Meet Our Team

Dr. Hugo Slim

Co-founder

Dr. Hugo Slim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford. He is also the Academic Director of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights, and affiliated to the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford. He was Head of Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2015-2020 and Chief Scholar at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva from 2003-2007. He was Reader in International Humanitarianism at Oxford Brookes University from 1994-2003 and has worked as a frontline humanitarian for Save the Children and the United Nations, and as a board member of Oxfam GB and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). Hugo has authored many refereed journal papers and books, including: Humanitarian Ethics: A Guide to the Morality of Aid in War and Disaster and Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War, and Solferino 21: Warfare, Civilians and Humanitarians in the Twenty First Century.

Cheyney Ryan

Co-Founder

Cheyney is a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University where he is a founding member of its Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, now in the Blavatnik School of Government. His focus is on nonviolence, pacifism, and the critique of just war theory. He was previously a member of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Program. He is also a founder and co-chair of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights which conducts human rights workshops for students in Oxford, New York, Geneva, Brazil, and other locations. Cheyney has been a Global Ethics Fellow and Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs, and a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Loughborough University, UK. 

Cheyney previously taught at the University of Oregon where he was a professor of philosophy and professor of law and co-founded the Peace Studies Program and the Masters Program in Conflict Resolution. He has also taught at Northwestern University, Harvard Law School, the University of Hawaii/Matsanuga Peace Institute, and Boston University.

Cheyney has published two books, most recently Pacifism as War Abolitionism, and seventy academic articles in addition to numerous editorials and commentaries on political events. An article of Cheyney’s on pacifism was recognized by the Philosophers Annual (1983) as one of the top articles that year. He received the Joseph J. Blau Prize in 2003 from the Society for Advancement of American Philosophy for significant contributions to the history of American philosophy for his work on pragmatism and war.

Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox

Executive Director

Sujata is Executive Director of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights, and Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Chair of the Department of Justice and Law at Quinnipiac University, where she teaches classes in constitutional law, comparative law, and human rights law. Sujata is Senator for District 22 in the Connecticut General Assembly, representing Bridgeport, Trumbull, and Monroe. Sujata also serves as a Commissioner on the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities in Connecticut (CHRO). 

She has a special interest in community action planning and political engagement, and conducts research on the process of constitutional drafting in India and the United States.

Susan Dichter

Chief Operating Officer

Susan is the chief operating officer for the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights, and a 20 year employee at CT State Northwestern Community College, where she worked as program director of Team Success Scholars, mentoring underrepresented students. In 2021 Susan developed Peer2Peer, a peer-based mentoring program, and now teaches a College & Career Success course to first-year students.  In 2012 Susan was nominated for the State of CT Higher Education Community Service Award for establishing a mobile food pantry system in her college community. Susan received the Congressional Merit Award in 2017 and 2021 for continuous high levels of service and positive impact on the college. Marrying into a family of Holocaust survivors and as a first-generation college student herself, Susan is dedicated to advancing human rights, fostering community action, and empowering students to achieve their highest potential. In 2022-2023 Susan worked as an ambassador to OCHR across the 12 campuses of Connecticut State Community College, developing a pipeline of opportunity for students statewide to attend OCHR workshops. She has been sending students to OCHR workshops since 2017.

Katie Dwyer

Program Director

Katie is the Program Director for Oxford Consortium for Human Rights events and is a member of the OCHR Board. She is also the Program Director of the Prison Education and Community Reentry Program at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. This program operates in three Oregon prisons and provides adult basic education, an Associate’s Degree program, vocational education, and reentry support services. She has been involved in prison education work since 2007. She was a Mitchell Scholar and received a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She has been involved with the Consortium since 2015.

Tamara Niella

Academic Coordinator 

Tamara began to work on research in social cognition during her undergraduate studies at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, with a focus on human cooperation and collective decision-making. Afterward, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Oregon, where her research explored the importance of face-to-face dialogue in cross-ideological conversations. In her current position as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Cognition, Values, and Behavior lab, her work is centered on science communication, aiming to bridge data gaps and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. She has experience working on science education through her past role as an instructor and organizer at Expedicion Ciencia, an Argentinian non-profit focused on teaching scientific and critical thinking through science camps for teenagers and workshops for educators. Additionally, since 2020 she has served as Academic Coordinator for the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights, organizing interdisciplinary workshops on global issues and human rights.

Jessie DePonte

Financial Manager

In addition to being the Financial Manager of OCHR, Jessie is the Program Director of Team Success Scholars at CT State Community College Northwestern. She is passionate about finding meaningful employment for young people facing various barriers. Jessie also works as a faculty member teaching college and career success, English and other humanities courses.