Team

James Lynch

James is a founding co-director of FairSquare, and is based in London.

James was a deputy director at Amnesty International, where he managed the organization’s work on migrant labour, business and human rights, arms control and the death penalty. He previously worked for the UK Foreign Office. He researches and writes about human rights and western foreign policy in the Middle East (West Asia), including for the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is a board member of the AB Charitable Trust.

He has a Masters in International Politics from SOAS, University of London.

Susie Woodward

Susie is Operations Manager at FairSquare and is responsible for all operational aspects of the organisation as well as providing support to individual projects.

Susie has a background in law and is admitted as an attorney in Botswana where she previously worked for a human rights NGO.  She is based in the UK.

Usman Jawed

Usman is a specialist researcher and migrant worker rights advocate for FairSquare, based in India.

Usman has years of experience as a researcher and campaigner on labour rights, working with civil society organisations in India. He was trained in Sociology, completing an MPhil degree and teaching at the University of Delhi. He brings academic rigour to his research and prioritises engagement with representatives of workers and social movements.

Alex Carlen

Alex is a Human Rights Coordinator for FairSquare, carrying out research and advocacy in the UK in relation to political prisoners and freedom of expression in Egypt and the Gulf.

Alex gained experience in human rights advocacy as a Research and Advocacy Associate at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) where he focused on Human Rights and UK Foreign Policy in Bahrain, political prisoners, and sportswashing. Prior to this, Alex held multiple roles at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, working on campaigns including the relationship between climate breakdown and potential nuclear conflict.

Alex holds an MSc in Comparative Political Thought from SOAS, University of London. 

Rasha Abdul Rahim

Rasha is a non-executive director of FairSquare Projects.

Rasha is Co-Director of Amnesty Tech, a globally distributed team of advocates, hackers, researchers and technologists at Amnesty International working to ensure that advancements in technology benefit, rather than erode, human rights. She also heads up the Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Team, managing global research, policy, advocacy, and campaigning. She leads Amnesty’s work on autonomous weapons and sits on the Steering Board of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

Rasha was previously Researcher / Advisor in the Arms Control, Security Trade and Human Rights Team and was centrally involved in the global campaign to secure the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty. She holds a BA in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge, an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from SOAS and a Graduate Diploma in Law from BBP Law School. She is based in London.

Christina Hildrew

Christina is a non-executive director of FairSquare Projects.

She is an experienced international development professional with a specialism in governance and security. She has worked across the advocacy, humanitarian and development sectors for more than 12 years, designing and delivering multi-million pound donor programmes for a variety of donors including FCDO, CSSF, DFID, SIDA, ECHO and the United Nations. She has delivered programmes in South Sudan.

Christina is a Senior Manager in the Governance, Security and Justice Practice at Tetra Tech International Development Europe. She has previously worked for NGOs including Transparency International Defence and Security, Medair and CAFOD.  

She holds an MA in Governance and Development from the Institute of Development Studies. She is based in London.

Nicholas McGeehan

Nicholas is a founding co-director of FairSquare, based in France. He is an investigator and leading advocate on migrant workers’ rights and sport.

Nick was a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch for five years, where he conducted research and advocacy on a wide range of rights issues, including work on abuses in agricultural supply chains and heat-related deaths in the construction sector.

He has a PhD in the international law on slavery, forced labour and human trafficking and has written for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, and VICE. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Development. 

Marilyn Croser

Marilyn is Senior Researcher at FairSquare. She has extensive experience of human rights advocacy including eight years as Director of the Corporate Justice Coalition, the UK civil society coalition on corporate accountability, where she led advocacy to secure the supply chain reporting requirement in the UK Modern Slavery Act. She has conducted a number of research projects on access to justice, conditions in company supply chains and corporate compliance with legal requirements relating to transparency. 

Marilyn previously worked in advocacy roles at the British Refugee Council and Oxfam, where she was part of the international team that led the successful campaign for a new global treaty to control the arms trade.

Marilyn studied politics and English literature at the University of Glasgow, and has a Master’s in international peace and security from King’s College London. She is based in North West England. 

Gauri van Gulik

Gauri is a non-executive director of FairSquare Projects. She has more than 15 years of hands-on experience in human rights, research, international law, strategic communication, and in particular women’s rights, civil society in Europe, and refugee rights.

As a Principal based in Berlin, Gauri leads the grants and investments of the global philanthropic organisation Luminate in Western Europe. She was previously Europe Director at Amnesty International, responsible for all research, campaigning, and high-level advocacy on human rights in the region. Prior to that she worked as a Global Women’s Rights Advocate and a researcher and advocate in Europe at Human Rights Watch.

Gauri started her career in Brussels where she worked in the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee and at Marie Stopes International, where she analysed and influenced EU policies and development funding on reproductive health. She also ran the European Parliament Working Group on Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS. 

Nigel Mackay

Nigel is a non-executive director of FairSquare Projects.

Nigel is a partner at a leading UK human rights and personal injury law firm. He focuses on employment and discrimination law and has acted in a number of major claims for mistreated workers, including on behalf of those working in the gig economy who are denied employment rights.

Nigel regularly speaks on employment and discrimination law issues and is co-author of Employment Law and the Gig Economy, a book that considers the particular legal issues affecting employment status claims in general and gig economy work in particular, and provides advice aimed at trade union representatives and other advisors. He is based in London.