Asylum Insights
Our expertsMatched to the instruction, not assigned by availability.
Expert evidence is only as good as the fit between the specialist and the question. Where the right specialist for a country and issue is not available within your timetable, we say so rather than substitute someone adjacent.
- Structure
- Specialist network
- Matching
- Country + theme
- Report signed by
- The specialist
What we require before instructing a specialist
Current engagement, not past credentials
A doctorate completed a decade ago is not knowledge of a country today. We look for continuing contact: recent presence, active professional networks, and the ability to say what changed this year.
Working knowledge of the language
Most of what matters about a country is never published in English. A specialist who can read local court reporting, legislation, and social media is working from a materially larger evidence base.
Evidential discipline
The ability to distinguish knowledge from inference, to attribute every material finding, and to write for a tribunal rather than for an academic reader.
Willingness to be cross-examined
Every specialist we instruct is prepared to defend their report in the witness box, including on how they know what they claim to know.
A record of adverse opinions
We prefer specialists who have declined instructions or reported unfavourably to the instructing party. It is the clearest available evidence of independence.
Specialist areas currently held
Described by discipline and region. Named profiles and full curricula vitae are provided with the instruction confirmation, and are disclosed in the report itself.
Horn of Africa
Country specialistClan structures, forced recruitment, and returnee screening at points of entry.
Iran & the Gulf
Country specialistApostasy and conversion, morality policing, and surveillance of diaspora activity.
West Africa
Country specialistFGM prevalence by ethnic group, traditional authority, and state inaction.
Trauma & testimony
Thematic specialistMemory, sequencing, and delayed disclosure in accounts of torture and sexual violence.
South Asia
Country specialistBlasphemy law enforcement, political violence, and internal relocation viability.
Sexuality & gender identity
Thematic specialistSocial visibility, discretion reasoning, and non-state persecution networks.
Tell us the country and the issue, and we will confirm whether we hold the right specialist.
If we do not, we will say so at the enquiry stage rather than after you have instructed.
Every enquiry is confidential. Nothing is shared with immigration authorities or any government body.