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Team Members

Professor Roja Fazaeli | Principal Investigator

Professor Roja Fazaeli is Established Professor of Law and Islamic Studies at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University of Galway. Prior to joining University of Galway, Roja was Professor in Islamic Civilisations and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. Roja is currently the chairperson of the board of directors of Immigrant Council of Ireland and member of board of directors of Front Line Defenders, Scholars at Risk Europe and Iran Academia.

in Connect with Professor Roja Fazaeli

Dr. Joel Hanisek | Research Fellow

Dr. Joel Hanisek is a Research Fellow at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, Univerisity of Galway. Previously he was Policy & Programme Manager for Scholars at Risk Europe, where he managed the EU-funded Inspireurope and Inspireurope+ projects and supported the activities of SAR sections across Europe. He has a background in NGO advocacy at the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and was previously also a member of the New York-based NGO Working Group on the Security Council. He holds a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin where he researched socio-religious aspects of memory and mobility in Iran-U.S. transcultural contexts.

Dr. Nazife Kosukoğlu | Postdoctoral Researcher in Ottoman History

Dr. Nazife Kosukoğlu (Nadezhda A. Mihaylova Polatel) studied Political Science and International Relations at the Marmara University. She continued her studies at the Bogazici University and obtained an MA degree in Modern Turkish History. In 2022, she received her PhD degree in the same field from the Ataturk Institute of the Bogazici University, with her dissertation that focuses on gender violence and criminal law in Turkey. She was the recipient of the Şirin Tekeli Research Encouragement Award and the Yeliz Dönmez Award for Best Dissertation. Her academic interests include gender regimes, legal history, socio-legal studies, violence and intimacy.

Dr. Tiba Bonyad | Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr Tiba Bonyad (she/her) is a postdoctoral researcher in the BILQIS project at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway. Before joining BILQIS, Tiba was a postdoctoral researcher for the SALAAM project at the University of Limerick and a teaching fellow at the Near and Middle Eastern Studies Department of Trinity College Dublin. She was awarded her PhD in Sociology from the University of Manchester in 2023. Her PhD project investigated the gendered biopolitics of assisted reproductive technologies in Iran. Tiba was awarded the joint-winner of the BRISMES 2024 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize for the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic. She holds two master's degrees in Gender Studies (Central European University) and Communications Studies (Free University of Brussels) and two BA degrees in Sociology and Communication Studies from the University of Tehran. Her areas of expertise are in legal sociology, sociology of gender and sexuality, and qualitative methodologies.

Dr. Maria Kokkinou | Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Maria Kokkinou is a postdoctoral researcher on the BILQIS ERC project at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway. She studied social anthropology at the University of the Aegean (Mytilene, Greece), then completed her master’s degree and PhD thesis in social anthropology in Paris at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Her research focuses on 20th century forced migration in Eastern Europe. During her postdoctoral studies (2020-2021) at CEFRES (Centre Français de Recherche en Sciences Sociales - Prague) she participated as a member of the project, "De-imperial Europe: A Resentful Confederation of Vanquished Peoples?”, which was carried out within the framework of the TANDEM program, developed by the Czech Academy of Sciences, Charles University and CEFRES/CNRS. She has also worked on collective research projects addressing the reception of refugees in the Paris region and analysing radio broadcasts of refugees from the Greek Civil War. She is a fellow of the Institut Convergences Migrations in Paris, as well as research associate at the Laboratoire de l’Anthrpologie Politique (LAP), EHESS, Paris.

Maria Drzazga | Project Manager

Maria Drzazga is a Project Manager for the BILQIS Project and the new Centre for Study of Law, Religion and Society, at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University of Galway. Previously Maria worked in administrative and legal areas across various units at the University of Galway and in law firms in Dublin and London. Maria holds a LL.M., with a focus on International Human Rights Law, from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. Maria also obtained Postgraduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law and Diploma in Legal Studies and Practice from the Griffith College, Dublin. She has a background in volunteering with various charity organisations and NGOs, including Amnesty International UK and Amnesty International Ireland.