About the Contributors

Elizabeth Andersen is Executive Director of the World Justice Project, advancing the rule of law through research, advocacy, and support for a global stakeholder network. Ms Andersen has over 25 years of experience in the international legal arena, having served previously as Director of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative; Executive Director of the American Society of International Law; and Executive Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute, she is the chair-elect of the Williams College Board of Trustees and serves on the governing and advisory boards of several other non-profit organizations. Ms Andersen has received a number of awards for her work in the international rule of law field, including the ABA Section of International Law World Order Under Law Award. She has a B.A. from Williams College, an M.P.A. from Princeton University, and a J.D. from Yale University.

Michelle E. Anderson’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of law and policy, human rights, and inequities. Her current work centers on global health, including sexual and reproductive health, social determinants of health, and access to health services. Michelle’s professional experience spans the United States, Northern Ireland, the Palestinian territories, and several African countries, particularly South Africa, where she has researched and consulted on political conflict, post-conflict recovery, and access to justice. She received her PhD from the University of Cape Town for her thesis on conflict actors, media, and transitional justice. Michelle also holds an M.Phil. in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Trinity College Dublin and Undergraduate degrees in Human Rights and Anthropology from Southern Methodist University.

Ariel C. Armony serves as Provost and Executive Vice President at Babson College. From 2015 to 2024, he led the University of Pittsburgh’s global engagement and strategy as the Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs and Director of the University Center for International Studies, home to seven academic centers. Prior to joining Pitt, he led the Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas at the University of Miami. A political scientist, Armony has received fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Kellogg Foundations. His most recent book, Emerging Global Cities: Origin, Structure, and Significance, explores the transformation of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore into global centers of commerce, finance, and art. He has also written extensively on the relationship between China and Latin America, democratization, and civil society.

Anthony Tirado Chase is a Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College. Chase has published widely on human rights in the Middle East and globally, with a particular focus on how global norms – from human rights, the Sustainable Development Goals, and transitional justice – can be re-imagined at local levels. These themes inform his most recent book, the co-edited Human Rights at the Intersections: Transformation Through Local, Global, and Transnational Challenges (Bloomsbury, 2023).

Sofia Gruskin directs the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH). She is a Distinguished Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Law, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Disease Prevention, Policy and Global Health Division at the Keck School of Medicine; Professor of Law and Preventive Medicine at the Gould School of Law. Gruskin currently sits on numerous international boards and committees, including the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board; the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health; the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Population Registers, Ethics and Human Rights; and the Lancet Commission on Health and Human Rights.

Alvaro Herrero is an expert in governance, transparency, and the rule of law with extensive experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. As Undersecretary for Strategic Management and Institutional Quality in the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, he was responsible for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and in 2019 he led Buenos Aires to become one of the first cities in the world to submit a voluntary local review to the United Nations. He has a long history of involvement in civil rights and public policy NGOs. He is currently the Executive Director of the International Open Justice Network. His latest book, Disruptive Cities, is a collection of experiences from cities using the 2030 Agenda as a strategy to address the COVID-19 pandemic. He holds a law degree (Universidad Nacional de La Plata), an M.A. in Latin American Studies (Georgetown University), and a Ph.D. in Political Science (University of Oxford).

Gaea Morales is a PhD candidate in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Her research agenda is centered on the questions of how global governance ideas translate into local action and the role of sub-national actors in shaping global politics. Her work focuses on issues and threats that transcend territorial boundaries, such as the political economy of climate change and the environment and transnational human rights movements, with regional expertise on Southeast Asian metropolitans (Metro Manila, Philippines; Bangkok, Thailand, and Jakarta, Indonesia). Her work has been published in the Journal of Human Rights, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Sustainability. Prior to USC, she worked as a program coordinator to support the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of International Affairs’ efforts to localize the Sustainable Development Goals. She graduated with a BA in Diplomacy and World Affairs and French Studies from Occidental College.

Thomas Probert is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria), where he leads a multidisciplinary initiative aimed at bringing together the developmental fields of crime and violence prevention with the human rights-based approach toward the protection of the right to life. This has involved a close engagement with SDG 16, including serving as a consultant to the South African government in the development of its first national SDG Report in 2019. More recently he has been focusing on questions of civic freedoms, and particularly the right of peaceful assembly, first in close partnership with the UN Human Rights Committee in the development of its General Comment No.37 and has co-edited the Oxford Handbook on the subject. Prior to these roles, he was a research consultant and special advisor to the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, based in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Thomas is also a Research Associate at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights (University of Cambridge), where he leads a research theme on justice and accountability.