Staff
SCHOLARS AND CONSORTIUM SPOKEPERSONS
Justus Liebig University Giessen
Prof. Dr. Marauhn is the spokesman of the German consortium of CAPAZ. He is professor of Public Law and International Law at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, and head of the newly established International Law Research Group of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. He chairs the German National Committee on International Humanitarian Law, is a member of the Advisory Board on United Nations Issues of the German Foreign Office and First Vice-President of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. Thilo Marauhn has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Bergen, Madison (Wisconsin), Rovaniemi, Tromsø and California Western School of Law, San Diego; he holds a permanent visiting position at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. Among the various externally funded research projects, the most recent one addresses “UN policing – legal basis, status and directives on the use of force” (German Foundation of Peace Research).
Camilo Alberto Borrero García
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Prof. Dr. Camilo Borrero is the spokesman of the Colombian consortium before CAPAZ. He studied Law at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, specialized in Family Law at the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), finished his Graduate Studies on Sociology at the KU Leuven (Bélgica) and obtained his PhD in Law at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He is Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and works in the fields of Sociology of Law, Human Rights, Community Justice and Transitional Justice. Currently he is also coordinator of the PhD Programm in Law, and is member of the Peace Research Center “Centro de Pensamiento y Seguimiento a los Diálogos de Paz“ at the same university.
ACADEMIC STAFF
Stefan Peters
Academic Director – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Academic Director of the German-Colombian Peace Institute – CAPAZ and Chair of Peace Studies at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany). He studied Political Science at the Philipps-University Marburg and Universidad Complutense de Madrid and obtained his PhD in Political Science at the University of Kassel (Germany). Stefan Peters works in the fields of Neo-Extractivism and Rentism, Social Inequalities, Education, Memory Studies, Development Theory and North South Relations. He has been visiting professor and researcher at universities in countries such as Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador and Puerto Rico.
Juliette Vargas
Scientific Collaborator – German-Colombian Peace Institute and CEDPAL – Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Juliette Vargas has a Law Degree of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Law Master’s Degree (LLM in German) of the Humboldt-Universität (HU) in Berlin. Her academic and professional experience has been focused on international public law, as well as international criminal law, international human rights and international humanitarian law and on topics of environment law. She has worked in strategic litigation research with organizations such as the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights – ECCHR and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective – CCAJAR. In the last years she has been working in topics related to transitional justice and the challenge of its implementation in Colombia. Additionally, she pursued Music Studies in Colombia and Germany. Mrs. Vargas’ position is financed by the University of Göttingen. Currently, she is PhD-candidate at the Göttingen University. Her research focuses on the Victim Participation at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
Juliana González
Scientific Collaborator – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Juliana holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Master’s Degree in Political Theory from the Goethe University in Frankfurt and the Technical University in Darmstadt, with studies of Political Science at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her main research areas are peace and conflict studies and contemporary feminist theory, and her current work focuses on memory and social inequalities. Juliana teaches political philosophy and theory at university level in Bogotá, and has experience in research and consultancy on gender and transitional justice for governmental institutions and NGO’s in Colombia. She also has experience as editor and as English and German translator of academic publications.
Milena Schellenberger
Scientific Collaborator – German-Colombian Peace Institute and CEDPAL – Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Milena Schellenberger is a research fellow and PhD-candidate at the Center for Studies on Latin American Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (CEDPAL) at the University of Göttingen and a collaborator at the German-Colombian Peace Institute (CAPAZ) in Bogotá, Colombia. She graduated with a degree as Magistra Iuris form the University of Heidelberg. Milena Schellenberger is a researcher for the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research focusing on the conflict between indigenous groups and the Colombian government. Previously, she worked at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law on the topics of human rights, transitional justice and law of the sea for the Southeast Asia projects.
Rosario Figari Layús
Post-doctoral Researcher – German-Colombian Peace Institute – Justus Liebig-Universität Gießen
Rosario Figari Layús works as a post-doc researcher at the Chair of Peace Studies at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Phillips University of Marburg. Previously she earned a Master degree in Social Sciences from Humboldt University of Berlin and a degree in sociology from the University of Buenos Aires. Her areas of work and research are transitional justice, human rights, and political violence. She has worked as a researcher and lecturer at various institutions including the University of Buenos Aires, the University of Heidelberg, the Philipps University of Marburg, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at the Bielefeld University and the University of Konstanz in Germany.
