Jessica Olney joined the Institute of International Studies the Executive Director in January 2026.
Jess brings extensive international experience as a practitioner and researcher on conflict, peacebuilding, human rights, and humanitarian response. She has led studies for and advised various governments, embassies, international NGOs, UN agencies, universities, institutional and private donors, and the International Criminal Court. She is passionate about working with students, and has trained dozens of refugee youth to lead research, advocacy, and humanitarian...
February 26, 2026 | 12:30 - 2:00 PM | 223 Philosophy Hall
Nearly 80 percent of Myanmar’s territory is now either contested or controlled by anti-junta resistance groups. Aung Kyaw Moe, Deputy Minister of Human Rights for Myanmar’s pro-democracy government-in-exile, will offer an analysis of Myanmar’s rapidly evolving conflict and political landscape, explaining the advance of resistance forces over the past year.
He will discuss the regime’s recent elections, widely considered a sham to entrench junta rule. What does the electoral process mean...
February 6, 2026 | 5:00 - 7:00 PM | 370 Dwinelle HallFilm Screening & DiscussionWhat happens when non-violent leaders are pushed to support armed struggle against a brutal regime in a forgotten war?
IIS is pleased to partner with the UC Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS), Center for Southeast Asia Studies, and...
Thanks to Tom Laqueur for that generous introduction. Tom was a young Assistant Professor of History whose honors historiography seminar inspired me as...
Clinical Professor of Law and Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic
Law
Laurel Fletcher is Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where she directs the International Human Rights Law Clinic and co-directs The Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law. She studies human rights, humanitarian law, international criminal justice, and transitional justice.
Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann is a Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. An historian of German, European and International History from the late 18th century to the present, he also has an ongoing interest in the history of human rights.
Professor Mark Danner is longtime journalist and writer who holds the Class of 1961 Distinguished Chair in Undergraduate Education at the University of California at Berkeley, teaching in both the Graduate School of Journalism and the Department of English. He writes about political violence, war, and American politics, mostly for The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker, and teaches courses in foreign and war reporting and the realist and modernist novel.
Abhay Aneja is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He studies how legal institutions shape social and economic inequality, from domestic and comparative perspectives, with a focus on the law of democracy and criminal justice.
Kiran Stallone holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley and an MSc in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford. She analyzes gender and civilian agency in war and conflict, with a focus on Colombia. Through her work, she contributes to peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts by providing insights and recommendations that address the complexities of armed conflict violence.
She has led research and data collection projects in 10 different Colombian departments (the equivalent to states), and has engaged with countless communities affected...
Soo Sun You is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on comparative politics and political behavior. Her research interests lie at the intersection of economic and political inequality and development and studies how political institutions affect levels of perceived economic inequality and political behavior in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Soo Sun worked as a Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) research fellow in Ethiopia, implementing and analyzing the impact of women’s empowerment programs. She also worked as...
