Speaker Biographies
Mr Alex White,
Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs
Alex White is a Senior Counsel at the Irish Bar. He was a TD from 2011 to 2016, during which time he held the positions of Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources (2014 – 2016), Minister for Primary Care (2012 – 2014) and Committee Chair of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure & Reform (2011 – 2012). Prior to serving as a TD, Alex was a member of Seanad Eireann (2007 – 2011), a councillor with South Dublin County Council (2004 – 2007) and a radio producer with RTÉ (1984 – 1994). He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin.
HE Ms Larysa Gerasko,
Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland
Her Excellency Ms Larysa Gerasko served in a wide range of positions for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, before being appointed Ambassador to Ireland in 2021. Her work as Ambassador has focused on fostering political, economic, and cultural cooperation between the two countries, and her persuasive advocacy on human rights issues has raised awareness of, and garnered support for, the Ukrainian cause since the Russian invasion in 2022.
Ms Sonja Hyland,
Deputy Secretary General & Political Director at the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland
Sonja Hyland has been a career diplomat since 1996. Since August 2019, she has been Political Director at the Department of Foreign Affairs, overseeing Ireland’s political relations. She was formerly Ambassador to Ethiopia, South Sudan, Djibouti, and African Union from 2017 - 2019 and Ambassador to Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru from 2013 - 2017. Other posts have included Director for Trade Promotion and Economic Messaging, Deputy Director for Multilateral Affairs, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassies of Ireland in Stockholm and Madrid and Ireland's Representative to the Political Military Group at the Perm Rep in Brussels.
Mr Michael Clausen,
Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States, Dublin
Michael Clausen arrived in Dublin as Deputy Chief of Mission in August 2022. Since joining the State Department in 2002, he has served in a wide variety of policy, communications, and staff positions, including as spokesperson at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, Director of the North Korea Unit in the Office of Korean Affairs, Deputy Chief of Staff at Embassy Kabul, and Watch Officer in the Executive Secretariat’s Operations Center. Mr Clausen’s other overseas assignments include postings in Beijing, Singapore, Baghdad, Taipei, and, most recently, Kyiv. In Washington he has also served in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and in the Office of Chinese Affairs.
Mr Declan Smyth,
Legal Adviser, Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland
Declan Smyth was appointed as Legal Adviser at the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland in 2023, having served previously as Acting Legal Adviser and Deputy Legal Adviser. He is responsible for the overall direction and management of the Legal Division, which provides legal advice and assistance to the Department, coordinates the development, implementation, and promotion of policy on international legal issues and represents Ireland at meetings in the UN, the EU and other international organisations and legal fora. His career in the Department has also involved a number of diplomatic postings including to the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in Geneva, Madrid and Tehran. He holds a Barrister-at-Law degree from the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin and has written on International Humanitarian Law issues.
Dr Anton Korynevych,
Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Dr Anton Korynevych is a Ukrainian lawyer specialising in public international, international humanitarian, criminal, and energy law. Since February 2014, Dr Korynevych has been researching the legal consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In February 2022, Dr Korynevych appeared as the Agent of Ukraine at a public hearing of the Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) at the International Court of Justice. He is also the Agent of Ukraine in the case against Russia on the application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) at the International Court of Justice. In May 2022, Dr Korynevych was appointed Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In June 2019, Dr Korynevych was appointed as presidential representative of Ukraine in Crimea. In the same year Dr Korynevych was nominated as a–a member of the Ukrainian Government’s Commission on Legal Reform and Chairman of the Working Group on the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories.
Ms Margarita Šniutytė-Daugėlienė,
Vice-President of Eurojust
Margarita Šniutytė-Daugėlienė was elected Vice-President of Eurojust in June 2022. Ms Šniutytė-Daugėlienė began her legal career as a public prosecutor in the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Klaipeda, where she worked for 13 years, dealing with international legal cooperation and analysis of prosecution policy, as well as conducting and supervising criminal investigations. In 2016, she was appointed Deputy Prosecutor General. During her professional career, Ms Šniutytė-Daugėlienė participated as an expert in a number of projects related to international cooperation matters and provided lectures on criminal law and international cooperation topics. She has also served as Contact Point for the European Judicial Network from 2011 to 2017.
