THE POLICY LAB® - Key Persons
Brian Selmeski, Ph.D. (U.S.) is a Senior Associate. He is the Deputy Director for Plans & Policies at the US Air Force Culture & Language Center at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Dr. Selmeski graduated magna cum laude in Latin American Studies from Bucknell University, which he attended on a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. After serving in the US Army, he completed a Ph.D. in anthropology from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. From 2003-2007, he was a Research Professor, first at the Canadian Defence Academy, then the Royal Military College of Canada. In 2003, he established the Military Anthropology Network, an on-line community of practice dedicated to issues of security and culture, which today has over 400 members residing in 19 different countries. From 2004-2006, he led an applied research project on integrating native peoples to the armed forces of Bolivia. In his current position, he is responsible for helping integrate, harmonize and synchronize culture, region and language learning across the US Air Force through strategic planning and policy development.
Christian Bason (Denmark) is a Fellow. He is the Director of MindLab, a cross-ministerial innovation unit in Denmark, and a doctoral candidate at Copenhagen Business School. Bason holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Political Science from University of Aarhus and executive education from Harvard Business School and the Wharton School. He was formerly responsible for the public organisation and management practice of Ramboll, an international consultancy. As a highly experienced presenter and facilitator, he has served as advisor to numerous public institutions around the world. He is also a university lecturer, external examiner at the Danish Design School, and the author of four books on citizen involvement, leadership, innovation and design thinking in the public sector. His latest work is "Leading public sector innovation: Co-creating for a better society", published by Policy Press in 2010.
Daniel Golston (U.S.) is an Associate. Based in Cambridge (UK), he is a political scientist primarily concerned with issues pertaining to international peace and security. Most recently, he was working as a Junior Researcher on cyber and outer space security issues at the Emerging Security Threats Programme at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. He is currently pursuing an M.Phil. in International Relations and Politics at the University of Cambridge. He holds and B.A. in International Relations from the University of British Columbia where he worked as an editor for the University of British Columbia Journal of Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
Jesus "Gary" S. Domingo, Ph.D. (Philippines) is a Fellow. He is currently Minister and Consul General at the Philippine Mission to the UN in Geneva, in charge of Disarmament and Humanitarian Affairs. His previous assignments in the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) included: Director for UN Political, Legal and Security Affairs (2002-2006), 1st Secretary and Consul at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh (1998-2002), 2nd Secretary at the Phillippine UN Mission in New York (1995-1998), Special Assistant to the DFA Undersecretary for Policy (1993-1998), and Director for Middle East and Organization of the Islamic Conference Affairs (1990-1993). He earned a BSFS from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, conducted graduate studies in government at Harvard University, and holds Philippine degrees in Philippine External Relations, Law, National Security Administration and Criminology. Domingo has taken inspiration from SNAP approach (UNIDIR) in his work for the Philippine implementation of multilateral processes such as the Hyogo Framework of Action for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention, and the UN White Helmets Initiative.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Founding Partner of the London
Lavrans Løvlie (Norway) is a Senior Associate. Løvlie is a founding partner of the London-based Service Design consultancy live|work. He has led service innovation projects with some of the largest public and private organizations in the world, and has lectured at universities across Europe. He was an advisor to the Security Needs Assessment Protocol project at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research where, together with the project team, he helped conceptualize SNAP as a programme design service for UN operational agencies. He is currently writing a book on Service Design with Ben Reason and Andy Polaine. Løvlie is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Miller, Derek B. and Lisa Rudnick (2008) "Applying Cultural Knowledge to Design Problems: Notes for the U.S. Military about Challenges and Opportunities," presented to U.S. Training and Doctrine Command's "Culture Summit", 2009. Available through UNIDIR Resources, http://www.unidir.org/pdf/activites/pdf6-act337.pdf
Lucy Kimbell (UK) is a Senior Associate. She is a designer, researcher and educator. Kimbell brings to The Policy Lab knowledge, skills and experience of approaches to innovation based on understanding the practices of end users and other stakeholders in a service ecology and using these to shape design and action. For over 15 years she has lead teams designing services in commercial and public sector organisations. This is complemented by academic research in service innovation and design management, including five years on the faculty at Said Business School, University of Oxford where she continues to teach on the MBA. Lucy also works part-time at TaylorHaig, a boutique consultancy helping organizations improve and innovate to better serve people and places. Her keynote addresses include the Service Design Network conference (2010), Design Management Institute (2010), and Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (2008). Her work has been shown internationally including in the interdisciplinary exhibition Making Things Public at ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany (2005). Lucy originally studied engineering design and appropriate technology at the University of Warwick, later took a masters in digital media design at Middlesex University, and is completing doctoral work on design theory at the University of Lancaster.
