Winston Ardoin

Winston Ardoin (he/him) is a researcher and human rights advocate based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Currently, he is a PhD student in Political Science at the University of North Carolina where his research focuses on public security, social movements, and the politics of accountability and justice. At UNC, he is affiliated with the Authoritarian Politics Lab and Institute for the Study of the Americas. His research work has led him to Brazil where he conducted interviews with several racial justice advocates and movement leaders from around the country. He continues to work with Brazilian academics and activists on academic and policy projects.

Formerly based in New York City and Washington, DC, he holds an MA in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. During his time at Georgetown, he also studied in Ecuador and South Africa and interned at a social impact startup incubator in Colombia. In the human rights space, he has worked with a range of institutions and organizations focusing on labor rights, migrant issues, transnational justice, and inclusive and effective democracy. While at Columbia, he worked both with the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law and with the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

In the future, Winston hopes to continue researching and writing about human rights-related questions in academic and policy publications.