Despina Sinou

Despina Sinou is an Assistant Professor of Public Law, Deputy Dean of the School of Law, Political and Social Sciences at Sorbonne Paris Nord University (France), and Director of the Master’s program in International Cooperation and NGOs. She has been a member of the “think tank” of former SYRIZA-PS President Alexis Tsipras and was a candidate for the European Parliament with SYRIZA-PS in 2024. As a member of the Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Policy and International Relations of SYRIZA-PS, she participates in the working group of the Party of the European Left focused on combating far-right movements.

She holds a law degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), a PhD in Public International Law from Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, and two postdoctoral degrees from NKUA and Cergy-Pontoise University. Her doctoral dissertation, entitled The European Union as a Legal Actor in International Human Rights Law, was awarded the “Georgios Tenekidis” Prize in 2009.

She serves as an independent expert for the Council of Europe and the European Union, with field experience in human rights education missions in Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Chechnya, Colombia, Argentina, and other countries. She has also been a scientific collaborator for the International Labour Organization, UNESCO, and the French National Human Rights Commission, as well as coordinator of the Francophone sections of the Academic Network on Social Rights. She is Vice President of the Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations and a member of the French Society of International Law.

Her teaching and research interests—reflected in over 60 scholarly publications—include international law and international politics, human rights and humanitarian issues, the social impacts of climate change, the legal and political dimensions of the commons, new forms of participatory democracy, and the role of universities in promoting social justice.