Team

Dorothée Baumann-Pauly is a Professor at Geneva University’s School of Economics and Management and directs the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. Since 2013, she has also served as the Research Director at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. In these roles, Dorothée works with companies to advance human rights in corporate practice. Her applied research is focused on embedding human rights in organizations and developing business models that enable profits and human rights principles to coexist. Dorothée also teaches Business and Human Rights and she co-edited the first textbook on Business and Human Rights (Routledge 2016). In 2016, she co-founded the Global Business School Network for Business and Human Rights to integrate human rights in business education as well as the Business and Human Rights Young Researchers Summit for emerging scholars. Dorothée earned her PhD in Economics (summa cum laude) at the University of Zurich in 2010 while working for the Fair Labor Association, a multi-stakeholder initiative with the mission to improve labor rights in global supply chains.
Please also refer to Dorothée’s UniGE webpage and her list of publications.

Pascale Chavaz is a research associate at the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. She supports Prof. Dorothée Baumann-Pauly and her team in all aspects of the Center’s activities from research and communication to teaching and administration. Before joining the GCBHR, she had mostly worked in the academic world and civil society in the field of ethics, socially responsible investing, and philosophy. She co-authored a book on Sovereign Wealth Funds and their regulation (Globethics, 2016). Pascale also works as a freelance certified coach and neuro-linguistic programming master practitioner. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Linguistics from the University of Geneva, and a Master’s degree in Applied Ethics from Sherbrooke University.

Serra Cremer Iyi is a consultant at the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. Trained as a corporate lawyer with a background in M&A and project finance, Serra brings her experience representing businesses and advising senior management to the interdisciplinary field of business and human rights. Prior to her position at GCBHR, she worked as an adjunct professor of U.S. law, a local counsel for the International Refugee Assistance Project, and a managing director at Executive English Coaching. Serra continues to work as a global communication coach to executives at multinational corporations. She is a member of the New York Bar Association and holds a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law and a double major Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from New York University.

Dr. Berit Knaak is a Senior Research Associate at the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. She completed her Ph.D. in Management with a focus on integrating business and human rights at the University of St.Gallen in 2020. Her research evolves around business perspectives on human rights and approaches to facilitate corporate engagement with human rights issues. In her work, Berit focuses on resilience and ethical supply chains, companies’ impact in their ecosystems, and on children’s rights, among others in a collaboration with UNICEF. Berit builds on a dual background in economics and in human rights law, holding a Master of International Business from Maastricht University and an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law from the National University of Ireland. During her time as doctoral researcher, she served as a fellow for the Business and Human Rights Journal.

Suman Saha is an interdisciplinary researcher studying the interface of management, welfare economics and political philosophy. In his research, Suman studies social justice from both an individual and firm perspective while creating value for stakeholders. Within this broad theme, he conducts research on labour rights and governance in the global production network, political role of business and understanding firm governance and social justice perspective for stakeholders. Being interdisciplinary in nature, his research draws on insights from a wide spectrum of research fields. Suman has an MSc from University College London (UCL), PhD (fully funded) from Royal Holloway, University of London and PGCE (Management Education) from University of Surrey. Suman currently holds a Senior Lecturer role in Sustainable Business at University of Exeter. Previously, he has held academic roles at University of Surrey, University College London and School of Oriental and African Studies. Prior to joining academia, Suman has held senior management appointments in the industry.

Niels Selling is a researcher at the Institute for Future Studies in Stockholm, Sweden, and an adjunct professor at IÉSEG School of Management, Lille, France. He obtained his Ph.D. from the European University Institute. His research interests focus on corporate social responsibility, lobbying, business power, and political economy. He is currently the lead investigator for the project “Firms as Political Activists: The Scope and Nature of Corporate Political Responsibility,” a project funded by the Swedish Research Council that explores the phenomenon of firms taking positions on contentious political issues and human rights. Apart from having published articles in various publications covering different disciplines, he has also produced insight products for various institutional actors, such as the Swedish Gender Equality Agency and the European Parliament.