The research team draws on our experience in litigation, academia, non-governmental organizations in Hong Kong, and education. Our advisors have extensive experience in immigration-related work and contribute valuable perspectives from the academic, legal, judicial, medical, and civil society fields.
Research Team
Prof. Surabhi Chopra
Associate Professor
Surabhi Chopra is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong. She researches the regulation of migration, national security laws, and sectarian violence in Asia. She examines how the law defines rights, how governments implement them and how courts respond when they are violated. Prior to joining academia, she trained as a barrister (Lincoln’s Inn 2006) and practiced law in the UK and India. She also has considerable experience advising governments, multilateral organisations, and NGOs on human rights law and policy. She has a law degree from Cambridge University, a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Anthropology from Harvard University.
Raquel Amador
Researcher and Lawyer
Raquel Amador is a researcher and civil society advocate with a special interest in refugee and migrants’ rights. She trained as a lawyer in the UK and worked for Wesley Gryk LLP, one of the UK’s leading immigration law firms, on cases involving immigration, asylum and human rights law. Thirteen years ago, she co-founded Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (now Justice Centre), an organisation that assists refugees and torture claimants. She has also worked at HELP, an NGO that assists domestic workers on cases involving employment, forced labour and human trafficking. Raquel is a dual Filipino-Dutch national and she is the proud mother of two children. She holds a law degree from the University of Sheffield.
Dr. Gigi, Sin-Chi Lo
Research Associate
Gigi Lo is a researcher and community organiser interested in promoting the rights of women and ethnic minorities. Her research interests primarily lie in migration, citizenship, as well as social movements in everyday life and transnational contexts. She is the co-founder of “Translate for Her”, an NGO that facilitates equal access of information for ethnic minority women in Hong Kong and fosters cross-cultural community. Translate for Her organizes cultural exchange activities, holds Cantonese learning workshops, develops languages resources, translates Chinese community information for ethnic minority women via WhatsApp, and more. She received her PhD degree in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Chloe Fung
Research Assistant
Chloe Fung is a researcher with a particular interest in data analysis and visualisation to advance rights protection and transparency. Her interest in refugee issues and migrants’ rights began when studying refugee law in Amman, Jordan during her Arabic language studies. She has been a Legal Casework as well as Research and Policy Volunteer at Justice Centre Hong Kong. She conducted a comparative research project on East Asian refugee status determination procedures as well as detention, right to work, and resettlement in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan. She is an avid language learner and was selected as a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace in 2020 for foreign language training.
Advisors
Justice Michael Hartmann
Former Judge, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal
A former non-permanent judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (2010-2016), Justice Hartmann was also a member of the Court of Appeal and Court of First Instance. He adjudicated cases that led to important advances in procedural fairness in the immigration, asylum and torture protection regimes in Hong Kong.
Tim Parker
Lawyer, Dennis Chang’s Chambers and Blackstone Chambers
Tim Parker practices in public international law, constitutional and administrative law, competition, and civil / commercial matters.
Prof. Mary Bosworth
Director, Centre for Criminology in Oxford University
Professor Bosworth is a leading scholar on immigration detention in the UK, European Union and Australia.
Dr. Juliet Cohen
Head of Doctors, Freedom from Torture
Head of Doctors at UK-based NGO Freedom from Torture, Dr. Cohen is an expert on the experience of torture survivors in immigration detention, who has worked to develop Quality Standards for healthcare professionals working with vulnerable detainees.
Dr. Cornelius Katona
Medical Director, Helen Bamber Foundation
Dr. Katona works with survivors of torture and abuse in the UK. He specializes in mental health in the immigration and asylum systems (including immigration detention). He headed a Royal College of Psychiatrists working groups which developed guidance on psychiatric reports in immigration and asylum proceedings.
Judge Nadine Finch
Judge, Immigration Tribunal
Judge Finch specialised in immigration and asylum law as a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London before joining the judiciary. She is a recently retired Immigration Tribunal Judge.