I-GMAP is comprised of a core team of professional and academic staff.
Max Pensky
Co-Director & Professor of Philosophy
Max Pensky
Max Pensky, PhD is a professor of philosophy and a co-director of the Institute for Genocide and
Mass Atrocity Prevention. His main areas of scholarly research include contemporary
political theory and political philosophy and the philosophy of international law,
with an emphasis on the normative foundations of current practices of transitional
justice, the post-conflict legal and political demands on recovering states, and the
relation between domestic and international criminal law. He also publishes regularly
on critical theory, including the works of Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas, and
on issues in contemporary German political culture. He is the author of two books
and over 50 articles and chapters. He has held fellowships at Johann-Wolfgang Goethe
University Frankfurt, Cornell University, Oxford University and the University of
Ulster. Current research projects include a comprehensive study of the normative issues
surrounding the use of domestic amnesties for international crimes, and the concept
of impunity and the implications of an international legal-political norm against
impunity for international crimes.
Co-Director & Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
Kerry WhighamKerry Whigham, PhD is an assistant professor of genocide and mass atrocity prevention. He received a
Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Studies from New York University. In addition
to his duties as assistant professor, he will coordinate the Institute's online programs.
He has published articles in Genocide Studies and Prevention, The Journal of Latin
American Cultural Studies, Tourist Studies, Material Culture, and Museum and Society,
and has written a chapter for the edited volume Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention,
which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. Previously, he has been
a Postdoctoral Researcher at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human
Rights and a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide
and Human Rights. In addition to his position at I-GMAP, he is the Academic Programs
Officer for Online Education at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation
and the Communications Officer for the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
His research focuses on memory practices and civil society activism in post-atrocity
societies.
Founding Co-Director & Professor of Public Administration
Christopher P. Davey
PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
Christopher P. DaveyChristopher P. Davey, PhD is a visiting assistant professor of genocide and mass atrocity prevention. His doctorate
work was in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. Chris’ work is published
with the Journal of African Military History and Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
and has a book chapter on climate change and genocide in an edited volume on the effects
of genocide. His forthcoming book with Michigan University Press explores Congolese
Tutsi combatant identities and perceptions of genocide. He is a current Harry Frank
Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar researching Rwandan diaspora narratives of the First
Congo War, and a research scholar with Clark University’s Strassler Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies. He leads research for the Gatumba Survivors Project documenting
Congolese refugee stories of flight and belonging. Chris also serves as a board member
and project lead with Education for Global Peace (EGP) overseeing academic research
and project development, and has co-edited a book on peace education in conflict and
postcolonial settings. His research and teaching interests include the African Great
Lakes region, identity formation, relational sociology, climate change and conflict,
peacebuilding, peace education, self-defence in the face of mass atrocity, and memory.
Nicole Barren
Nicole Barren is Assistant Director at I-GMAP. Nicole joined the I-GMAP team in May 2024 after
over a decade working in the nonprofit sector with an emphasis on women’s and children’s
health and education. This included seven years as executive director of a nonprofit
providing shelter, counseling, and advocacy services to domestic violence survivors.
Nicole also worked in southeastern Africa for over four years, as field manager at
a Swiss nonprofit organization that worked to improve women’s and children’s education
and healthcare in rural Malawi, and as a rural education development specialist with
the Peace Corps in remote northern Zambia. Nicole has a MS in Child and Family Health
in the Global Community from Syracuse University and a BA in Anthropology from Hartwick
College.
Senada Serifovski is the Office Assistant. Senada received her AAS in Business Information Management
from SUNY Broome in 2021. Before coming to ÂÌñÉç, she worked as an
Office Assistant at SUNY Broome for two years. While a student, she was President
of the International Student Club. Senada is originally from Bosnia and is fluent
in five languages.
