Dr Ashraful Azad is an experienced researcher, lecturer and consultant in refugee and migration issues, primarily focusing on Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants. He is a multi-disciplinary scholar with academic training in Law, International Relations and empirical social research. Ashraful’s work experience includes Forced Migration Advisor at UNOPS, Adjunct Lecturer at UNSW Sydney, Assistant Professor (International Relations) at the University of Chittagong, Protection Assistant at UNHCR and Research Consultant at International IDEA and Equal Rights Trust.

Ashraful is an experienced COI expert and provided expert witness reports to various asylum and migration cases in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. For example, his research has been extensively cited by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia regarding the protection visa of a Rohingya refugee; see 1833850 (Migration) [2019] AATA 6512 (25 November 2019). He has published extensively including in the Journal of Human Trafficking, Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, the Conversation, Open Democracy and Interpreter. The publications can be accessed here: https://unsw.academia.edu/AshrafulAzad

Ashraful completed a PhD from the School of Global and Public Law, Faculty of Law and Justice, UNSW Sydney, an MPhil in International Law with Distinction from Monash Law School, MSS in International Relations and BSS (honours) in International Relations from the University of Chittagong. He obtained several awards for academic and research excellence, including University International Postgraduate Award (UNSW Sydney), Monash Graduate Scholarship and Postgraduate Law Deans Award, and the best PhD paper award at the 9^th Oceanic Conference on International Studies held at the Australian National University.

Email: darynsasia@gmail.com

Dr Gil Daryn is a social anthropologist (PhD Cambridge 2002) and published scholar with expertise on the culture, society, history and politics of South Asia. Since 1989, he has visited, conducted research, worked and lived in the region for a total of over thirteen years, and currently resides in the region. In addition, he became professionally involved with asylum seekers and refugees while working in UNHCR’s Kathmandu office as an Associate Durable Solutions Officer during 2008-9. In this capacity, he went through UNHCR’s archives, read in detail many private refugee files, and became familiar with Pakistan’s Country of Origin information and the RSD process. In addition, he also conducted focus group discussions and interviews with many refugees and held detailed discussions with them. Since 2005, Dr Daryn has served as a consultant and expert on asylum and human rights and has written over 170 Expert Witness Reports. In recent years he also contributed information about specific issues to ACCORD (Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation).

Among the issues Dr Daryn often writes about are: the justice system, gender issues including so-called ‘honour killing’ and gender minorities, sectarian violence, criminal and terrorist groups, land disputes, the health including mental health systems, minority groups, political parties, and other aspects of culture, society and history of the countries in South Asia.

Email:  inge.amundsen@cmi.no

Dr Inge Amundsen is a Norwegian political scientist and researcher focussing on political economy, democratisation and human rights. His main country expertise is on Malawi, Bangladesh, Angola, and Nigeria, and his current research topics include parliaments, political parties, political corruption, civil society and informal political engagement.

Amundsen has an extensive experience with Country of Origin reports, with a production of over 130 expert reports for asylum cases, including many appeal cases (by the beginning of 2020) for UK, American, Canadian and Dutch solicitors and law firms. He is an expert on human and political rights abuse; opposition and political persecution; political violence; sexual abuse and human trafficking; discrimination of the mentally ill and access to health care; risk of FGM; persecution and social stigma of religious, ethnic and regional minorities including LGBTI+; and the risk of return and of brutal and degrading treatment and torture.

Amundsen also has a long experience in documents authenticity assessments/verifications.

Please note that Dr Amundsen is not willing to provide his expertise pro bono, except for in a few, non-demanding cases and for NGOs in the ‘global south’.

Email: K.J.Gardner@lse.ac.uk

Prof Katy Gardner trained in anthropology at Cambridge and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work has focussed on issues of globalisation, migration and economic change in Bangladesh and its transnational communities in the U.K. Her doctoral research, carried out in the 1980s, examined the transformations associated with overseas migration in a village in Sylhet, and resulted in her monograph  Global Migrants, Local Lives: Travel and Transformation in Rural Bangladesh  (OUP 1995). Katy is familiar with acting as an expert witness and has worked in this capacity for different organisations for many years.

Email: bertocci@oakland.edu

Peter J Bertocci is a retired professor of anthropology with some 4 years of research experience in Bangladesh between 1966 and 1999. His research interests focused on rural socio-economic and political organisation, requiring him to live in peasant villages and small district headquarter towns for extended periods of time. During his last visit to the country, he focused on popular Islam, in both rural and urban settings, both in small groups and at both rural and urban shrines (Mazar) of “holy men” (pirs). Among his publications will be found occasional articles summarising political events at the national level for journals specialising in Asian politics.

Email: saqebmahbub@gmail.com

Saqeb Mahbub is a UK-educated lawyer and independent consultant based in Bangladesh. Saqeb Mahbub regularly represents clients in Banglaeshi courts in cases involving enforcement of fundamental rights. He completed his Bachelors and Masters in Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was called to the Bar of England and Wales as a Barrister by the Hon’ble Society of Lincoln’s Inn.  He has extensive experience working in and advising international organisations such as UNDP, UNHCR, USAID and DANIDA, particularly on subjects of access to justice, human rights and governance.  Saqeb Mahbub’s opinion pieces on politics and law have been published in most major English newspapers in Bangladesh.

Email: ali@policy.hu

Dr Syed Mohammad Ali is an anthropologist with twenty years of experience working on international development, governance, human rights, and human security challenges within the South Asian context. Besides his academic writings, which include a book, several book chapters and academic articles, Dr Ali writes a weekly newspaper op-ed since 2004. Dr. Ali is a Non-Resident Scholar affiliated with the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. He does research on varied socio-cultural and political challenges confronting Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. He is experienced in preparing a variety of evidence-based reports, including project evaluations, terrain assessments, and policy and position papers for bilateral and multilateral agencies, and for prominent think-tanks like the United States Institute of Peace. Dr. Ali has also taught graduate and undergraduate level in Australia and the United States. Recently, he has been teaching graduate seminar courses at American, Georgetown, George Washington, and Johns Hopkins Universities. Dr. Ali speaks Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.