Dr. Omar McDoom (British)
Dr. McDoom is a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is a specialist of sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked on the continent's civil wars and ethnic conflicts for over a decade and believes in the importance of leadership education in minimizing their incidence and impact. Dr. McDoom co-directs The Child Is Innocent, a non-profit organization specialized in educating and preparing children affected by the civil war to become the next generation of community leaders in Uganda.
Previously, Dr. McDoom held positions as a Research Fellow at Harvard and Oxford Universities and has worked as a Policy Officer for the World Bank, a Legal Officer for the Government of Guyana, and on electoral missions for the United Nations and the OSCE. He is an Attorney at the New York Bar and holds law degrees from Kings College London and the Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris, a Master's degree in International Development from George Washington University, and a PhD from the London School of Economics.
Dr. Rachel Gisselquist (American)
Dr. Gisselquist is a political scientist with over a decade of experience working on the politics of the developing world, with particular attention to sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. She is currently a Research Fellow with the United Nations University's World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) and a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE). She was previously the Research Director of the Index of African Governance with Harvard University’s Program on Intrastate Conflict.
Dr. Gisselquist’s work focuses on issues of governance, democratization and elections, state fragility, and ethnic and identity politics. In 2007 and 2008, she co-authored with Robert I. Rotberg, the first two Ibrahim Indexes of African Governance, which have been quite widely used and referenced in a variety of publications, including the Economist and the New York Times. She has conducted fieldwork in a number of countries, including Benin, Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Niger, Somaliland, and South Africa. Dr. Gisselquist holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Dr. Daniela Sahlender (German)
Dr. Sahlender is a Research Fellow in neuroscience at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Her research focuses on glial cell biology and electron microscopy. Prior to this, from 2005 to 2011, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (UK), working in the field of membrane trafficking. She received her PhD in cell biology from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Wellcome Trust scholar. In 2006, she was elected to a three year Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, Cambridge. She holds her undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh in Biological Sciences (with honours in biochemistry). Dr. Sahlender has a number of publications in peer reviewed scientific journals.
Michelle Malakouna (British)
Ms. Malakouna is the Assistant Head teacher and Director of Languages at Gaynes School Language College, London, UK. She received her undergraduate degree from Cambridge University in Modern and Medieval Languages, majoring in French and Greek before completing her teacher's training qualification in London. She has helped her school win the British Council International Schools Award, improve its partnership with parents, and create a friendly, cohesive community where all students feel that they belong. A dynamic and inspiring Advanced Skills teacher of French, German and Spanish, Ms. Malakouna has taught students aged 0 - 90, and never yet found someone who really 'can't do languages' . She also speaks Modern Greek and basic Mandarin Chinese.
"Academic excellence is the basic requirement of a school, but children also need to play while enjoying a broader education encompassing sport, music, drama and other activities. We want to produce a well-rounded generation of children who enjoy reading, learning and are independent thinkers."
