Participant Biographies
-
Dr. Abadir M. IbrahimDr. Abadir M. Ibrahim is the Associate Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School. He is a human rights expert, advocate, and educator who has extensive experience in strategic litigation and advocacy in Ethiopian human rights law.
A Dream Within a Dream: Minorities and Indigenous Peoples and Ethiopia’s Constitutional Moments
-
Dr. Abdi JibrilDr. Abdi Jibril is a Commissioner at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and a former head of the School of Law, Addis Ababa University.
-
Dr. Aberra DegefaDr. Aberra Degefa is a Board Member of the National Election Board of Ethiopia and an Associate Professor of Law at Addis Ababa University. In addition to a career in legal education in public and constitutional law, he has a Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Development and has been a fellow at the Institute for Social Studies in the Netherlands.
-
Abchu WassihunAbchu Wassihun is a 4th-year law student at Addis Ababa University and President of the Addis Ababa University Students’ Union.
-
Abduletif Kedir IdrisAbduletif Kedir Idris is a student and an educator of interdisciplinary human rights and comparative constitutional law, a Lecturer at the Center for Human Rights at Addis Ababa University, and a PhD researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.
-
Dr. Adem K. AbebeDr. Adem K. Abebe is a Senior Programme Advisor at the Constitution Building Programme of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Adem serves as Vice President of the African Network of Constitutional Law, sits on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, and is Extraordinary Lecturer at the University of Pretoria.
-
Prof. Dr. Adeno AddisProf. Dr. Adeno Addis holds the W.R. Irby Chair and is also the W. Ray Forrester Professor of Public and Constitutional Law at Tulane University School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar whose expertise spans a range of areas, but primarily focuses on human rights, constitutional law, and political and legal theory.
-
Prof. Dr. Assefa FisehaProf. Dr. Assefa Fiseha is a Professor of Law at Addis Ababa University, Center for Federalism and Governance Studies.
Ethiopia’s Contested Federalism: How to Deal with Cleavages?
-
Dr. Berihun Adugna GebeyeDr. Berihun Adugna Gebeye is a Lecturer in Law at the Faculty of Laws of the University College London. He is an expert in constitutional law and comparative constitutionalism and the author of A Theory of African Constitutionalism (Oxford University Press, 2021).
-
Dr. Christophe Van der BekenDr. Christophe Van der Beken is an Associate Professor at Addis Ababa University, College of Law and Governance Studies. His areas of expertise and research interests include comparative constitutional law, federalism, minority rights, local government, and good governance.
-
Fowsia AbdulkadirFowsia Abdulkadir has over 20 years of Canadian public policy analysis work experience in gender and human rights advocacy. She is currently a research director at Hankaal Institute for peace and policy development in Jigjiga, Somali Regional State.
-
Dr. Getachew Assefa WoldemariamDr. Getachew Assefa Woldemariam is an Associate Professor of Public Law and Dean of the College of Law and Governance Studies at Addis Ababa University.
The Continuing Quest for Inclusive Democratic Governance in Ethiopia
-
Gossaye AyeleGossaye Ayele is a lecturer at the Civil Service University and specializes in constitutional law.
-
Dr. Juweria AliDr. Juweria Ali is a peacebuilding practitioner, human rights activist, and researcher affiliated with The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster.
A Dream Within a Dream: Minorities and Indigenous Peoples and Ethiopia’s Constitutional Moments
-
Dr. Kalkidan Negash ObseDr. Kalkidan Negash Obse is a human rights educator and legal professional who previously worked at Addis Ababa University and Dilla University, a former Assistant Professor of Law and Human Rights at Addis Ababa University (AAU), and former Director of the University’s Center for Human Rights.
-
Kokebe Wolde JemanehKokebe Wolde Jemaneh is a lecturer at Addis Ababa University College of Law and Governance Studies.
-
Loid TayeLoid Taye is a 4th-year law student, a youth ambassador for peace and intercultural dialogue, and aspires to build a career in advocacy for human rights.
-
Melhik A. BekeleMelhik A. Bekele is a human rights law and democratic governance expert and is the Project Manager/Ethiopia at Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Ethiopia/African Union Office.
-
Dr. Mizanie Abate TadesseDr. Mizanie Abate Tadesse is Associate Professor of Human Rights Law, Addis Ababa University School of Law and Director of Socio-economic Rights Department, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.