Indira Murillo
Scientific Collaborator – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Lawyer graduated from Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (Neiva), she holds a master’s degree in international legal studies with specialization in International Human Rights Law and Gender and the Law from American University Washington College of Law, and an LL.M. from Ruprecht Karls – Universität Heidelberg. She has focused her work on human rights issues, nationality, and statelessness, international migration, gender-based violence, and promotion of gender equality. During her career, Indira Murillo has served in various position including lawyer at the Constitutional Court of Colombia, consultant for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Colombia, Human Rights Fellow at the New York City Bar Association, and Dean´s Fellow at the War Crimes Research Office at American University Washington College of Law. She has also taught international public law at two law schools in Bogotá.
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Carlos Nupia
Administrative Director – German-Colombian Peace Institute
PhD in Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin-FUB. He has worked on topics such as scientific international cooperation, international organizations, international transfer knowledge and institutional change in public policies. Teacher of public policy in science, technology and innovation (STI) and international cooperation in different Colombian universities. Carlos Nupia was researcher in the area of science policy and international relations in the Colombian Observatory of Science and Technology (OCyT, in Spanish) (2013-2017), and director of international offices in Colciencias (2000-2003 and 2007-2008) and in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He served as communication advisor in the former Colombian Agency for International Cooperation (today APC) and in agencies of the United Nations System such as United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and World Food Program (WFP). Currently works on the relationship between the production of scientific knowledge and peace building in Colombia.
Carolina Cerón
Administrative and Financial Coordinator – German-Colombian Peace Institute
National University of Colombia graduate majored in German Philology. With more than 5 years of professional experience on Academic and scientific International cooperation projects between Colombia and Germany, she is acquainted with the main stakeholders, decision making actors and organizations involved on the field of international higher education and scientific management on both countries.
Claudia Maya, M.A.
Assistant of Communication and Public Relations – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Master of Arts in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies, University of Kassel, Germany and Stendhal University, Grenoble III, France. Claudia Maya has worked in the fields of communication and public relations, quality management systems, educational projects, culture and international cooperation, specifically in the cooperation between Colombia and German speaking countries. She has worked as a German teacher in Colombia and Switzerland, where she has been engaged in cultural projects and work integration, mostly for Spanish-speaking immigrants and refugees from conflict areas in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Lucía Alarcón
Assistant of Communication and Public Relations – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Anthropologist and journalist from the Universidad de Los Andes. She has professional experience in the communication and journalism environment, working in organizations such as La Silla Vacía, Climate Reality Latin America and different research groups at the Universidad de Los Andes. Thanks to these experiences, she acquired knowledge on issues such as production of digital content, creative dissemination of academic documents, exploration of different informational formats in which academy and publics establish an open dialogue to influence the political agenda of Colombia.
Valentina Pardo
Community Manager – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Languages and Cultural Studies student at the Universidad de Los Andes. She also does a minor in Sociology. Valentina did her internship at La Silla Vacía, an independent medium that covers politics in Colombia, in the opinion section. There she adquired experience in media and text editing. She was part of a volunteer project in Morocco that focused on working on reducing negative stereotypes related to moroccan culture. Valentina is interested in gender issues, sociology subjects and politics.
TRAINEES
Laura Valencia Espinosa
Trainee – German-Colombian Peace Institute – Knowledge Management
Student of Languages and Culture and Political Science on her last semester at Universidad de los Andes, with knowledge in the areas of International Relations and Comparative Politics. She is interested on topics such as International Organizations, International Cooperation and Peace Building. She joined the German-Colombian Peace Institute (CAPAZ) in August 2021 as a Trainee in Knowledge Management.
Daniela Hernández
Trainee – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Last semester student of Law and Political Science at Universidad de los Andes. Her areas of concentration are International Law, Comparative Politics, and Colombian Politics. She is interested in topics such as Human Rights, Migration, and Peacebuilding. She joined CAPAZ Institute in August 2021 as a trainee.
Sergio Junca
Trainee – German-Colombian Peace Institute
Tenth-semester student of Law at Universidad del Rosario, member of the research group “AGERE” and the citizen observatory “La Candelaria”. He is interested in Constitutional Law and Criminal Law, especially in the areas of Human Rights and Transitional Justice. When it comes to working, he is a determined, organized, and passionate person.