Dr Tamsin Mitchell
UNESCO Research Associate

Profile

Biography

Tamsin joined the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) in January 2026 as UNESCO Research Associate, working with CAHR’s Co-Director Professor Paul Gready, who holds the UNESCO Chair in the Protection of Human Rights Defenders & Expansion of Political Space. She is currently developing research on the impact of and responses to the transnational repression of activists in university settings, and on the links between academic freedom and civic space.

A social sciences scholar, Tamsin has a longstanding interest and specialism in freedom of expression, the protection/ safety of human rights defenders and journalists, and addressing impunity including for crimes against journalists. She is also interested in human rights law and institutions, self-protection, civil society and transnational activism, transnational collaborative investigative journalism, media and corruption and human trafficking. Tamsin has carried out research on human rights issues worldwide and has expertise on Latin America. She works in English, Spanish and French. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Advanced Study (SAS), University of London.

Tamsin was previously a Visiting Researcher and ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield’s School of Journalism, Media and Communication. She holds a PhD in Politics (University of York), an MA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights (SAS, University of London), an M.St. in Research Methods (Balliol, University of Oxford) and an MA (Hons) in English and French (University of Glasgow).

Tamsin has carried out consultancy for the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights. She has many years’ experience of working for international human rights and development NGOs, including managing programmes of research and advocacy in Latin America and Africa and providing support to writers and journalists at risk for PEN International.

Publications

Selected publications

Monograph

• MITCHELL, T. 2025. Human Rights, Impunity and Anti-Press Violence: Journalists' Strategies for Countering Unpunished Attacks, Routledge (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics).

Journal articles

• MITCHELL, T. 2022. Using Journalism for Self-Protection: Profession-Specific and Journalistic Measures and Strategies for Countering Violence and Impunity in Mexico and Honduras. Journalism Studies 1-20.

Book chapters

• MITCHELL, T. (forthcoming) 2026. Emerging counter-impunity strategies for journalists-human rights defenders and allies in Mexico and Honduras: psychological support, expanding international mechanisms and networks. In: Gómez Isa, F. and McCall-Smith, K. (eds) Policies, Practices and Strategies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Edward Elgar.
• MITCHELL, T. 2019. Journalists as Human Rights Defenders: International Protection of Journalists in Contexts of Violence and Impunity. In: SHAW, I. S. SELVARAJAH, S. (eds.) Reporting Human Rights, Conflicts, and Peacebuilding: Critical and Global Perspectives. Springer.

Policy papers

• MITCHELL, T. 2022. Safety of journalists in non-EU countries: state and non-state protection mechanisms and the role of the EU. Brussels, Belgium.: European Parliament, Policy Department for External Relations.
• MITCHELL, T. 2022. In search of protection, justice and the truth: journalists’ responses to impunity in Mexico and Honduras. Human Rights Defenders Hub Working Paper Series. York, UK: University of York.

In-depth feature

• MITCHELL, T. (2025) How state agents target journalists while governments claim to protect them – stark warnings from Mexico and Honduras, The Conversation, 2 May 2025.

External activities

Overview

• Associate Editor, The International Journal of Human Rights
• Regular reviewer for academic journals in the areas of human rights and journalism/ media studies
• Recent voluntary work: Adviceline Assessor, Citizens Advice Camden, London (2025); Refugee befriender, HostNation (2022-); Trustee, Peace Brigades International UK (2016–18).