Job Titles:
- Founding Director
- Senior Associate
Marie-José d'Aprile (Italy) is a Senior Associate. Founding Director of Mind the Gap Consulting, Marie-José has extensive experience in legal advising to a wide range of institutions. She has led negotiations with high level government and civil society stakeholders and run projects in environment-building, situation analysis and operations management in fragile states and conflict areas of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle East. A registered attorney-at-law in Switzerland, Marie-José worked for the ICRC for 10 years, holding a wide range of senior-level positions both in policy making and operations management, at the headquarters and in the field. She brings to The Policy Lab a unique blend of expertise in international public and private law as well as in the analysis of the socio-political and legal frameworks. She has special expertise in the analysis and response to risk factors potentially affecting field operations - both for field humanitarian work and private-sector ventures.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Head of the Security Unit of the International Committee
Melker Mabeck (Sweden) is the deputy head of the security unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He first served in Afghanistan as Team Leader in the ICRC relief operations, later as Head of Office in the Gaza Strip after which he returned to Afghanistan, where he headed the ICRC's sub-delegation in Kabul until 2005.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Economist and Social Scientist from the Italian - Speaking
Michele Poretti (Switzerland) is an Associate. Poretti is an economist and social scientist from the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. He has a Master of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights from the University of Fribourg and the University Institute Kurt Bösch (Sion, Switzerland) and a Certificate in Evaluation of Public Policies from the University of Lausanne. Since 1992 he has alternated among academic research assignments, action research and active engagement with communities in Switzerland, Colombia, Mexico and Central America. Between 2003 and 2010, he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where he contributed to policy evaluation and development, in particular regarding the organization's work with armed and security forces, civil society and children. Since February 2010, he has been with the University Institute Kurt Bösch. As lead researcher within an interdisciplinary team, he investigates bottom-up translations of children's perspectives in the global children's rights agenda.
Randolph Kent, Ph.D. (UK and U.S.) is a Fellow. He directs the Humanitarian Futures programme at King's College, London, and is a Senior Research Associate of the college's International Policy Institute. He accepted his present post after completing his assignment as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia in April 2002. Prior to this, he served as UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Kosovo [1999], UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Rwanda [1994-1995], Chief of the UN Emergency Unit in Sudan [1989-1991] and Chief of Emergency Prevention and Preparedness in Ethiopia [1987-1989]. In November 2004, Kent completed a UN-funded project dealing with the UN system's disaster risk reduction capacity, which let to the publication of his 2004 report Looking to the future: Practical steps to strengthen the United Nations relevance and value-added in disaster risk management, A report prepared at the request of the International Strategy For Disaster Reduction, The United Nations Office For The Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs and The United Nations Development Programme.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Director of the UK - Based Firm Bell & Payne Consulting
Ruth Payne, Ph.D. (UK) is a Senior Associate. Ruth is a Director of the UK-based firm Bell & Payne Consulting where she manages research projects for clients including think, tanks, international development organizations and public sector organizations. Ruth brings to The Policy Lab a decade of experience in ethnographic and participatory research and collaborative approaches to programme design and policy development in the international development sector. She has been involved in designing and managing research projects in the UK and internationally in countries including Ghana, Zambia, Indonesia, Nepal and Rwanda, and has particular expertise in research with children, youth and families.
Ruth is a former member of the Security Needs Assessment Protocol Project team at UNIDIR. She originally studied Geography at the University of Wales, Swansea and subsequently obtained a Masters in Development and Environment at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her doctoral research on child-headed households in Zambia, conducted in collaboration with the UK based NGO Street Child Africa and government and civil society organizations in Zambia, involved the development of a collaborative approach to program design in which fresh approaches to programs and services are generated by brining researchers, beneficiaries and research participants together throughout research, design and planning processes, where research findings are considered as ‘challenges' rather than ‘recommendations'.
Ruth is an Honorary Associate at the Centre for Developing Areas Research at Royal Holloway, and holds Associate positions at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships at Edinburgh University and the Centre for Child-Focussed Anthropological Research at Brunel University.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
Tore Rose (Norway and France) is a Fellow. Rose was educated at Leeds University (BA Econ) and Harvard Business School (MBA) and has worked extensively with the UN since 1972. His positions include Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Rwanda (2000-2002), Mali (1995-2000), and Algeria (1991-1994), and other high-level work related to the UN (and multilateral banks as well as NGOs) in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Haiti, Serbia, Myanmar, Sudan/Darfur, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. Among other experiences, Rose was Team Leader/Senior Coordinator of international support for the Somalia National Reconciliation Congress in Mogadishu (April - October 2007), the first reconciliation attempt since the state collapsed in 1991 to be held inside Somalia with 2,600 participants from a cross-section of society. Rose has written on peacebuilding and post-conflict since 1996, most recently "Policy, Decentralization, and the Exercise of Authority in Aid Organizations" in the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development 2010. He is also involved in funding decisions and policy for the The Global Fund.