Prof Claus Kreß,
Professor, Institute of International Peace and Security Law, University of Cologne
Professor Kreß is Professor of Public International Law and Criminal Law and he is Director of the Institute of International Peace and Security Law at the University of Cologne, Germany. His prior practice was in the German Federal Ministry of Justice on matters of criminal law and international law. In addition to his scholarly work, comprising more than 200 publications, mostly on the law on the use of force, the law of armed conflicts, and international criminal law, Professor Kreß has been a member of Germany’s delegations in the negotiations regarding the International Criminal Court as between 1998 and 2017. Since 2019, Professor Kreß serves as a Judge ad hoc at the International Court of Justice in the case The Gambia vs Myanmar.
Dr Carrie McDougall,
Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Dr Carrie McDougall teaches and researches international law at the University of Melbourne, specialising in the jus ad bellum, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. She returned to academia after nearly a decade working for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where she served first as Legal Specialist and Assistant Director of the International Law Section in Canberra and then as Legal Adviser at Australia’s Mission to the United Nations in New York. She is currently one of a small group of experts advising the Government of Ukraine on the prosecution of crimes of aggression.
Dr Barry Colfer
Director of Research at the Institute of International and European Affairs
Barry Colfer is the IIEA Director of Research. Barry holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil from the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) at the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the IIEA, Barry was Max Weber Fellow at EUI Florence. Barry previously held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Prior to this Barry studied at University College Dublin and spent two years in student politics. Barry’s research interests include the politics of European integration, the future of work, and the consequences of Brexit for Ireland. Barry is a fellow of the UK Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) and has worked at both the Irish and European Parliaments as well as with a number of leading European think tanks.
Ms Iryna Mudra,
Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine
Ms Iryna Mudra is a Ukrainian lawyer and banker who has served as a Deputy Minister for Justice in the Government of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal since May 2022. A graduate of the University of Lviv, Iryna Mudra was previously a lawyer at the State Savings Bank of Ukraine. In the international arena, she is known for publicly promoting the development of a mechanism for sanctions and reparations against the Russian Federation for the war against Ukraine.
Ms Oleksandra Matviichuk,
Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civil society leader, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022
Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights defender who works in Ukraine and across the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) region. Ms Matviichuk heads the Centre for Civil Liberties human rights organisation in Ukraine, and coordinates the work of the ‘Euromaidan SOS’ grassroots civil society organisation. Ms Matviichuk has vast experience of organising human rights activities against attacks on rights and freedoms, and years of experience of documenting violations during armed conflict. Ms Matviichuk is the author of a number of reports for various international bodies including the UN, Council of Europe, European Union, OSCE, and International Criminal Court.
Dr Günter Schirmer,
Head of Department of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe
Günter Schirmer works at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly as the Head of Department of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, since 2016, overseeing the secretariats of the Committees on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and on Election of judges at the European Court of Human Rights. Previously, he was the Deputy Head of Secretariat of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee and before that the Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe Development Bank. Before joining the Council of Europe, in 1993, he worked as a civil servant at the German Federal Ministry of Finance and a judge at the Landgericht in Bonn. In the 1980’s, he taught German and comparative law at King’s College (London) and criminal law and procedure at the University of Passau.
Dr Anton Moiseienko,
Lecturer, Australian National University College of Law
Dr Anton Moiseienko is a Lecturer in Law at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia. His work focuses on issues at the intersection of criminal law and international law, including transnational crime, economic crime, and the legal aspects of targeted sanctions. Anton Moiseienko was previously a Research Fellow at RUSI (the Royal United Services Institute)’s Centre for Financial Crime & Security Studies in London, UK. His research at RUSI covered a wide array of financial crime topics, which ranged from money-laundering techniques used by cybercriminals to crime in free-trade zones. He holds a PhD in law from Queen Mary University of London, UK, and a master’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge.
Ms Ganna Bazilo,
Co-Founder of Ukrainian Action in Ireland
Ms Ganna Bazilo is board director and co-founder of Ukrainian Action in Ireland. Ms Bazilo holds an MA in European Politics and Governance and is an experienced programme manager and coordination expert with a focus on EU foreign and security policies and EU-funded projects. A Kyiv native, Ms Bazilo moved to Ireland in March 2022. A recipient of a Special Recognition Award at Irish Tatler’s 2022 Women of the Year Awards, Ms Bazilo dreams of Ukraine's full membership of the EU and NATO.