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 a lawyer, specialized in Swiss law relevant to international organisations and international public law, including expertise on the United Nations. Kamelia also has a direct experience of intergovernmental multilateral negotiation and diplomacy.
Before joining the Global Cities Hub, Kamelia was Executive Manager at the Geneva Academy. She also worked as Special Assistant to the President of the UN Human Rights Council for three years. She was a Visiting Programme Director at Wilton Park. 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
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, Washington D.C. 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.
SIMONE SESSOLO
Event and Digital Content Coordinator
Simone holds a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Oslo.
Before joining the Global Cities Hub, he was a research assistant at the University of Oslo, working at the Centre for Research on Extremism (C-REX) on right-wing political violence and terrorism in Western Europe. In addition, he collected data for the “Socially Distanced Solidarity” project at C-REX and for “The Emergence, Life, and Demise of Autocratic Regimes” project and the “Policies of Dictatorships” project at the Department of Political Science.
Earlier, Simone was an intern at the Peace Research Institute Oslo and at the Geneva Environment Network, where he worked on social media and digital content production as well as on events planning and organization.
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.
JESÚS MAYA
Academic Intern
Jesús Maya holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tecnológico de Monterrey and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Transitional Justice at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He is also an active social entrepreneur and the founder of Eheco, a collective organization and think tank focused on sustainable development, human rights, and environmental issues in Mexico and Latin America. He was honored with the 2018 National Youth Award of Mexico and received international recognition as a “Young Innovator Creating a Better World for All” by the Women Economic Forum in 2019.
He also has experience in diplomatic missions and international delegations, including participation in the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2023, UN General Assembly (UNGA) 2023, and serving as a delegate for Mexico at the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC).