THE SUDD INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Education
Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, MPA, Pubic Administration
University of Vermont, Bachelors, Anthropology and Business Administration
Biography
Abraham Awolich is the former Managing Director of the Sudd Institute. Awolich's research has focused on management of development organizations working in conflict mitigation, governance and business management. Awolich is the co-founder of the Sudan Development Foundation and the former Executive Director of New Sudan Education Initiative (NESEI). Previous to joining the Sudd Institute, Awolich helped establish a secondary school in Yei and a medical clinic in Kalthok, Awerial County. Awolich has a Master's Degree in Pubic Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and Bachelor's Degree from the University of Vermont in Anthropology and Business Administration. Awolich is a McNair Scholar and winner of the prestigious Samuel Huntington Public Service Award in 2006.
Apuk Ayuel Mayen is a career diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of South Sudan.
Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D., Sociology/Development
University of Wisconsin-Madison, MS, Sociology/Demography
University of Utah, BS, Sociology
Biography
Augustino Ting Mayai is the former Managing Director of the Sudd Institute. He is a founding Research Director of the same institution, serving in this capacity for a decade. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology, with concentrations on demography and development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently studies how state effectiveness affects child health outcomes in South Sudan and Ethiopia. Dr. Mayai has written extensively on South Sudan's current affairs. August is the current Chair (Statistician General) of the National Bureau of Statistics, Government of South Sudan.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Visiting Fellow
Bior K. Bior is a Visiting Fellow (VF) at the Sudd Institute, with a broad research interest in Communal Security Dilemma, inter- and intra-tribal relations and Political Sociology in South Sudan. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences (B.S.) and a Minor in Sociology from the University of Vermont (UVM), as well as a PhD in Cells and Molecular Biology/Neuroscience from the same institution.
Education
University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Ph.D., Economics
Biography
Constantine O. Bartel is an economist with backgrounds in agriculture trade and development. A long-time lead consultant and author of UN flagship reports, co-Author of the 2020 UNCTAD Least Developed Countries on productive capacities, the 2019 Economic Development in Africa Report (EDA), author of the AfCFTA national implementation strategies for Cameroon, Togo, South Sudan and Chad, and co-author of the brief on WTO reforms to negotiate multilateral modalities to enhance micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Constantine holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Director of the Directorate of Scientific
Biography
Dr Leben Moro is the Director of the Directorate of Scientific and Cultural External Relations, University of Juba, and teaches graduate courses in the areas of development, conflict, forced migration and humanitarian affairs at the Center for Peace and Development Studies, University of Juba.
He received Master of Public Administration at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and Master of Science in Forced Migration and Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at University of Oxford, UK.
He primarily conducts research on development-induced displacement and resettlement, focusing on oil-induced displacement in South Sudan. He has conducted fieldwork on local justice in South Sudan for the Rift Valley Institute and US Institute of Peace. Moreover, he has consulted for the GoSS, The World Bank, UN and NGOs.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Biography
Dr. Fritz Nganje is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the South African Research Chair in African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg. This paper is the product of a research fellowship at the Sudd Institute in Juba, South Sudan, in August 2014 under the Nexus Fund's Civil Society Exchange Program, while the author was still affiliated to the Pretoria-based Institute for Global Dialogue.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow at the Sudd Institute.She
Biography
Dr. Jane Kani Edward is the Gender Research Fellow at the Sudd Institute. She was born and raised in Southern Sudan, and educated in Sudan, Egypt and Canada. Edward received her Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from the University of Toronto in 2004. Currently she is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of African Immigration Research, Department of African and African American Studies, Fordham University. She teaches courses on African history, women in Africa and contemporary African immigration to the United States. Edward's areas of research interest center on refugee and immigrant women's experience, human rights and education, gender, race, class and representation, gender issues in conflict and post-conflict situations, and African immigration to the United States. Dr. Edward carried out research work among Southern Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons in Egypt, Uganda and Southern Sudan. She is the author of Sudanese Women Refugees: Transformations and Future Imaginings, 2007, and several book chapters and articles.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dr.Pauline Riak is the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Sudd Institute.She is also deputy vice-chancellor, University of Rumbek.
