Dr. Astrid Podsiadlowski is focal point and project manager on Rights of the Child and Head of Sector on Social Rights in the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). The Agency is providing evidence-based advice to decision makers on European and national level based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork research and secondary data analyses of policies, legislation and statistics.
Her areas of expertise include child-friendly justice, child participation, child poverty, discrimination and social inequalities. She is a social and cross-cultural psychologist by training and has previously held academic research and teaching positions in Europe as well as New Zealand and the USA.
IJJO Interviews
Dr. Adeela Shafi has a background in psychology and education, teaching in higher education for over 16 years. Her research draws on psychological theories to explore how to re-engage young people in conflict with the law with formal education and learning in custodial settings. Her team at the University of Gloucestershire has recently lead two European Erasmus+ projects, Re-Engaging Young Offenders with Education & Learning (RENYO) and ActiveGames4Change (AG4C) working with partners in 8 European countries with the aim of contributing to the development of policy and practice in this area. In addition, her team is currently working on another Erasmus+ project, Skills4Life, which aims to provide skills to children in conflict with the law which are useful for everyday life and can support their integration into society.
Dr. Howard Taylor is Executive Director of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, an innovative public-private partnership launched by the UN Secretary-General in 2016. The Partnership is the only global entity focused solely on Sustainable Development Goal 16.2: ending all forms of violence against children by 2030.
Víctor Giorgi is a Uruguayan psychologist and current Director General of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN). As the Organization of American States’ (OAS) specialised body on children and adolescents, the IIN assists States with the development of public policy and supports its implementation, based on the promotion, protection, and respect for the rights of children and adolescents.
Dr. Joan Nyanyuki is the Executive Director of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), a Pan-African centre for policy advocacy and dialogue on African children’s rights.