Inga T. Winkler

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Dr. Inga Winkler (@inga_winkler) is an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law at the Central European University in Vienna, Austria. She takes a socio-legal approach to her research, which focuses on socio-economic rights, gender justice and sustainable development. Her work bridges institutional protection and socio-cultural dimensions of human rights, global policy and grassroots movements, and critical reflection and practical application. Issues that are considered taboo, in particular sanitation and menstruation, have piqued her interest. Her policy experience has allowed her to follow discussions at various levels from global processes to local challenges which enables her to link research, advocacy and policy-influencing. Current research projects address menstruation through various angles, the human right to sanitation, and the UN Special Procedures.

Her books include the first comprehensive monograph on the human right to water, the Handbook on Critical Menstruation Studies, and an edited volume on the Sustainable Development Goals. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Human Rights, the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, Feminist Formations, Culture, Health & Sexuality, among others.

Inga is the founder and co-director of the Working Group on Menstrual Health & Gender Justice and the co-chair of the University Seminar on Menstruation & Society at Columbia University. She is affiliated faculty in the Economic and Social Rights Working Group at the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, and the Center on Law and Social Transformation at the University of Bergen, Norway. Previously, she was a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, where she taught in the interdisciplinary, social sciences-based program. She was also a visiting scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU, at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and at UC Berkeley.

Inga served as the Legal Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. She has also consulted for various international organizations and NGOs including the European Parliament; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the United Nations Development Programme; the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions; WaterAid; the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).

Inga holds a German law degree and a doctorate in international human rights law (summa cum laude). She is also on LinkedIn.