Helen Hintjens

Background disciplines are: African Studies, International Relations & Global Politics of Development, Conflict and Peace Studies, Human Rights and Social Justice; Surveillance and Forced Migration; Media, Radio and Education with On-line Simulations; Gender, Nationalism and Identities; Post-colonial Studies; Global Social Movements.

Main research interests are: African Great Lakes Region, conflict and peace; Genocide; Post-Genocide Justice and Rights in Rwanda; Global Social Justice Movements; Advocacy for Refugee Rights; The International Criminal Court-NGO interface; Gender and Identity Politics; Comparative Governance (Caribbean -Great Lakes region).  Emerging publications and interest in Surveillance Studies (LISS).

My professional activities have included presenting papers at international workshops and conferences several times per year (UNRISD, International Association for the Study of Forced Migration, E-Learning); writing regular reviews for journals (Millennium, Ethnicities, Community Development Journal, Development and Change, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Development and Change etc); reviewing journal submissions; assessing major and individual funding proposals for ESRC, Nuffield, Leverhulme, NWO (Dutch funding body) among others. I have also advised UK All-Party Committees in relation to Great Lakes and UK Caribbean Overseas Territories. Pro bono expert reports for asylum appeals (esp. East DRC and Rwanda).

Teaching responsibilities: Since 2005 at Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Netherlands, Deputy Convenor for Human Rights, Development and Social Justice Masters. I helped establish a new Masters in Conflict, Reconstruction and Human Security (first intake 2007-8). I have supervised research by both Masters and PhD. students since 1989. I have a strong interest in e-based learning, in film and fiction, and in on-line role play simulation exercises, especially linked with Gender Justice, Land Rights and Media, both in The African Great Lakes region and Venezuela. I seek to encourage active student-centred learning.

Major overseas experience.   I have worked and conducted and in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and in Australia, The Caribbean, South Africa, UK and France. Rights-based and justice-centred approaches are core to my interests, from international to local levels. I research and am engaged in global networks promoting peace, social justice and human rights, including for undocumented people.  A central concern has been to link conflict and peace studies with human rights, gender and refugee regimes, especially in Europe.  I have special regional interests in Rwanda and the African Great Lakes region, and in non-sovereign Caribbean territories of EU member states. 

KEY RESEARCH INTERESTS
Genocide, and post-Genocide Justice in Rwanda; Conflict and Peace in the Great Lakes Region; Post-genocide reconstruction and Identity in Rwanda; Politics of Identity, Conflict and Environment (Sahel and Great Lakes region); Global Justice and Human Rights; Undocumented Asylum Seekers in the EU, especially UK, Netherlands and France; Migration and Free Movement Advocacy; Politics of Caribbean & Indian Ocean non-sovereign islands of France, UK, Netherlands; E-learning in Global Development; Ethics of International Development; Social Development Professionals and Academic Freedom.

Current employment
Senior Lecturer in Development and Social Justice, Human Rights, Development and Social Justice MA, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague April 2005-present