Tamsin Mitchell

Research

Brief overview of research topic:

Tamsin Mitchell is conducting doctoral research in conjunction with the University of York’s Centre for Applied Human Rights, part of the Department of Politics. Her research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

The title of Tamsin’s PhD is “Journalists as human rights defenders: countering impunity for violence against journalists in Honduras and Mexico”. It looks at how journalists in these countries perceive of, respond to and seek to counter impunity for violence against journalists, and the extent to which they make use of international human rights protection norms, mechanisms and actors, or other domestic strategies. Tamsin is supervised by Dr Alice Nah and Professor Jean Grugel.

Tamsin presented a paper on the international protection regimes for journalists and human rights defenders at the Safety of Journalists Academic Conference as part of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day, May 2017.

Current trustee and former Chair of PBI UK, Tamsin has worked in the international human rights and humanitarian/ development sector for 15 years. From 2007 to 2016, she was researcher and campaigner for the literary and free expression non-governmental organisation (NGO) PEN International, providing material assistance and moral support to writers and journalists at risk in Africa and the Americas. This work provided the inspiration for her PhD topic.

Prior to PEN, Tamsin worked for various NGOs including Y Care International, Peace Brigades International UK (PBI UK), the Salvation Army and Action Against Hunger UK. She was also a lecturer at the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá, Colombia.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

Master of Arts (MA), Understanding and Securing Human Rights (Distinction) - Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

Master of Studies (MSt), Research Methods (Distinction) - Balliol College, University of Oxford

MA (Hons), English Literature and French Literature and Language (First Class) - University of Glasgow 

Publications

Numerous country and thematic research reports for PEN International (2007-2016).

Owens, K. (2014). Honduras: Journalism in the Shadow of Impunity (C. Cheung, B de Caires, T. Mitchell, Eds.). PEN Canada, the International Human Rights Program (IHRP), University of Toronto Faculty of Law and PEN International (research report).

Cohan, T. and Mitchell, T. Mexico’s Killing fields. Los Angeles Times. 15 February 2010 (opinion piece).

Dibb, R., Mitchell, T. & Munro, G; Rough, E. (2006). Substance use and health-related needs of migrant sex workers and women trafficked into sexual exploitation in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the City of London. The Research and Development Unit, The Salvation Army (research report commissioned by local government).

Teaching

Lecturer in English literature and language, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Lecturer in British culture and English language, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia