Our Fellows

James Miles is a PhD candidate and sessional instructor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He also works as a curriculum resource writer for The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2). James previously taught high school social studies and history in Vancouver, BC. His doctoral dissertation examines the teaching and learning of historical injustices in classrooms, museums, and historic sites. His research has been published in Theory and Research in Social Education, Historical Studies in Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. James has also co-written several social studies textbooks, teacher resource books, and online guides for supporting teachers and students to develop their ability to think historically and critically about historical injustices. 

Growing up in Gulu, northern Uganda, Francis Nono’s entire childhood and adolescence were profoundly shaped by the Lord’s Resistance Army – Government of Uganda conflict that afflicted the entire region. In his current role managing the National Memory and Peace Documentation Center (NMPDC) of the Refugee Law Project, School of Law, Makerere University, he is at the center of Uganda’s post-conflict memory and memorialization work and a key player in how this relates to the national transitional justice process. He coordinates the NMPDC’s community and stakeholder engagements; spearheads support of memorialization processes like holding annual memorial prayers, documentation of past conflict events, community documentary screenings to catalyze public debates on transitional justice discourse; leads on artifact collection and museum development; and leads in curating both permanent and travelling testimonies/mobile exhibitions across conflict-affected areas in Uganda.

Mbasekei Martin Obono is a human rights lawyer and advocate. He received his legal education from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom and Nigerian Law school. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Tap iNitiative for Citizens Development, based in Nigeria, and has pursued an Executive Programme with a focus on Expanding Impacts for NGOs and Public Institutions from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is passionate about civil and political rights and young people’s participation in governance. He is also fervent about historical conversations that lead to healing and reconciliation of communities that have suffered violence by state actors. Obono’s recent passion involves designing an online pictorial database that preserves and documents State sponsored massacres and atrocities in Nigeria, since independence in 1960. He is currently on the advisory board of Amnesty International, Nigeria.

Since 2017, Johann has been working for HistoricalDialogue.lk; a project implemented by the German Development Cooperation where he oversees and coordinates multiple initiatives aimed at forging a culture of historical dialogue and memory in Sri Lanka. A few such initiatives are the Memory Walks; guided tours of neighborhoods aimed at discussing politico- historical narratives and the traveling museum; ‘It’s About Time’ designed to offer alternate and plural narratives of the island’s history. Having witnessed the historical and contemporary trend of using identity as a political weapon, and sporadic eruptions of ethno-religious tensions, he is personally and professionally committed to developing organic approaches of dialogue, critical thinking and historical perspective. In 2018 he was selected to participate in the Truth, Justice and Remembrance seminar organized by the Bosch Stiftung. Johann has a Masters in Sociology of Education and B.A in Sociology. As an AHDA fellow his objective is twofold- first to sharpen his understanding of the archive as a political tool towards truth-telling and multiple narratives and second to develop a radio programme that invites multiple voices to express their authentic views and engage in dialogue.

Thaís Rosa Pinheiro is a researcher and founder of Conectando Territórios, a travel agency that brings education and connects people to Afro-Brazilian history, culture, traditional and urban communities, with the aim of creating dialogue, breaking stereotypes and prejudices. Thais leads guided tours in the Little Africa region of Rio de Janeiro and open discussions about the uncovered African slavery history of heritage sites, such as Valongo Wharf. She organizes international dialogue events connecting the African diaspora and different ethnic groups. Thaís has a Master’s degree in Social Memory from the Federal University State of Rio de Janeiro, Certificate in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (Chulalongkorn University, Rotary Peace Alumna), Specialist in African and Afro- Brazilian History (FACHA) and is a Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) alumna. For more than 7 years she has been researching quilombola communities, ethnic boundaries and community-based tourism in Brazil. Her works span from projects in cultural heritage to creativity and vídeos. Her main fields of interest are cultural studies, education, dialogue, international cooperation, implementation and evaluation of public policies.

