Members
Sebastian Niessen applies his background in psychology, international law, and political sciences/cultural studies mostly in the interconnected fields of sustainable development, human security, and minority issues (including cultural heritage).
Regarding sustainable development, he adheres to a systems approach, with a particular interest in externalities. He published on food systems, on environmental commons, and on social change interventions. On the latter topic, he also worked in a WASH-project in Mozambique and in the campaigns section of the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health. He studied environmental economy as well as trade and investment law. Before his studies, he did a volunteering service at a network of international environmental organisations in Prague, and during his studies, he was board member of an NGO on conservation psychology.
Regarding human security, his expertise lies mostly in the psychosocial approach. He is an election observer for the OSCE, worked as a psychologist with victims of torture as well as with perpetrators of violence, worked and volunteered in the field of migration, and implemented several projects on political participation and civic education. Besides, he worked in the peace policy section of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), published on transitional justice in Bosnia and Canada, and is board member of the Swiss Helsinki Committee.
Regarding ethnic minority issues, he volunteered with young Roma in Czech Republic as well as with Chuvash in Russia and diasporas in Switzerland. He studied Indigenous rights in the Brazilian Amazon, at a US-university, and in Dublin, published on ethnic conflict, and did several trainings on the intangible cultural heritage of minorities (e.g., language rights).
His field experience has a focus on (Central) Eurasia, and he studied several Slavic, Romance, Germanic, and Turkic languages. Besides, he did a traineeship at the European Commission.