Jenna is entering her final year at McGill University working on a BA in Political Science with a minor in African Studies. She has been studying Arabic since arriving at university, and will spend the summer of 2012 studying at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. She has specific research interests in ethnic conflict and insurgency, as well as rule-of-law building in developing democracies. She is currently involved with the Middle East Studies Students' Society at McGill, and is blogfamous under several pseudonyms.

Joyce Bukuru was born in New York City to Burundian diplomat parents. She received a bilingual education at the Lycée Français de New York. As a high school senior, she was president of the student council. This position enabled her to address the UN General Assembly as a youth ambassador in regards to failures in the realm of children's rights, most notably in Africa.  At McGill, she served as VP Academic and subsequently Vice President of the McGill African Students' Society. She was also a member of Youth Action International, an organization that promotes youth activism within the context of humanitarian aid. She interned for three months at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, focusing on the Horn of Africa.  In January of 2012, Joyce, along with two friends, started an initiative named "The Dadaab Project", which will simultaneously serve to increase food aid currently being sent to the Dadaab refugee camp, while also heightening awareness of the East Africa famine in the Montreal community.

Marie Lamensch

Marie was born in Belgium but has lived in Germany, France, Canada and the UK. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in History (specialization Genocide studies) at Montreal’s Concordia University, Marie moved to the UK where she recently completed a Master’s degree in Conflict, Security and Development at King’s College London. She has been an intern for MIGS since 2008 and initially started working on Zimbabwe. However, a profound interest for the conflict and peace processes the Great Lakes Region made her switch to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sheriff Tabba was born in Montreal to Canadian citizens of Syrian origin. Sheriff spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Saudi Arabia and he speaks both Arabic and English. He moved back to Montreal in 2008 where is currently completing his major in Political Science at the University of Concordia. This is his fourth year and he has one semester left where he will be part of a student exchange program to either Cairo, Madrid, or Vienna. He was also the Vice President of Communications at the Political Science Student Association (PSSA) during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Myriam Ménard

Myriam Ménard is currently undertaking a M.A. degree in International Relations at Université Laval in Quebec City. She is writing a thesis on the war against the trafficking of illicit drugs into the Islamic Republic of Iran conducted by the Iranian government and the prospects this activity carries for bolstering the regional cooperation. She received a B.A. degree from McGill University in Middle East Studies where she developed a strong interest for Iranian history, language and culture.

Eric has been a MIGS media monitor since September 2011. He is currently a political intern at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, where he attends think tank events and Congressional hearings to monitor and report on trends in US foreign and defence policy as they relate to Canada. Previously, he worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as a desk officer in the Eastern Africa division. He recently graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in International Relations, and hopes to pursue graduate studies soon. Eric has been interested in genocide and human rights studies since travelling to Poland and visiting concentration camps with survivors of the Holocaust in 2006.

Kyrgyzstan

Richard is working on his MA in sociology at Concordia University. The focus of his research is shock radio, an emerging form of angry talk radio. Richard became interested in the topic while completing his undergraduate studies in sociology and encountered theory and research on media. During those years he became interested in sociological and historical perspectives on genocide through the professors and authors featured in his courses at Concordia.

Tomáš Kopečný

Morganne has been a MIGS media monitor since November 2011.  While undertaking her B.A. at McMaster University, Morganne focused on human rights, international relation, and peace studies.  She is currently working towards a postgraduate certificate in international development at Humber College.  Morganne has previously volunteered with STAND Canada doing policy research and is currently an intern within the Peace Education Program with Teachers Without Borders.  In the future, Morganne hopes to transfer her education into work in the field, particularly in conflict zones.

Anabel is a French-Canadian who has wanted to become a journalist-without-borders since high school. After completing Cegep (Arts and Science), she chose International Development Studies at McGill University in order to increase her international knowledge. Since the beginning of her B.A., she has worked for the independent francophone newspaper at McGill. Starting as a weekly contributor for Le Délit, then Features Editor, and she is now Editor in Chief, and one could easily conclude that she is “majoring in Le Délit”. She has learned a lot from her experience at the student newspaper to the extent that she is now sure that she wants to spend her entire life working for all sorts of media, in Canada or internationally. She has traveled in Senegal, Uganda and Sudan and cannot wait to return and write more about these countries.

Tarek was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where his experiences during the country's lengthy civil war developed into a passion for politics and human rights. Living in Montreal since 1988, Tarek completed his Baccalaureate in Arts in 2011 and graduated with distinction. Tarek is currently working towards a Masters in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia university while working as Teaching Assistant for Professors Henri Habib and Julie Norman. He hopes to complete his Masters in 2013 with an internship in the federal sector in Ottawa.

Laura has been the Uganda Media Monitor since January 2009. She went to Uganda in the summer of 2009 with the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program (CVAP), which enabled her to discover the country and to get an additional insight into the human rights situation. Laura follows closely the evolution of human rights issues in Eastern Africa, and has a particular interest in international justice and transitional justice, the Responsibility to Protect, and development issues. She hold a B.A. in Political Science from Concordia University and a Master in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She wrote her thesis about the Peace versus Justice issue in Darfur, and on whether the arrest warrant against President Bashir was an obstacle to peace. she currently work as a press officer at the United Nations in Geneva, covering human rights Treaty Bodies.