Meet the IIHA Team

Brendan Cahill is the Executive Director of the Institute of International
Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University and leads its outreach, academic
programs, research, and publications.
For over twenty-three years he has created, directed and taught in humanitarian
programs throughout the world, including South Africa, Jordan, Kenya, India, Egypt,
Myanmar, Kuala Lumpur, South Korea, Nepal, Sudan, Colombia, Nicaragua,
Ecuador, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, England and the United States. He
established one of the first Masters programs in Humanitarian Action in the world,
and, to date, has trained nearly 4,000 aid professionals from over 140 countries. 
He designed and implemented a full undergraduate Humanitarian Studies program at
Fordham University. He created a new Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies
program in New York, an online Master of Arts in International Humanitarian Action
and an undergraduate Minor in Community and Global Public Health.  
The Institute, which he helped create, acts as a bridge between the University and
humanitarian practice, and hosts lectures and symposia on a regular basis. Due to the
work of the Institute, Fordham University is the US partner for NOHA, a consortium
of 12 European universities offering humanitarian education. Mr. Cahill has also
served on the editorial board of their academic journal.
Mr. Cahill is the Publisher of The Refuge Press, an imprint of Fordham University
Press. He is currently co-authoring a textbook in Humanitarian Studies, to be
published by University of Toronto Press. He is the Executive Producer of
Humanitarian Fault Lines, the Institute’s first podcast. His research includes the
intersection of Design and the Humanitarian Sector, and Food Insecurity and
Conflict.
He received his BA from Colby College and his IDHA and MBA from Fordham
University.
Besides his work for the IIHA, he is the President of the CIHC, an independent
humanitarian NGO. He is a Trustee of The Helen Hamlyn Trust in London, a
Director of the KMC Foundation in New York, a member of the Advisory Board of
The Humanitarian Centre of University College Dublin. He is the President of the
Point Lookout Historical Society and the Secretary of the Point Lookout Civic
Association.

He is married with four children and lives in Point Lookout, New York.

: 718-817-5694
: [email protected]

Larry Hollingworth is a Visiting Professor of Humanitarian Studies at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University in New York. Over the past decade, Mr. Hollingworth served as Humanitarian Coordinator on CIHC-supported missions for the United Nations in Iraq, Lebanon, East Timor, Palestine, and Pakistan. After serving as a British Army officer for thirty years, Mr. Hollingworth joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and held assignments in Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was appointed UNHCR Chief of Operations in Sarajevo during the siege of the city in the Balkan conflict. Mr. Hollingworth has also worked with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). He was awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002 and honored by the U.S Department of State on the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees in 2011. Mr. Hollingworth is a frequent lecturer on relief and refugee topics in universities and is a commentator on humanitarian issues for the BBC. In his current role as Humanitarian Programs Director, which he has held for over 15 years, Mr. Hollingworth directs humanitarian training courses for participants from or intending to enter the humanitarian aid world. He has directed 48 one-month courses and more than 50 one-week courses, of which there are over 2,300 alumni.

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Alberto Preato is a program manager at the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in Niger and a Visiting Humanitarian Research Scholar at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs. He received a Master Degree in Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the Universidad Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona and holds a Master in Sustainable Architecture at the Università Iuav di Venezia (Venice, Italy). Alberto Preato has been on the frontline of some of the most challenging humanitarian responses to natural disaster and complex crisis and has been deployed as shelter and settlement experts in Mozambique, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Vanuatu, Fiji and Niger. At the IIHA Alberto will work with partners from all over the world to find innovative design solution to better respond to the needs and uphold the rights of displaced populations in emergencies and protracted crisis.

Mr. Jamie McGoldrick, interim U.N. Aid Coordinator for Palestinian Territories and former Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident Coordinator, and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, joins the IIHA as the first Distinguished Fellow. Mr. McGoldrick brings extensive experience in humanitarian affairs, international cooperation, economic development, and political affairs. Since 2015, he has served as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Yemen. He assumed that position after serving as the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nepal since 2013, and the Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UNDP in Georgia from 2009 to 2013. He was previously a senior manager with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, notably as the Chief of the Humanitarian Reform Support Unit (2006-2009), and Section Chief of the Middle East, North Africa and Great Lakes Unit (2005-2006). He has also held positions with the International Red Cross movement and non-governmental organizations in a number of countries in Africa and as news producer and researcher with several television production companies in the United Kingdom and Europe. Mr. McGoldrick holds a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, and he has additional qualifications in disaster management, preventive diplomacy and mediation.