Marija Ristic is an award-winning investigative journalist and regional director of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. She is in charge of editorial, training, operations and development aspects of the BIRN Network. She started her career as a journalist focusing on topics related to facing the past, reconciliation and transitional justice before beginning her current work with BIRN’s Balkan Transitional Justice Initiative. In 2015, she produced the documentary ‘The Unidentified’ about war crimes in Kosovo. Ristic is a graduate of the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and a former fellow at the Free University in Berlin.

Tendaishe Tlou works as the Transitional Justice Advocacy Specialist for the National Transitional Justice Working Group based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Among many, he holds post-graduate certificates in Inclusive Gender in Transitional Justice and Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE); Transitional Justice, Applied Conflict Transformation and Community Development from the Refugee Law Project (Uganda);  and the International Citizen Service Volunteer Certificate (the UK). He also has  a BSc (Hons) degree in Peace and Governance, centered on political and socio-economic issues, from Bindura University (Zimbabwe),  and a Masters’ in Human Rights, Peace and Development from Africa University (Zimbabwe). In addition to his degrees, Tendaishe has written and published over 30 academic articles. 

Milena Duran is a lecturer and scholar of history who focuses on recent history and memory. Since 2010, she is part of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo (Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo), a non-governmental organization that searches for the children - today adults - that were kidnapped and appropriated during the last military dictatorship in Argentina. As a member of the Educational Team of The Identity House of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, the museum of the organization, she plans and carries out educational workshops for elementary, high school, and university students in order to reach younger generations with Grandmothers’ cause, raise awareness, and promote human rights and memory. She also works as an interviewer, researcher, and archivist at the Grandmothers’ Family Biographical Archive, oral history archive on the life stories of the disappeared, parents of the appropriated children. There, she conducts interviews with fellows, friends, and family of the victims. At the same time, Milena teaches history classes in high school and in teacher courses. 

Erica Fugger is an oral historian at Washington College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. She is returning to New York this fall as an Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability Fellow at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. 

Erica is currently developing educational resources and community partnerships for the National Home Front Project, which collects and preserves civilian memories of World War II across the United States. As a historian and educator, her work explores the lasting impact of war and possible paths towards peace in America and beyond. Through this fellowship, she hopes to deepen the National Home Front Project's emphasis on documenting human rights violations in the U.S. during World War II. 

Erica previously worked and studied at Columbia University in various roles, including Collections Manager of the Columbia Center for Oral History Archives and Project Coordinator of the Oral History MA program. In her spare time, she offers interview workshops and project consultations to groups around the globe. 

Jasmine Lazovic is a founder and program associate of the Belgrade-based non-governmental organization Center for Public History.  After she graduated journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences, she obtained an MA degree in international humanitarian law and human rights. First professional experience she gained during the internship conducted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in Netherlands in 2008/2009. Through her engagement at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights she mainly worked on transitional justice programs, dealing the past and regional cooperation. She was engaged in advocacy campaign for the establishment of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office in the Western Balkans. She is an alumni of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Center for Comparative Conflict Studies. In 2014 she participated in a professional exchange between Kosovo and Serbia, supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy. Since 2014 she has been a member of the trans-European network of memory practicioners - Memory Lab. 

Sunji Lee holds a PhD in education at the Tokyo University in Japan. He currently works as a research fellow for young scientists in Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He has an expertise in teaching undergraduate students at a number of universities. He taught the courses “Philosophy of Education”, “History of Education.” He applies his long-standing inerest in the education of earthquakes, world war, and the damage from atomic bombing in Japan. He plans to develop a project proposal that will focus on the school trip to Fukushima.

Sociologist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and scholarship holder of the TyPA Laboratory of Museum Management 2018, organized by the Fundación TyPA (Argentina), she has dedicated her academic and professional work to researching the experiences and signficative learning of visitors of various cultural organizations. Since 2017, she has been working at Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, where she has strongly promoted the use of studies and evaluations to make strategic decisions within the institution.