CMEI Colloquium
Longfellow Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education
April 11, 2013
Kirsten Roberts Lyer is professor of practice in the School of Public Policy of the Central European University. She is a specialist in international human rights, having practiced for 16 years as a policy expert and international lawyer before joining the School.
She took a career break from 2013-2016 to undertake a PhD in The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, where Roberts Lyer also established the Project on Effective Parliamentary Oversight of Human Rights with Dr. Philippa Webb, and consulted for the UN Development Program (UNDP) on the establishment and strengthening of National Human Rights Institutions and Ombudsmen in a number of countries.
From 2008-2013, she was Acting Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Research, Policy and Promotion at the Irish Human Rights Commission, Ireland's National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) and from 2008–2011 she was also coordinator of the European Group of NHRIs.
For the 2012-2013 academic year, Kirsten was a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School. She has previously worked as a legal officer in Trial Chamber I of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2005-2008). She has also worked in Ireland's diplomatic mission to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, at the European Court of Human Rights, European Court of Justice and for Amnesty International.
