in Yemen and on compliance with business and human rights standards by public investment funds. I was selected for a competitive clerkship at the European Court of Human Rights. I clerked for Judge Darian Pavli and participated in all aspects of the Court’s work, attending deliberations, hearings, writing legal briefs, and preparing speeches. While I worked at the Court, I was an external lecturer at Sciences Po teaching constitutional law and politics.

With my work, I have found a niche where my unique experiences culminate and where I can truly be a valuable contribution to human rights law. The twenty-first century has profoundly shaken identities across the globe with the largest migration and cultural encounters the world has seen yet. I am eager to contribute through my work to the formation of new senses of belonging and attachment for the emerging world, ones that are built on dignity and respect.