Tiffani Brownley-Meijer is an international human rights attorney who is currently a legal adviser with the American Red Cross and an international legal consultant working with many organizations. Tiffani is the founder and executive director of The World Parity Institute, a non-governmental organization that works to alleviate global poverty and economically empower women and marginalized groups. Although she began her career in domestic and international corporate law in the mid-Atlantic and London, the scope of her work has come to range from international women’s issues to conflict resolution, to many areas of public international law including humanitarian law, human rights law, business and human rights, and technology and human rights in both her professional and academic careers.
Tiffani holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and International Affairs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Arts in Diplomacy concentrating on conflict resolution and strategic studies from the International University, Vienna, Austria, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado at Boulder with an international law concentration from Leiden University.
Elias Steinhilper is a senior researcher and head of the Consensus and Conflict Department at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), as well as an affiliate of the Center on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS) at Scuola Normale Superiore. His research focuses on contentious politics related to migration and race in Germany and Europe. Prior to joining DeZIM, Steinhilper completed a Ph.D. in political science and sociology from Scuola Normale Superiore and held visiting scholar positions at Sciences Po and the University of California, Berkeley.
At the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Steinhilper will pursue his current research agenda on the dynamics of antiracist mobilizations in Germany. More specifically, he will draw from panel survey data, qualitative interviews, and media analyses to examine protest participation and the impacts of antiracist social movements on public discourses and institutions.
Joseph Asunka has served as CEO of Afrobarometer since April 2021. He was previously program officer in the Global Development and Population program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where he managed a portfolio of grants that support efforts to increase transparency and accountability in fiscal governance and foster citizen participation to improve public services in developing countries.
Before joining Hewlett, Joseph was a lecturer in political science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught courses on African politics, political economy of development, research methods, and data analysis. Prior to that, he was program officer at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, a Core Partner of Afrobarometer. He served as data manager for Afrobarometer prior to his PhD studies at UCLA.
Joseph’s research interests include distributive politics, elections and electoral processes, and migration. He has published in journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, Research and Politics, and Population Research and Policy Review. Born in Ghana, Joseph holds a PhD in political science from UCLA.
Sophia Anong is a digital development expert and international consultant. She has extensive experience engaging with multi stakeholders at all levels and has supported national strategies, global initiatives, technical proposals, and assessments providing actionable recommendations. As a Science and Technology Policy Fellow, she was a Digital Ecosystem Advisor in USAID’s Technology division and on the leadership team for USAID’s Digital Strategy. She supported the global scaling of the Digital Ecosystem Country Assessments (DECAs) ensuring rigorous processes to provide actionable insights for investments supporting cybersecurity, data protection, digital inclusion, gender inclusion, digital governance, digital literacy, human rights online, the digital economy, digital talent, and enabling policies. She backstopped DECAs on four continents and researched the digital economy of Mali and authored the DECA report. Sophia also served on the Braintrust for the White House’s Digital Transformation with Africa initiative.
Sophia was a professor for 15 years at Virginia Tech and the University of Georgia. She conducted and supervised research in Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, the U.S., and Zimbabwe with funding from various sources including the Meta Research Foundation. Sophia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the Africa University in Zimbabwe, and a Master’s in Agricultural Economics, and PhD in Consumer Economics, both from Purdue University.
Elizabeth is an executive level
Jane Coffin is a seasoned executive and internet community expert who has been working at the centre of connectivity and infrastructure development, policy and regulatory strategy and international development for over 30 years. She has worked in the non-profit sector, for the US government, and in the private sector. She joined Connect Humanity in January 2022 and worked with the team as its Chief Community Officer during its first full start-up year. Jane recently shifted gears to become a part-time Senior Advisor/Senior Fellow to work on Connect Humanity’s global expansion, stakeholder strategy, and finding ways to help new networks, particularly community networks, municipal networks and ISPs levelling up, to understand traditional financial models and find the best adapted model for sustainable network development.