ANH THU DUONG
Co-Director, Policy and Partnerships
Before joining the Global Cities Hub, Anh Thu has worked 15 years at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), where she contributed to the multilateral engagement of Switzerland with the United Nations and other International Organizations.
She has extensive diplomatic multilateral expertise and robust negotiation skills in human rights and humanitarian affairs. During her tenure at the Swiss FDFA, she was seconded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and to the Presidency of the Human Rights Council.
Anh Thu holds an Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, a Master degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies and a Master of Arts in Politics and International Relations from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
KAMELIA KEMILEVA
Co-Director, Programmes and Administration
Kamelia, holding an MBA, has in-depth experience in executive administration of non-profit organisations. She is also a lawyer, specialized in Swiss law relevant to international organisations and international public law, including expertise on the United Nations.
She has also a direct experience of intergovernmental multilateral negotiation and diplomacy.
Before joining the Global Cities Hub, Kamelia was Executive Manager at the Geneva Academy. Before this she worked as Special Assistant to the President of the UN Human Rights Council for three years. She was also a Visiting Programme Director at Wilton Park, a forum which challenges existing ideas, generates new ones, and is expertly facilitated. Previously to that, she worked at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
Before moving to the public sector, Kamelia worked for two years in the private sector in a Geneva-based private bank as a compliance officer. She’s a part-time Senior Consultant in axlr.ch. AxLR supports companies, international organizations and governments, both local and national in their professional projects through consultancy, coaching and skills training.
ANDRÀS SZORÉNYI PH.D.
Senior Policy Advisor
András joined the Global Cities Hub after 20 years of distinguished diplomatic career. He worked in different capacities in Brussels, covering EU affairs, Washington D.C. dealing with bilateral relations and in Geneva, working with the United Nations and other International Organizations. He has first-hand experience of negotiating in the European Union and the UN system as well as conceptualizing and implementing diplomatic initiatives on a wide variety of issues.
With a deep knowledge of international relations, he always focuses on new global developments and emerging challenges. He has a broad understanding of the engagement of non-state actors on multi-stakeholder platforms. He has been particularly interested in the increasing influence of non-state actors on the development of international relations since his Ph.D. research.
András holds a Ph.D. in International Economics from Corvinus University, a DEA in Comparative Political Sciences from Sciences Po Paris and a Master degree in International Relations from the University of Economics in Budapest.
STÉPHANE HANKINS
Consultant
Stéphane Hankins holds graduate degrees in public international law and international trade and EU law from the University of Paris I (Sorbonne). He also pursued graduate studies at Louisiana State University and Central European University. He has held teaching assignments at universities in Poland, France, and Monaco. Hankins began his career coordinating relief and training programs in Khmer refugee camps in Thailand. He spent most of his career with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where he served on missions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later as a regional legal advisor in Thailand and Malaysia.
Based at ICRC’s Moscow Delegation for four years, he was responsible for ICRC’s International Humanitarian Law dissemination programmes to academic circles in the CIS region from 1994 to 2018. From 2003, he worked with ICRC’s Advisory service and from 2009, as global legal adviser for cooperation and coordination within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. He is Laureate of the “1999 Hugo Grotius Prize for an outstanding contribution to International law” in the Russian Federation.
TATIANA AVANTHAY
Communications Consultant
Tatiana Avanthay is a communications consultant for the Global Cities Hub. She handles website updates, social media campaigns, videos and graphic content.
She is an experienced communication specialist working with academia, NGOs and International Organisations for over 10 years. Tatiana holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Savoie, as well as a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Project Management from the University of Geneva.