OPBP Committee
The OPBP student Executive Committee for the year 2022/23
Mandisa Shandu
Chair
Mandisa is a DPhil Law Candidate at the University of Oxford. She is an Editor at the Oxford Human Rights Hub and Deputy President of the Oxford Law Black Alumni Network. Her research focuses on inequality, urban land rights, and property law in South Africa. She completed a B.Soc.Sci degree in political science, an LLB, and an LLM in Constitutional and Administrative Law (with distinction) from the University of Cape Town. Mandisa is an admitted attorney and has experience litigating in strategic impact cases involving constitutional-, property-, spatial planning- and housing law, administrative justice, access to basic services and movement lawyering. Prior to commencing her DPhil, Mandisa was the Executive Director and a practicing attorney at Ndifuna Ukwazi – an activist organisation and pro bono law centre that focuses on access to land and affordable, dignified housing in Cape Town, South Africa. Mandisa founded Ndifuna Ukwazi’s law centre in 2015 and was the first Black woman to establish a public interest litigation unit in South Africa. She is passionate about leveraging the law as a tool to improve the quality of life of people living in marginalised communities, and has been recognised on a number of platforms for her work to advance social justice – including the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans.
Rosario Grima Algora
Deputy Chair
Ana Diaz-Azcunaga
Deputy Chair
Ana Diaz Azcunaga is a DPhil in Law candidate and the Co Deputy-Chair of the Oxford Pro Bono Publico Committee. Before the DPhil Ana read for the MJur and the MPhil in Law. Before coming to Oxford Ana was a judicial assistant in the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice and Senior Legal Officer in an NGO that aims to improve access to justice for women.
Anjali Rawat
Treasurer and Research Officer
Anjali Rawat is a DPhil Candidate at the Faculty of Law under the supervision of Professor Rachel Taylor and Professor Sandra Fredman. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of family law, constitutional law, and human rights. Her DPhil research focuses on the rights of women in the context of polygyny using the framework of substantive equality in a comparative study of India and South Africa. She is an Ambriti Salve Scholar at Exeter College and a Law Faculty Scholar.
Pınar Özcan
Internships Officer and Research Officer
Pınar is an MPhil candidate at the Law Faculty. Her thesis examines what the effective control threshold entails as an attribution basis under international law. She previously completed the MJur at Oxford and holds an LLB from Galatasaray University. Her research interests lie generally in public international law and human rights.
John Croker
Communications, IT and Research Officer
John is an MPhil student researching the use of emerging technologies by law enforcement agencies. John is a human rights lawyer from Australia and has worked across a range of government departments and agencies, advising on human rights compliance across the public service. John's student profile is found here.
Michael Gyan Nyarko
Research Officer
Michael is a second year MSc International Human Rights Law candidate at the Faculty of Law. His research interests broadly revolve around international human rights law and in particular the African human rights system, socio-economic rights, business and human rights, human rights of vulnerable groups, the legitimacy of international human rights adjudicative bodies and the impact/implementation of international human rights law in national legal systems. He is currently the Manager of the Litigation and Implementation Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, where he also serves on the Editorial Committee of the African Human Rights Yearbook and edits the Centre’s blog, AfricLaw.com. He is the author of several book chapters and journal articles on human rights and democratisation in Africa and the co-editor of three books on governance and human rights in Africa.
Charlotte Chamberlain
Research Officer
Rhian Lewis
Research Officer