Policy Team

Sarah Chaya Smith

Co-Editor & Founder

Sarah Chaya Smith is currently enrolled in the MSc in Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice at SOAS. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh reading Social Anthropology. Her dissertation focused on the politics of resistance among a prolific women-led peace activist group in Washington, D.C., drawing on fieldwork conducted whilst on her year abroad studying at the University of Maryland. Currently, Sarah is a Peace Advocacy Fellow with NGO Balfour Project alongside a Research Associate with the CCRJ. Sarah also has experience working in US Congress and environmental peace building NGO EcoPeace Middle East. 

Contact: 686498@soas.ac.uk

Ana Guimarães

Co-Editor & Founder

Ana Guimarães is an MSc candidate in Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice at SOAS. Prior to SOAS, Ana did her BA and MA in Psychology in Portugal, where she wrote her thesis on altruism and its contributions to peace. After completing her studies, she worked in the Middle East, including in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, while publishing work in the field of psychology in humanitarian settings. She believes in the existence and power of a more altruistic and solidary lens to international affairs. Ana is currently part of a student-led organization that advocates for disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, SCRAP, and is collaborating in the Centre for Conflict Rights and Justice as a Research Associate. She surfs whenever she can and is a fan of pepperoni, Mahler and Dostoevsky. Unfortunately, she doesn’t think the same about raisins.

Contact: 685613@soas.ac.uk

Aoife Delaney

Graphic Designer

Aoife Delaney is studying the MSc in Politics of Conflicts, Rights and Justice at SOAS. She is a Research Associate with the Centre for Conflicts, Rights and Justice as well as an Enough is Enough Co-ordinator for consent classes at SOAS university. Aoife has always been passionate about feminist justice and combating gender-based violence in all its forms. Her prior work experience has consisted of various campaigns in the Sexual Violence Centre Cork, the UCC Feminist Society and she continues to volunteer with the Women’s Aid national helpline. She did her undergraduate degree in Criminology and her dissertation focused on female sexuality and conceptions of deviance in Ireland. Turning to an international context at SOAS, Aoife plans to investigate the relationship between sexual violence and rationales for foreign intervention through an intersectional feminist lens.

Contact: 685442@soas.ac.uk

The Centre on Conflicts, Rights and Justice (CCRJ) was established in 2010 by the Department of Politics and International Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Every year the CCRJ aspires to produce exciting research, organise stimulating events and facilitate challenging discussions.

This year we have hosted numerous webinars and book launches with established scholars across the globe who tackle complex issues of justice, forgiveness and the institutions we use to make sense out of these ambiguous concepts.

CCRJ scholars and research associates are involved in several ongoing collaborative research projects on human rights futures, comparative international courts, the role of paternalism in human rights advocacy, immigration law, and the impact of transitional justice on peace, stability, and human rights compliance.

The Centre also includes an active student-led blog that publishes thought-provoking articles on themes of conflict, transitional justice, peace and human rights.

Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice

Great Russell St WC1H 0XG London, United Kingdom