What are some of the contemporary challenges confronting the 'human rights movement'? How might new tools and new strategies be developed to provide better support to human rights defenders on the ground?
Bickford is currently the Founder and CEO of MEMRIA, a social enterprise which develops partnerships with organizations to collect, analyze, and circulate narrative accounts of past violence with the aim of strengthening human rights. Bickford is also professor at Columbia University and New York University, where he teaches regular graduate seminars on the human rights movement. From 2012-2017, Bickford managed the global human rights program at the Ford Foundation. Prior to that he was at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), where he was a founding staff member (2001) and a member of the Senior Management team (through 2010). He has a PhD from McGill University and an MA from the New School, both in Political Science.