Centre Continues To Grow With New Team Members

We recently welcomed three new additions to our team who will be supporting the Centre’s work in various areas.  

Research Interns, Mercy Muriithi and Subha Nivedha Sahanmuga Sundaram are supporting Kat Craig, Senior Advisor on Remedy, for a 6 month period.  During this time they will assist in developing guidance for sports bodies on how to conduct Affected Person-centred investigations into abuse allegations, how to develop AP-centred resolution processes and how to safely and constructively co-create solutions to prevent recurrence of abuse.

Mercy, a recent graduate of KU Leuven’s Sport Ethics and Integrity Master’s programme, has previously completed an internship with the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) founded by World Athletics. Originally from Kenya, Mercy is now based in Germany and offers expertise and a cultural understanding which will be critical for the remedy research project.

Subha, a qualified advocate in Mumbai, has professional experience relating to the prevention of sexual exploitation of children through a previous internship with ECPAT International.  Subha is the founder of MSAAW Foundation, and runs the organisation’s work addressing gender-rights issues and sexually-based gender violence.  MSAAW focuses on aiding victims through a trauma-informed approach, which will assist in complementing and enhancing the Centre’s remedy project.

Academic placements are also being undertaken by Thwane Fouche and Nils Voggensperger.  These positions are held by students, undertaken on a for-credit basis.

Thwane, originally from South Africa and now an undergraduate student of Law and Business at Griffith University in Australia, is working with Gender Advisor Thays Prado. She has a number of learning objectives and projects including working with Thays supporting the preparation and delivery of Gender Equality sessions at the 2021 Sporting Chance Forum and is working to analyse the legacy of the Tokyo Olympics on gender equality.

Nils is a masters student at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), specialising in Sport and Leisure Management.  Now coming towards the end of his eleven week academic placement with the Centre, Nils has worked closely with Alison Biscoe, Programmes and Partnerships Manager and Guido Battaglia, Head of Policy and Outreach.  Nils’ work has focused on outreach and stakeholder engagement, and risk assessments of Mega-Sport Events in relation to human rights commitments.  Amongst other tasks, Nils has greatly supported the Centre’s work and we wish him well for the completion of his degree and his promising future career. 

As we welcome and introduce our newest team members, we also congratulate Pedro José Mercado Jaén, who previously joined the Centre on an academic placement whilst completing his Legal Practice Masters degree at the University of Grenada.  During his time with the Centre, Pedro worked alongside the Child Rights team and focused particularly on the research of e-Sports, Artificial Intelligence and the rights of children.  He has since joined ENGSO Youth, the independent youth body for the European Sports NGO as part of the diplomacy working group - congratulations and good luck Pedro!