Biography
Emily Savage is a visitng scholar at Sudd Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Development from the School of International Development Global Studies at the University of Ottawa where she completed fieldwork in Kenya on land tenure security and housing development schemes in Nairobi. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Geography under the supervision of Dr. Jon Unruh at McGill University. Her research concerns the planned Lamu Port and Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) oil pipeline route. The objective of the research is to determine local perceptions of the project as well as local conceptions of meaningful consultation as they relate to land and livelihood security. Her study focuses on communities in Central Equatoria and Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan as well as Lamu, Kenya. This research also attempts to contribute to the broader questions in international development including: the role of oil in local-level growth, narratives of mega-infrastructure projects, and post-conflict land and livelihood security.
Francis M. Deng has recently been assigned the position of South Sudan's Roving Ambassador after having been the country's first Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Prior to that, he served for five years as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide at the level of Under-Secretary-General. From 1992 to 2004, he served as Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons. His first position in the United Nations was that of Human Rights Officer in the Secretariat from 1967 to 1972 when he was appointed Sudan's Ambassador to the Nordic Countries. He was also Sudan's Ambassador to Canada and the United States of America and was also Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for five years. After leaving his Government's service, he held a series of positions in leading think tanks and universities in the United States. Dr. Deng graduated with an LLB (honors) from the University of Khartoum to which he was appointed a member of the Law Faculty and then sent abroad for post-graduate studies. He holds an LLM and a JSD from Yale University Law School. Dr. Deng has authored and edited over thirty books in a wide variety of fields and has written two novels on the crisis of national identity in the Sudan.
Francis M.Deng has recently been assigned the position of South Sudan's Roving Ambassador after having been the country's first Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Officer
- Assistant
Alier de Jok graduated with a BA in Business from Makerere University in 2014. He currently holds a position of Assistant Administrative Officer at the Sudd Institute.
Experience
The Sudd Institute, Assistant Administrative Officer (2018 - )
Henry Lui James is the Administrative and Finance Officer at the Sudd Institute; he holds an MBA in Accounting and Finance from Cavendish University, Uganda. He obtained a BA in Financial Management from the Atlantic International University of the USA in 2013. He is currently undertaking his CPA studies at KASNEB.
Henry has spent 8 years working in the Government of South Sudan's accountability sectors as an Inspector of Accounts and as Finance Team Leader at Anti-Corruption Commission and the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning, respectively.
Experience
The Sudd Institute, Finance Officer (2017 - )
James Alic Garang is a co-founder and scholar at The Sudd Institute. His areas of interest include macroeconomics, development economics, financial sector, and financial inclusion. He has in the past participated in host of academic and professional undertakings, including internships at the African Development Bank in Tunisia (2009-2010), as a lead evaluator on the Banking Sector during the "Comprehensive Evaluation of the Government of South Sudan, 2006-2010", a consultant with the World Bank (2013-2014), and a board member serving on a number of charitable organizations and academic affiliations. A former McNair Scholar, and a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, James holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A former Deputy Dean of Faculty of Economic & Social Studies at Upper Nile University and a Senior Economist with the Ebony Center for Strategic Studies, he is currently a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director at the IMF Executive Board in Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Researcher
- Researcher at the Sudd Institute.He
Nyathon Hoth Mai is Environment and Natural Resources Program Officer at the Sudd Institute.Before joining the Institute full time, Nyathon worked as Research Associate between Oct 2015 and Jan 2019.
Biography
Jok Gai Anai is a visiting researcher at the Sudd Institute. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Jok has spent 11 years working in areas of High Voltage Power Transmission Networks & Distribution for Infrastructure and Oil & Gas Projects, Hydro, Renewable Energy, and Entrepreneurship and is also interested in researching the role of energy in development of post conflict states, the case of South Sudan. He is Founder and CEO of Bomatek Electric Ltd (www.bomatekengineering.com), a local engineering firm operating in South Sudan since 2012.
