An expert in international refugee and migration law, Costello comes from the University of Oxford's Refugee Studies Centre.
Berlin, 1 July 2020. Cathryn Costello, an expert in international refugee and migration law, has joined the Hertie School as Professor of Fundamental Rights. She is also the new co-director at the school’s Centre for Fundamental Rights alongside Basak Çali, Professor of International Law.
Costello comes from the University of Oxford, where she is the Andrew W Mellon Professor of Refugee and Migration Law, and will be active in establishing closer ties between Oxford and her new home at the Hertie School.
Çali and Costello have been working together on the research project “Hard Refugee Protection through Soft Enforcement” since 2018. In their collaboration, they examine the United Nation’s human rights treaty bodies focusing on refugee rights.
Costello is also part-time Professor II at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo and the Principal Investigator of RefMig, a five-year ERC-funded research project exploring refugee mobility, recognition and rights. She has completed studies for the UNHCR, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. She holds a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford.
The Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School is an academic centre for research, outreach and teaching about current and future challenges concerning the protection of human and fundamental rights in domestic, regional and global governance.
The Hertie School in Berlin prepares exceptional students for leadership positions in government, business, and civil society. The school offers master’s, doctoral and executive education programmes distinguished by interdisciplinary and practice-oriented teaching, as well as outstanding research. Its extensive international network positions it as an ambassador of good governance, characterised by public debate and engagement. The school was founded in 2003 by the Hertie Foundation, which remains its major funder. The Hertie School is accredited by the state and the German Science Council. www.hertie-school.org