Roman Teshome is an Assistant Professor with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and the Montaigne Centre at Utrecht University. She teaches courses in the bachelor and master programmes, including Public International Law, Human Rights and Development, and Sustainable Development.
Roman received her PhD in international law from the University of Amsterdam, Center for International Law, in 2023. Her PhD research looks into development-induced displacement, i.e. a form of internal displacement where people(s) are forcibly moved to make room for development projects, from international human rights law perspective.
Roman's research interest extends to various areas of international human rights law, particualrly human rights and development, socio-economic rights, and internal displacement. She has published academic articles on the right to development and derogations and limitations to human rights, among others. She was the winner of the Human Rights Essay Award 2021, organized by American University, Washington College of Law.
Prior to starting her PhD, Roman taught law in Addis Ababa University and Dire Dawa Dawa University in Ethiopia and worked in various research projects. She was a Google Policy Fellow at the Institute for Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio) in the summer of 2017 where she conducted and presented her research on freedom of expression in the digital space. In addition to the PhD, Roman holds an LLB from Addis Ababa University and an LLM fron Central European University.