-
Dr. Mohammed Dejan AssenDr. Mohammed Dejen Assen is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Federalism and Governance Studies of Addis Ababa University and serves as an individual consultant for government institutions and international organizations on diverse issues.
-
Dr. Mulugeta Mengist AyalewDr. Mulugeta Mengist Ayalew is a comparative law and economics expert with several years of experience providing program and policy advisory services to governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations. He is a principal consultant at JAAJ Consulting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
-
Rediet Baye AyalewRediet Baye Ayalew is a researcher and a gender and communications expert at Initiative Africa (IA) and has an LL.B. from the College of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University.
-
Dr. Semeneh Ayalew AsfawDr. Semeneh Ayalew Asfaw is a student and educator of history whose areas of interest include revolution, social protest, and social and cultural change in the history of Ethiopia. He is currently preparing to take a research fellow position at the Africa Institute, Sharjah.
The Politics of the Social: Imagining a New Political Order in Ethiopia
-
Dr. Semir YusufDr. Semir Yusuf specializes in comparative politics and is currently a Senior Researcher at, and head of, the Ethiopia Project at the Institute for Security Studies.
Breaking the Dialectics of Political Unsettlement in Ethiopia
-
Dr. Shimelis Mulugeta KeneDr. Shimelis Mulugeta Kene is an Assistant Professor of Law at Western University Faculty of Law in Canada, where he teaches in the area of public law, including Criminal Law and Constitutional Law.
-
Dr. Sisay Alemahu YeshanewDr. Sisay Alemahu Yeshanew is Associate Professor at the School of Law, College of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University. He is also Visiting Professor at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, at the Institute for Human Rights of Abo Akademi University in Finland, and at Scuola Superiore S. Anna di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento in Italy.
-
Dr. Solomon NegussieDr. Solomon Negussie is the former Dean of the College of Law and Governance Studies and an Associate Professor of Law and Federal Studies at Addis Ababa University.
-
Dr. Sossina M. HaileDr. Sossina M. Haile holds a Walter P. Murphy Faculty Chair in Materials Science in Engineering at Northwestern University. Her research centers on materials for energy sustainability. Outside of her university position, she serves on the board of Ethiopia Education Initiatives.
-
Teguadda AlebachewTeguadda Alebachew is a Constitutional Law expert, consultant, attorney at all levels of federal courts, and an Assistant Professor at Ethiopian Civil Service University.
Women’s Rights and Ethiopia’s Future Social Contract: The Need to Adopt an Intersectional Approach
-
Professor Thomas GeraghtyProfessor Thomas Geraghty is the Class of 1967 James B. Haddad Professor of Law, and formerly the Associate Dean for Clinical Legal Education and Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of Law. In addition to helping design a clinical curriculum for the Addis Ababa University School of Law in 1996, he recently completed an assessment of Legal Education in Ethiopia for ABA/ROLI.
-
Dr. Tigist Shewarega HussenDr. Tigist Shewarega Hussen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hub for Decolonial Feminist Psychologies in Africa, department of Psychology, at the University of Cape Town. Her research interest focuses on the exploration of a Pan-African constellation of feminist activism for social justice across the continent.
Women’s Rights and Ethiopia’s Future Social Contract: The Need to Adopt an Intersectional Approach
-
Dr. Yitayew AlemayehuDr. Yitayew Alemayehu is an Assistant Professor at Center for Human Rights, Addis Ababa University. A former visiting fellow at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, his research areas include civil society law and the local diffusion of global human rights norms.
-
Dr. Yonatan Tesfaye FesshaDr. Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha is a Professor of Law and Research Chair in Constitutional Design and Divided Societies at the University of the Western Cape.
A Federation Without Federal Credentials: When Politics Trumps Law
-
Dr. Zelalem Mogessie TeferraDr. Zelalem Mogessie Teferra is a Senior Legal Officer at the African Court on Human and Peoples` Rights. He holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, LL.M. in International Humanitarian Law from the University of Geneva, LL.M. in Law and Economics jointly from the University of Rotterdam, University of Ghent, and University of Haifa (MA in Laws), and LL.B. from Jimma University.
-
Dr. Zemelak Ayitenew AyeleDr. Zemelak Ayitenew Ayele is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Center for Federalism and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University. He is widely published in the areas of constitutionalism, decentralization, federalism, and electoral democracy, and is also an Extraordinary Associate Professor at the Ullah Omar Institute (DOI) for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa.
Revising the Territorial Structure of the Ethiopian Federal System: A Good Idea?