Our people
Learn more about the team behind the development of the Global Pluralism Monitor.
Global Pluralism Monitor Team
Secretary General
Meredith Preston McGhie has devoted more than 20 years to addressing conflict and instability in Africa and Asia in some of the most troubled situations. She became the Global Centre for Pluralism’s Secretary General on October 1, 2019. Most recently, as Africa Regional Director with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, she oversaw the HD Centre’s complex mediation and dialogue efforts in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sudan, Somalia and South Sudan, among other places.
Director, Programs
Jayne Barlow works with a committed and resourceful team to advance the Centre’s global programs. Prior to joining the Global Centre, Jayne held several positions within the Aga Khan Development Network, including with the University of Central Asia and Aga Khan Foundation in Canada and East Africa. Jayne has managed a wide range of portfolios supporting the AKDN’s work in rural development, financial inclusion, and health and education systems strengthening in countries in Africa and Asia.
Senior Manager
Michael is a Senior Manager of the Global Analysis program. His past work focused on policy development and policy reform in diverse contexts on a variety of issues ranging from security and policing, to legislature strengthening, and public participation in policy processes. Much of Michael’s work has been with governmental and non-governmental organizations in relatively peaceful contexts as well as areas of active conflict.
Senior Program Officer
Rajvir Gill strategizes, plans, and leads all engagement activities for the Global Pluralism Monitor. Rajvir is a Lawyer with extensive experience in human rights law, child rights, anti-human trafficking initiatives and gender-based violence projects in Canada and around the world. She has a Bachelor of Commerce Cooperative Education Degree from the University of Alberta, a Masters of Political Science from Uppsala University in Sweden, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Calgary.
Program Officer
Andrea González works on increasing engagement with our Colombian partners, providing an intersectional lens to Monitor materials, report production and website content development. Her past work focussed on gender-based sexual violence during conflict in Uganda and Colombia. Andrea has an international Bachelor of Arts (iBA Hons.) in International Studies and History, a Masters of Public and International Affairs and a Diploma in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from York University.
Technical Advisory Group
The Monitor’s development and implementation benefit from the experience and knowledge of an international group of experts with a range of thematic and geographic expertise.
Professor
Allison Harrell is the Strategic Chair on the Political Psychology of Social Solidarity at Université du Québec à Montréal. She is an expert in quantitative and survey methodologies, and is currently a Co-Director for the Consortium on Electoral Democracy. Allison has been a leader in developing experimental online protocols in Canada to measure the effect of group cues on public policy attitudes.
Director of Tom Lantos Institute
Anna-Mária Bíró is the director of the Tom Lantos Institute since 2013. Between 1996 – 2004 Anna-Mária served as the head of the Budapest Co-ordination Office of Minority Rights Group International and worked as the Advisor on Minority Affairs of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Anna-Mária was a senior consultant to the Managing Multiethnic Communities Programme, LGI/Open Society Foundations prior to joining the Tom Lantos Institute.
Director of Africa Programs
Ashad Sentogo is the Director of Africa Programs at the Auschwitz Institute for Prevention of Genocide and Other Mass Atrocities, New York (USA). He works with Members States of the Africa Union Commission to build the African Network for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. Ashad previously worked with the Genocide Prevention Program at George Mason University on Prevention of Genocide attached to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
Senior Lecturer
Corinne Lennox is a Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Corinne is Co-Director of the Human Rights Consortium. She is an expert on human rights frameworks and rights-based mobilizations by minority groups. Corinne is co-leading a joint research project called the ‘Global Governance of Minority Rights – Assessing the UN Forum on Minority Issues.’
Director of Research
Edem Selormey is the Director of Research at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). She was the Field Operations Manager for the Anglophone West Africa, East Africa, and North Africa for the Afrobarometer Network, a leading survey project that measures Africa's social, political, and economic atmosphere. Edem has considerable research experience and knowledge in social accountability mechanisms and the politics of development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Professor Emeritus
Frances Stewart is Professor Emeritus in Development Economics at Oxford University and former director of the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security, and Ethnicity (also at Oxford). She has previously worked as advisor to UNDP’s Human Development Index and consulted on early Human Development Reports. Dr. Stewart has written extensively on group-based inequalities, including Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies.
Senior Fellow
Hwok-Aun Lee is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. He is an expert on labour, social policy and education in Malaysia and worked extensively on labour policies, macroeconomic reforms and human development in Southeast Asia. Hwok Aun has researched and published widely on affirmative action in Malaysia and South Africa. He previously headed Development Studies, Faculty of Economics at University of Malaya.
Professor
Niraja Gopal Jayal joined King’s India Institute at King’s College as Avantha Chair in October 2021. Niraja is presently also Centennial Professor (2019-23) at The London School of Economics, in the Department of Gender Studies. She is an expert on state-building, citizenship, diversity and democracy in South Asia. She has served in advisory and leadership positions for initiatives like World Governance Survey (2001) and State-building in the Developing World (2009-13).
Senior Research Professor
Rachel Sieder is Senior Research Professor at the Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) in Mexico City. She is also associate senior researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway, and associate fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London. Her research interests include human rights, indigenous rights, social movements, indigenous law, legal anthropology, the state and violence.
Professor
Stefan Wolff is Professor of International Security at Birmingham University, and is an expert on the prevention, management and settlement of ethnic conflicts. He frequently advises governments and international organizations and has been involved in various stages of peace negotiations including in Iraq, Sudan, Moldova, Sri Lanka and Kosovo. He has published over 80 articles and book chapters, as well as 17 books, including Ethnic Conflict: A Global Perspective.
Professor
Will Kymlicka is the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University. Will is co-director of a new CIFAR program on Boundaries, Membership and Belonging, which explores how the boundaries of social and political membership are drawn in the contemporary world. He also co-leads the Multiculturalism Policy Index, a monitoring tool that measures policy commitments for accommodating indigenous peoples, immigrants, and national minorities in OECD countries.