Anthony (Tony) Land, PhD graduated from Brunel University in 1971 with the degree of Bachelor of Technology with Honours in Polymer Science and Technology and was awarded the degree of Master of Technology, also from Brunel University, in 1972 for research into high temperature resistant polymeric materials. Between 1972 and 1985, he worked with various NGOs in South Asia. From 1979 to 1985 he was employed by Tearfund and seconded to HEED in Bangladesh and to ACROSS in Southern Sudan, as Field Director. In 1985, Dr. Land joined UNHCR and worked with them in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malawi, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Russian Federation, Geneva and Brussels, in operational field roles and in donor relations, until his retirement in 2006. Since leaving UNHCR, Dr. Land has undertaken various consultancies and taught on courses in humanitarian subjects at Fordham University (New York) as well as Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Manchester University, University of Copenhagen and the University of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum. In 2014, he was admitted into the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of Liverpool. His thesis is titled “Towards enhancing responsibility and accountability in humanitarian action: Understanding the subjective factors that influence evaluation of humanitarian actions and the implementation of the recommendations made.” Having served as the Senior Tutor for the Center for International Humanitarian Cooperation (CIHC) from 2008 to 2014, Dr. Land now holds a Senior Fellowship and is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University in New York.

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Willem van de Put is a cultural/medical anthropologist and philosopher by training. He worked in international public health since 1989, first with Médecines sans Frontières Holland, where he introduced medical anthropology and mental health programming, later as the founder of TPO Cambodia (1993-1998) and general director of HealthNet TPO (1998-2016). Together with Lynne Jones and the unfailing support of the IIHA at Fordham University, Willem started the course Mental Health in Complex Emergencies in 2004.

Currently Willem works as a research fellow with the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, and is affiliated as research fellow with Fordham University, with a focus on emergency programming and health systems development in fragile states. Willem has also co-founded ‘C4C’, a foundation working on ‘Culture for Change’, applying experience in action research in concrete programmes where cultural traits and beliefs are transformed from perceived barriers for effective healing to drivers of sustainable change.

Publications

Van de Put, W. A. C. M. and Eisenbruch, M. (2002). The Cambodian experience. Trauma, war, and violence: Public mental health in socio-cultural context. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; US.

Eisenbruch, M., de Jong, J. T., and van de Put, W. (2004). Bringing order out of chaos: A culturally competent approach to managing the problems of refugees and victims of organized violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17(2), 123-131.

Van de Put, W. and Eisenbruch, M. (2004): Internally displaced Cambodians: Healing Trauma in Communities. In: The Mental Health of Refugees: Ecological approaches to healing and adaptation. Edited by Kenneth Miller and Lisa Rasco, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey/London

Van de Put, W., and van der Veer, G. (2005): Counseling in Cambodia: cultural competence and contextual costs. Intervention, July 2005. Volume 3, Nr 2. p 87-96. Psychiatry, 62 supplement 2, 64-72

Ventevogel, P., van de Put, W., Faiz, H., van Mierlo, B., Siddiqi, M., & Komproe, I. H. (2012). Improving access to mental health care and psychosocial support within a fragile context: a case study from Afghanistan. PLoS Med, 9(5), e1001225.

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Martine van der Does is a Dutch national and humanitarian expert with over 15 years of international experience. With a background in architecture she started her career working on humanitarian shelter at Delft University of Technology but soon moved to the field with Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) as a Construction Logistician. In 2010 Martine joined the Netherlands Foreign service where she worked in the Africa Department, Stabilisation and Humanitarian Aid Department and served as a Diplomat in Afghanistan and Jordan. In 2018 joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Myanmar where she worked in remote areas on protection and water and habitat issues. Until recently Martine was the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Netherlands Government in Amman, Jordan. 

Martine is academically involved as a lecturer at Delft University in the Netherlands and Fordham University in New York. In the past years she also ran the prestigious International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) as a Course Director in Geneva. Martine holds a Master of Science Degree in Architecture from Delft University of Technology and a Masters of Arts Degree in International Humanitarian Action from Fordham University. In her time off she is an active cyclist and runner and enjoys ultraraces.

Ruth Mukwana is the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow and Director of Graduate Studies of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs.

(IIHA) at Fordham University. Most recently, she was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Fiction Co-Editor for Solstice magazine.

