The Centre for Minorities Research is excited to launch My Life In…, a new public seminar series that highlights the professional journeys of individuals working with minorities and vulnerable communities across diverse sectors. Designed to reach beyond academic circles, the series offers an open and accessible platform for audiences to engage with real-world experiences and reflections from practitioners whose work directly impacts lives on the ground.
Each session features an interview-style conversation with an invited professional, followed by an open Q&A. Seminars run from 3PM to 4PM (GMT) and are recorded and later adapted into podcast and YouTube episodes, expanding the reach and accessibility of the discussions.
The series is open to all – including students, staff, alumni, and members of the wider community.
Register here!
Seminar Program
28 January 2026, 3-4PM (GMT)
Host: Dr Stavroula Pipyrou
Guest: Rita Izsák-Ndiaye
About the Host
Dr Stavroula Pipyrou is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and the Founding Director of the Centre for Minorities Research. She has conducted long-term ethnographic research with minorities and displaced populations in Italy and Greece, and her work explores governance, political representation, and Cold War legacies in Europe. She is the author of The Grecanici of Southern Italy(2016) and Lurking Cold War (2025) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland. Stavroula is editor of the Routledge Advances in Minority Studies series.
About the Guest
Rita Izsák-Ndiaye is a human rights expert and diplomat with extensive experience in minority rights, equality policy, and international advocacy. She currently serves as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Hungary in Azerbaijan. Her previous international roles include serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, member and Rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Children and Security.
25 February 2026, 3-4PM (GMT)
Host: Prof Nina Laurie
Guest: Renato Gozzer Wuest
About the Host
Nina Laurie is Professor of Human Geography at the University of St Andrews, where her work addresses social inclusion, international development, and environmental sustainability through long-term field research with marginalised and Indigenous communities. She has conducted research across Latin America and South Asia, focusing on topics including development, climate resilience, and participatory approaches to geographical knowledge. Professor Laurie’s contributions have been recognised with awards such as the Royal Geographical Society’s Busk Medal, and she continues to lead interdisciplinary projects that centre community-grounded perspectives in global development debates.
About the Guest
Renato Gozzer Wuest is a Program Director with extensive experience in sustainable fisheries and marine conservation across Latin America. He leads regional initiatives at the Innovations for Ocean Action Foundation, focusing on improving fisheries governance, socio-economic sustainability, and public-private partnerships to support coastal communities and marine resource management. His work also includes research on artisanal fisheries value chains and sustainable development in the region.
11 March 2026, 3-4PM (GMT)
Host: Prof Christos Lynteris
Guest: Dr Elliot Fara Nandrasana Rakotomanana
About the Host
Christos Lynteris is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. His research examines epidemics—especially zoonotic diseases—through historical, visual, and ethnographic approaches, with regional expertise in China and Inner Asia. He is a leading scholar of the third plague pandemic and currently directs major projects on the global history of zoonosis and rat control.
About the Guest
Elliot Fara Nandrasana Rakotomanana is a researcher at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar whose work focuses on zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, epidemiological surveillance, and public health interventions in Madagascar. His research contributes to improving disease prevention and control in ecologically and socially diverse contexts.
8 April 2026, 3-4PM (BST)
Host: Dr Alasdair Gordon-Gibson
Guests: David Horobin
About the Host
Alasdair Gordon-Gibson has over twenty-five years of experience in humanitarian response, primarily with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. His work has included senior leadership roles with the ICRC, IFRC, and British Red Cross across contexts such as Iraq, Syria, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kosovo, India, Moscow and Damascus. He is currently an Honorary Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies, and holds an MPhil and PhD from the University of St Andrews.
About the Guest
David Horobin is Senior Crisis Management Advisor, Crisis Management Cluster at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) with more than 25 years operational experience in emergency and crisis management in natural and conflict related contexts in both field and HQ functions. Previous positions have included as Head of Crisis Management and Security at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and as Director of the Operations Team (CHASE-OT) at the UK’s Governments Department for International Development (DFID).
13 May 2026, 3-4PM (BST)
Host: Prof. Alice König
Guests: Will Dalziel and Dr Patrícia Nabuco Martuscelli
About the Host
Alice König is a Professor at the School of Classics, University of St Andrews, and Director of Impact. Her work spans Roman imperial literature, ancient and modern narratives of war and peace, and the social application of classical studies. She leads the Visualising War and Visualising Peace projects and co-founded the Visualising War podcast, combining scholarship, public engagement, and activism to explore how stories shape our understanding of conflict and peace.
About the Guests
Will Dalziel is Director of Programmes at the charity Never Such Innocence, which works to give children and young people a voice on conflict and peace through art, poetry, music and creative expression.
Patrícia Nabuco Martuscelli is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sheffield and Co-Director of the Migration Research Group. Her work focuses on forced migration, particularly the experiences of refugee and migrant children, family reunification, humanitarian visas, and the implementation of asylum and migration policies in Latin America, with a strong emphasis on Brazil. She also researches the role of border agents and state institutions in shaping migrant journeys, as well as the broader intersections between childhood, human rights, and mobility.
3 June 2026, 3-4PM (BST)
Host: Dr Ana Gutierrez Garza
Guest: Alejandra Ancheita
About the Host
Ana Gutierrez Garza is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. Her research focuses on Latin American migration, gender, care, and social inequality, drawing on long-term ethnographic work in the UK, Spain, and the US. She has published widely on migrant women’s labour, precarity, housing activism, and the everyday strategies through which migrants navigate and resist structural inequalities. Dr Gutierrez Garza also co-directs the Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
About the Guest
Alejandra Ancheita is a human rights lawyer and activist from Mexico. She founded the NGO ProDESC (Project on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), which defends the rights of workers, migrants, indigenous communities and other marginalized groups. Over many years, she has led strategic litigation and campaigning against abuses by transnational companies—especially around labour, land, and environmental justice. In recognition of her courageous work, she received the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2014.