Staff
Sai Bourothu
Sai is a researcher with the Automated Decision Research team and is based in New Delhi, India. Sai was previously a Project Officer on police and prison accountability with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, where she contributed to two reports titled ‘A Study on Accountability of Police: Process and Outcomes of Complaints Against Delhi Police Personnel’ and ‘Lost Identity: Transgender Persons in Indian Prisons’.
She has been actively associated with collectivisation on issues of trans* and queer rights and access to justice, and also volunteers as the Network Coordinator for the Queer (In)carceration project, which is a collective of trans* and queer persons in conflict with law. The collective works towards balancing the inequality in access to justice for communities historically criminalised for their non-normative gender or sexual expression.
Sai holds a Master’s in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, with a specialization in Criminology and Justice. Her research work here focused on mapping state and societal policing of trans* and queer persons in public spaces. Her previous engagements on access to justice lay the foundation for her interest in the increasing use of algorithms in policing and public administration.
Dr Catherine Connolly
Dr Catherine Connolly is the Automated Decision Research Manager. She holds a PhD in International Law & Security Studies and a BA in International Relations from Dublin City University, Ireland, and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London, England.
Prior to joining the Stop Killer Robots team in 2021, Catherine worked in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, where she researched and lectured in critical security studies, international relations and international law. Catherine was awarded a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Irish Research Council, and was the recipient of a DCU School of Law and Government PhD Scholarship.
Elements of Catherine’s research have been published in the Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Third World Approaches to International Law Review, Irish Studies in International Affairs, Teen Vogue, and The Irish Times, among others. She has delivered lectures to the Joint Command and Staff Course at the Irish Defence Forces Military College, and has presented on her work at numerous seminars and conferences.
Catherine has also worked with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Embassy of Ireland in London. Catherine is based in Dublin, Ireland.
Gugu Dube
Gugu Dube joined the Automated Decision Research team as a Researcher in 2021. From April 2019 to mid-2021, she was a Researcher in the Transnational Threats and International Crime Programme in Pretoria for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). She was also a researcher for Southern Africa for ENACT (Enhancing Africa’s response to transnational organised crime).
She worked for the ISS from 2007 to 2014, researching arms management and garnering African states’ support for the Arms Trade Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. She was a consultant to the 2013 UN Group of Governmental Experts for the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
Gugu has a BA Honours degree in International Relations from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and is pursuing her Master’s degree at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Contributing Experts
Daan Kayser
Daan Kayser is project leader autonomous weapons at the Dutch peace organisation PAX. His work focuses on tracking developments in increasing autonomy in weapon systems. He also closely follows political developments in European countries.