Email: romanistudies@mac.com

Dr Marsh is based in Istanbul, Turkey where he has been working with the Romani and Gypsy communities of the region since 2002. He gained his PhD in Romani Studies from Greenwich University (London), his MA (South East European Studies) from SOAS/SSEES and completed his BA Hons (1st) in East European History at SSEES, London. He has also been a Gypsy/Traveller Education Support Teacher in London. He teaches courses on Romani history and culture, trans-national forced migration, refugee studies and human rights and children’s rights in Turkey, Sweden, the UK, Albania, Kosovo, Romania, Cyprus and Egypt. He is a frequent and accredited expert for the European Commission, Council of Europe and the European Parliament and has published widely on the issues of Roma rights and Romani children’s rights, Romani history, language and cultures. He has also been a consultant for a number of major NGO’s (European Roma Rights Centre, Save the Children, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly) and has produced many research reports in both capacities. He has also acted as an expert witness in a number of refugee cases involving Romani and Gypsy people from Turkey, the Balkans and Egypt seeking asylum in the UK. He is of English Romany-Traveller origins himself. 

Email: mbucur@indiana.edu

Dr Maria Bucur-Deckard is a professor of history at Indiana University and has served as the director of the University’s Russian and East European Institute. She has published extensively on Romanian history and culture with a special focus on gender and ethnonationalism. Dr Bucur-Deckard sits on the Advisory Board of the Society For Romanian Studies, she speaks Romanian fluently and currently researches democratic citizenship in Romania.

Email: r.bratu@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Roxana Bratu coordinates the activity of the ANTICORRP project, investigating the factors that promote or hinder the development of effective anti-corruption policies. She is a research associate at UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies. She conducted her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the Sociology Department. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the process of accessing European Union funding in Romania. She taught courses on Sociology, Statistics and Criminology. Roxana works on integrity, corruption, transnational aid flows and entrepreneurship in Romania, Ukraine and other former communist countries.

Email: silvia.tabusca@profesor.rau.ro

Silvia Tabusca is a Law Professor at the Romanian-American University, School of Law (Director of the Center for Human Rights and Migration), and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Romanian Academy (of Sciences) in Bucharest, Romania. She has been working in the field of international human rights protection for over ten years, with a specific focus on non-discrimination (religion, Roma, disability, women, LGBT) and, more recently, on human security (migration, refugees, poverty, human trafficking, SDGs). Silvia is recognised as a leading consultant (working with UNDP, UNHCHR, Milieu Ltd., EU institutions/MS embassies in Romania) and an independent expert, being involved in many national and international projects. Before joining the Romanian-American University, Silvia worked as a researcher for the University of Bucharest, School of Law, as a personal advisor (in the office of Monica Macovei) for the Romanian Ministry of Justice and as a human rights fellow for the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations – NYC. Since 2010, she has been a civil rights mediator with training on negotiation (PON/Harvard) and on effective rapid decisions (POJ/Yale). Author of numerous academic papers, Silvia is also a member of well-established professional networks: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Council for European Studies – Immigration Research Network, Global Alliance for Justice Education, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection, European Society of International Law etc. Silvia was nominated by the U.S. State Department for the international award – 2015 “Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery.”