Core Team & Network Members

Padraic is the Deputy Director of SCI and has over 25 years experience in social change within Northern Ireland and internationally.

Avila is SCI Migration and Peacebuilding Executive. She has worked in the community sector and philanthropy in Northern Ireland since 1975.

Raissa is the Communications and Digital Content Lead at SCI. She has over 14 years of experience in strategic communications across marketing, public relations and digital communications.

Michael Posner is an SCI Board Member and the co-director of the NYU Center for Business and Human Rights and the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU Stern.

Zilola Imomova is a lawyer, human rights and art activist from Tajikistan. Zilola currently works at the NGO Office of Civil Freedoms as an assistant lawyer.

Sibongile Ndashe is the founder and executive director of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA).

Pradip is the Deputy Director of the Dalit Foundation, an organisation focused on strengthening Dalit youth leadership through fellowships and innovative strategies to eradicate untouchability practices based on caste and gender.

Jestina Mukoko is a human rights champion and peace practitioner, as well as the Founder and President of the Jestina Mukoko Foundation (JMF), an organisation dedicated to providing victims of human rights abuse with a platform for healing and restoration.

Anna Dobrovolskaya is a human rights defender, researcher, and educator, and the former executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial Human Rights Center in Russia.

Ghislain Muhiwa is an activist with the citizen movement Struggle for Change (LUCHA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He finished his studies in Public Economics in 2015 at Goma University and works professionally as a researcher in social sciences and financier for humanitarian organizations.

Ali is a Rohingya refugee activist currently based in New Delhi, India. He is one of the founding members of Rohingya Human Rights Initiative. Ali plans to become a human rights lawyer and advocate for stateless people and refugees and their detention crisis.

Teresa is a Polish migrant woman living in Ireland since 2005 and is Integration Manager, at the Immigrant Council of Ireland. In her study and work, Teresa is highly invested in facilitating and enhancing migrant leadership.

Ritupon is based in Assam in India and has over 20 years of hands-on experience in community development in both urban and rural settings. 

Kavisha is an activist who is currently employed as the Head of Stakeholder Relations and Campaigns at Corruption Watch. Her fellowship will explore the current impact of disinformation in the South African context.

Palika, an SCI Fellow, is an activist and media maker, utilising participatory film and photography as tools for change.

Saket, an SCI Fellow, is a leading community and labour organiser working at the intersection of racial justice, migrant rights, and workers’ rights.

Rory, part of the SCI Fellowship Programme, works  to empower the voices of marginalised young people in Northern Ireland.

Brad is an SCI Fellow and an activist from South Africa who previously led Equal Education, a movement campaigning for quality and equality in the education system.

Seán, an SCI Fellow, is Assistant Director of Programmes at Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) based in Belfast.

Phumeza, an SCI Fellow, is a prominent activist for social change from South Africa.

Irũngũ, an SCI Fellow, has over 20 years’ experience of public interest activism and campaigning in Kenya.

Monina has been a peacebuilding activist in Northern Ireland for over 30 years.

Opal, part of the SCI Fellowship Programme, is a Nigerian-American community organiser, activist, Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and a co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

Katrina, an SCI fellow, is an experienced youth and community worker in Northern Ireland.  She is also a participant in SCI's Peace Building Mentoring programme.  

Alice, an SCI Fellow, is an experienced activist from Botswana who has led that country’s Centre for Human Rights (Ditshwanelo) for over 20 years.

Gary is an SCI Fellow and Methodist minister who has spent almost 30 years working in Belfast in areas at the heart of the conflict. 

Yashar, an SCI Fellow, trains a network of young refugee activists and supports their personal development.

Seán, an SCI Fellow, has worked for over 30 years as a grass roots peacebuilder in the most politically marginalised communities in Northern Ireland.

Miranda is the Director of the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. 

Stephanie is a community organiser and founder of Act Build Change, a free online training platform to learn how to organise and campaign.

Nicola is a human rights activist with 18 years experience in academia, civil society and non-governmental organisations.

Marissa works in Belfast as a project organiser on a joint project between Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR) and the Simon Community NI focusing on homelessness.

Jonathan has worked in the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland for over 15 years.

Mony is a U.S. immigration lawyer, organiser and the Executive Director of PASO – West Suburban Action Project in Melrose Park, Illinois. 

Dominika is an Advocacy Officer at SolidarityNow, Athens.  

Rebecca has dedicated her professional career to leveraging philanthropy and strategic investment to advance human rights and social justice.

Andrew is European Media Director of Human Rights Watch based in Brussels.

Mary Meg leads a human rights organisation providing direct legal services to immigrants and refugees while advancing systemic reform.

Niall is the regional communications coordinator for IMIX in the West Midlands area of England working in the migration sector.

Luna focuses on issues relating to homophobia and the lack of recognition of civil rights for LGBT people in Italy.

Amie is a community development worker from Creggan in Derry, N. Ireland.

Teresa works as the Integration Manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

Steve is Director of Communications at British Future, an independent think-tank engaging peoples’ hopes and fears about integration and immigration.

Martin Doyle is currently Books Editor for The Irish Times, and before that worked for The Irish World, and as Editor of The Irish Post in London. 

Judith has been a journalist for 13 years and has reported on many key news events in Northern Ireland, as well as stories in a number of countries around the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and India.

Sean is a documentary film maker, academic, and community activist. His fellowship included the production of two documentaries on how the pandemic impacted divided communities in Belfast.

Susan works at the Falls Women’s Centre in Belfast and has more than 30 years of experience in supporting communities affected by conflict and economic disadvantage. 

Darren has been working in the community sector since 2007 and has developed models of conflict transition and transformation which has strengthened the roots of local peacebuilding and community development. 

Cillian McGivern is a community activist working in the Upper Springfield Development Trust as a coordinator of the Upper Springfield Whiterock Integrated Partnership in Belfast.

Philip works for a cross community initiative in Belfast and is completing a fellowship that focuses on an oral history project.

Emma is a youth worker in the Equality Work with Young Women’s team of Youth Action NI. Emma’s focus has been on violence against women and girls, mental health, women’s rights and equality, and much more.

Seán has been a community activist in Belfast since the early 1990's. For the last four years he has been a Good Relations/Peace Advocacy worker with the North Belfast Interface Network (NBIN).

Leanne works in community development in Northern Ireland. She is focused on creating positive change in her community which has included the use of restorative practices. 

Luke is an investigative journalist in Belfast. He has covered a wide range of issues, including policing and the human stories around migration in Northern Ireland, for local and international press.

Sipho is a community activist helping to support people seeking refuge in Northern Ireland. She is Deputy Chair for BME Women’s Network.