Inga Winkler

Lecturer in the Discipline of Human Rights in the Department of Political Science, Columbia University

Inga Winkler is a lecturer in the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Rights Program. Her research agenda is held together by her interest in socio-economic rights, development, gender, social justice and substantive equality. Her policy experience over the last years has enabled her to follow discussions at various levels from global processes to local challenges which is reflected in her research approaches. Current research projects focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights, the UN Special Procedures, menstrual health and wellbeing, and the human right to sanitation.

Previously, she has been in residence as a visiting scholar the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU, at Stellenbosch (South Africa) and at Berkeley. She is an affiliate of the Economic and Social Rights Working Group at the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut.

Prior to joining Columbia, Inga was 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. Inga has 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 Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, WaterAid, and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council.

Inga holds a German law degree and a doctorate in international human rights law (summa cum laude).

Working Group Affiliation

Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, Project Director