Education
University of California-Los Angeles, PhD, Anthropology
Biography
Jok Madut Jok is trained in the anthropology of health and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a fellow of Rift Valley Institute and Director of the Sudd Institute. Jok has held fellowship positions at a number of other institutions, including the United States Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also served in the Government of South Sudan as undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage for three years. He has also worked in aid and development and author of four books and numerous articles covering gender, sexuality and reproductive health, humanitarian aid, ethnography of political violence, gender-based violence, war and slavery, and the politics of identity in South Sudan and Sudan. His book Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace, was published in 2017 by OneWorld.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Professor of Peace
Education
Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, Ph.D., Development Studies
Biography
Luka Biong Deng is a Professor of Peace, Development, and Security Studies at the University of Juba, former Senior Research Consultant/Associate and current Managing Director, both at the Sudd Institute. He served in various capacities in the governments of Sudan and South Sudan and with think-tanks around the world. Dr. Deng holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK.
Biography
Mark Atem Wek Deng is an Australian admitted South Sudanese lawyer. He is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research looks at constitution building processes in post-conflict societies, focusing particularly on South Sudan. In particular, he investigates political philosophy and the advancement of the rule of law and constitutionalism.
Matthew F.Pritchard is a visiting scholar at Sudd Institute.He is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at McGill University, where he holds research fellow positions at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and the Indian Ocean World Research Centre.
Education
King's College London, Ph.D., Political Science
Biography
Matthew LeRiche is an Assistant Professor of Global Studies, Director War and Peace Studies, Director Global Leadership Center, Ohio University. He is a regular political risk analyst for industry and government. Author of various articles and chapters on South Sudan as well as the book South Sudan: From Revolution to Independence (Oxford University Press). Matthew holds a Ph.D. from King's College London.
Job Titles:
- Program Manager
- Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program
Education
University of Calgary, Canada, MSc, Sustainable Energy Development
University of Alberta, Canada, BA, Environmental Studies
Biography
Nhial Tiitmamer has served as the Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at The Sudd Institute where he is currently on leave to work with United Nations in South Sudan (UNMISS). He has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Juba where he has taught Environmental Economics, Natural Resources Economics and Environmental Sociology. Between November 2021 and November 2022, Nhial worked as Senior Environment Associate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Juba. Before returning from Canada in 2013, Nhial worked at Arletta Environmental Consulting in Calgary and at University of Alberta's Augustana Campus in Camrose in Alberta, Canada. Nhial's research focusses on natural resources governance, environmental protection, climate change, and sustainable energy. He was awarded in May 2023 by the Board of Directors of The Sudd Institute with Research Impact Award for policy impacts. Nhial holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a minor in English Literature from the University of Alberta and an M.Sc. in Sustainable Energy Development from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
Job Titles:
- Program Officer
- Environment and Natural Resources Program Officer
Nyathon Hoth Mai is Environment and Natural Resources Program Officer at the Sudd Institute. Before joining the Institute full time, Nyathon worked as Research Associate between Oct 2015 and Jan 2019. She has a BSc in Geology from the Federation University, Australia, and an MSc in Global Energy and Climate Policy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She is also an independent Researcher and policy analyst. Her research interest areas include Geology, climate change and energy policy, and issues affecting South Sudanese women. In addition, Nyathon was the Co-founder and Managing Director of My Referendum for Freedom (MRF) that actively engaged the South Sudanese youth from all over South Sudan and diaspora as a vehicle for civic education to the rest of the populace during the South Sudan Referendum. She also devoted much of her time to South Sudan community development in Australia.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Research Associate / Education
Santino Ayuel Longar holds a Ph.D. in Law from Queen's University, Canada. He is a barrister, solicitor, and notary public, being a member of the Law Society of Ontario, in Canada. His research interests include but are not limited to international human rights law, international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflicts), public international law, international investment law, history, administrative law, tort law, public law, contract law, and constitutional law. He can be reached at ayuelongar@gmail.com
Education
Stockholm University, PhD, Law
Biography
William Underwood is a doctoral (PhD) candidate in international law at Stockholm University and a visiting PhD researcher at the Sudd Institute. His thesis examines how international law influences processes of constitutional change after armed conflict. A former Australian diplomat, he holds master's degrees in international law from the University of Melbourne, and in peace and conflict studies from Uppsala University.
Job Titles:
- Communication and PR Officer