For over twenty years, she worked with the United Nations including senior positions, Chief of Section, Asia & Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Chief of Duty of Care, Wellbeing and Capacity Development in the Executive Office in New York, and Deputy Head of Office for Sudan. She has worked with UNHCR, UNSCO and UNMISS in Sri Lanka, South Sudan, oPt, Tanzania and Switzerland. Her experience includes training, protection, internal displacement, voluntary repatriation, advocacy, access, and refugee status determination.

Ruth is also a fiction writer and a 2020 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil NYC Emerging Fellow. Her work has appeared in several magazines including Bomb, Solstice, Consequence and the Black Warriors Review and she is currently working on a novel.  She is the Creator and Host of the Stories and Humanitarian Action Podcast. 

Ruth is a Ugandan national with a Law degree from Makerere University, a Masters in international and comparative Law from the Free University of Brussels and a Masters in Fine Arts from Bennington College.

She lives in New York with her daughter.

: (718) 817 5303
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Office Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed 10am-4pm l Virtual Office Hours Thurs, Fri 10am-4pm

If you prefer to make an appointment please email Ruth [email protected] 

Sir Charles Petrie Bt, OBE has had close to 30 years’ experience working in contexts of

conflict and famine, some of it with Médecins Sans Frontières (Mali and areas under the
control of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) and much of it with the UN system
(Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda (during the 1994 Genocide), the Middle East, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and Afghanistan). From mid 2003 to end 2007 he was the UN
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative for Myanmar.
After being asked to leave Myanmar for supporting the monks of the Saffron Revolution,
he became the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for Somalia.
A position he held until early 2010. Charles Petrie resigned from the UN at the end of
2010 at the level of Assistant Secretary General as the Executive Representative of the
Secretary General for Burundi.

After leaving the UN, Charles Petrie was, from March 2011 to September 2012, the
special policy advisor to the President of Somalia based in Villa Somalia Mogadishu.
From February 2012 to March 2015, upon the Myanmar government’s invitation, Charles
Petrie coordinated the Norwegian Government sponsored Myanmar Peace Support
Initiative. A mechanism set up to facilitate the discussions between the Government and
the Ethnic Armed Groups. In March 2012, Charles Petrie was designated by the UN
Secretary General to lead an internal review of the UN’s actions in Sri Lanka during the
last phase of the conflict. The report was submitted to the Secretary General in early
November of that year and served as the basis for the elaboration of the Secretary
General’s ‘Rights up Front’ policy – a policy that places protection at the forefront of all
UN action.

In the first half of 2015, Charles Petrie was designated as one of seven experts
commissioned by the UN Secretary General to review the UN's peace building efforts.
The report they produced contributed to the formulation of the joint UN General
Assembly (262) and UN Security Council Resolutions (2282) on ‘Sustaining Peace’. In
the latter part of 2016, he was invited to lead an assessment of the UN’s integrated
strategy for the Sahel. The recommendations of the report, submitted to the UN Security
Council in January 2017, formed the basis of the Presidential Statement on the Sahel.
Finally, as concerns the United Nations, Charles Petrie is providing mentoring support to
a number of newly appointed UN Resident Coordinators.
In addition to work he continues to undertake for the UN, Charles Petrie has also been
invited to provide policy guidance to various governments. From 2018-2019, he was advisor

to the Syrian opposition. Funded by the German Government, he was tasked with helping
the opposition redefine its legitimacy following the losses in areas of control within Syria.
Since February 2021, Charles Petrie has been providing support to Myanmar civil society’s
opposition to the military. In this capacity he has been able to get a better sense of the limits
of traditional humanitarian aid in reaching those most affected. Coming out of these
observations has been the belief that a new model of international engagement needs to be
found and developed that is able to support the emergence of local governance structures
( https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-a-new-aid-model-can-better-assist-communities-
in-pariah-states-105617 ). In January-February 2024, Charles Petrie crossed in Myanmar
to get a better understanding of the governance structures in areas no longer under the
control of the Myanmar military (https://www.noemamag.com/a-journey-into-rebel-held-
myanmar/).

In August 2021, Charles Petrie published a book entitled The Triumph of Evil, which relates
the story of an attempt to get a former UN official to account for his alleged involvement in
the murder of thirty-two people, including UN colleagues. He is currently working on a
second book with the working title of Lyrics for Unsung Heroes. The book will honour
ordinary individuals whom he met over the years – individuals who have demonstrated
incredible courage and nobility.
Charles Petrie was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014
New Year’s Honours list for services to international peace, security and human rights.
Upon his request, he received the award in Mogadishu. Following the death of his father
in October 2021, he became the sixth Baronet of Carrowcarden. Charles regularly serves as an IDHA Course Mentor.