Claire is from Ngati Whakaue, Tuwharetoa, Nga Puhi and Tainui. Claire’s primary area of research is in Indigenous peoples’ rights in international and constitutional law, often with a comparative focus. Claire is working on articles on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the relationship between tikanga Māori and the state legal system, tensions between human rights and Indigenous peoples' rights and on the legitimacy of Indigenous peoples' rights under international law, which will be published as a book by Cambridge University Press.  Claire is also working on a number of collaborative research projects including on Indigenous peoples' self-determination and the philosophical foundations of Indigenous law, and is a member of the International Law Association's Committee on Indigenous peoples' rights. Claire was awarded a Royal Society Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2017. Claire has typically combined her academic research and teaching with advocacy for the rights of Indigenous peoples at the domestic and international levels and is currently a trustee on the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. In 2016 - 2017 Claire was appointed by the President of the United Nations General Assembly to advise him on enhancing Indigenous peoples' participation in the United Nations. From 2010-2013 Claire worked for the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section, focusing on the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Claire is currently a co-director of the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Law.

Sheryl Lightfoot (Anishinaabe, Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe, Keweenaw Bay) is a globally recognized scholar of Indigenous rights, global politics, and public policy. She is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Dr. Lightfoot currently serves as Vice Chair, North American Member, and past Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She is the first Indigenous woman from Canada to hold this position. Her research focuses on Indigenous-state relations, the implementation of Indigenous rights frameworks, and the ways Indigenous self-determination is reshaping global politics. She is the author of Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution (2016), and in 2024 she co-edited Indigenous Peoples and Borders (Duke University Press) and The Handbook of Indigenous Public Policy (Edward Elgar). Her scholarship has appeared widely in leading journals and edited volumes and is noted for bridging theoretical insights with policy relevance. Previously, Dr. Lightfoot held a Canada Research Chair in Global Indigenous Rights and Politics at the University of British Columbia, where she also served as Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Affairs and led the creation of UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars and has received numerous awards and major research grants.

Human rights advocate and researcher, Former Chief of the Secretariat, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Former Director, Indigenous Peoples' Rights Program, Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. Elsa joined Columbia University in 2011 after a 31-year service at the United Nations with some 22 years dedicated to human rights, in addition to 8 years exclusively devoted to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Elsa left Columbia in June 2025. She continues her research and work of human rights advocacy at various levels. Indigenous issues and women’s rights were part of her portfolios and pro volunteer work since the early 1980s. She became the first Chief of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2003. She taught the first-ever course at Columbia on Indigenous Peoples’ rights (2011), the first course on cultural rights (2016) and became the first Director of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights. She established the International Program on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Policy at Columbia and directed it as its Academic Coordinator from 2013 to 2025. She co-founded and co-chaired Columbia’s University Seminar on Indigenous Studies from its inception in 2014 to 2020. Elsa’s academic background is in law, international law, criminal justice and political science (Athens Law School, Vienna University, Northeastern University (USA), Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of Geneva). She has worked on international normative frameworks, institution-building, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, minorities and other groups, women’s rights, cultural rights, development and international cooperation. She has collaborated closely with human rights non-governmental organizations around the world and has received awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York City Bar Association, 2024; the Ingrid Washinawatok El Issa O’Peqtaw Metaehmoh-Flying Eagle Woman Peace, Justice and Sovereignty Award; the award of the NGO Committee on the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples; the Eleanor Roosevelt Award of the Human Rights Center and of Voices 21; the Innovation in Academia Award for Arts & Culture, 2016, University of Kent (UK); in 2010, the Museum “Tepee of the World” was given her name in the Republic of Sakha, Russia. In 2016, she was featured as one of the UN’s 80 Leading Women from 1945-2016. She co-chairs the International Commission on the Chittagong Hill Tracts and is on the Board of the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) and other boards.