161 / 169
BIOGRAPHIES
161
Paloma Favieres
has been coordinator of
the state legal service of the Spanish Commission
for Refugee Aid (CEAR) since 2012. A counsel-
lor of the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid
since 1990, she is an expert counsel in Human
Rights, Migration and Asylum. She specialises in
legal advice to applicants for international pro-
tection and refugees in the territory and at bor-
der posts, as well as in litigation before the
Spanish and, when necessary, European courts.
Representative of the organisation in the
European Council on Refugees and Exiles net-
work (ECRE). Member of the Legal Committee
of the Forum for the integration of immigrants
in Spain. Representative of the organisation in
the Council for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination or Ethnic (Ministry of Health,
Social Services and Equality). Writer of the CEAR
Annual Report on the situation of refugees in
Spain.
Jérémie Gagné
is Head of Political Analysis
at
policy matters
, a Berlin-based political re-
search and consulting institute. In this position,
he conducts both qualitative and quantitative
research on political attitudes, preferences and
participation in Germany and Europe. Before his
current role, he worked as a project manager
with Bertelsmann Foundation, where he co-au-
thored widely received publications on voter
turnout. He holds a master’s degrees in political
science and European affairs.
Estrella Galán
is a third sector professional,
anthropologist and social worker, an expert in
Management of Social Organizations, Human
Rights, Asylum, Migration and social interven-
tion with disadvantaged groups. She is a regular
contributor to the radio program La Ventana,
Cadena SER and other media. An author and
contributor to numerous articles, studies, reports
and publications on Asylum and Migration, she
is General Secretary of the Spanish Committee
for Refugee Aid (CEAR), where she has worked
since 1999.
Mercedes Guinea Llorente
is professor of
International Relations at the Universidad
Complutense de Madrid. Guinea Llorente is a
specialist in European integration. Her primary
lines of research are the political model of the
European Union and European foreign policy. In
2016 she collaborated with Fundación Alter-
nativas as the co-author of
Renegotiation by the
United Kingdom of its constitutional relationship
with the European Union: Issues related to
Sovereignty
, a study commissioned by European
Parliament’s Committee on Parliamentary Affairs
and conducted jointly with Francisco Aldecoa.
Björn Hacker
is professor of European
Economic Policy at the University of Applied
Sciences (HTW) Berlin. His main areas of research
include European Economic Governance, the
theory of European integration and the compar-
ative study of welfare state policies in the EU.
Prior to 2014 he has been working on European
economic and social policy at Friedrich-Ebert-
Stiftung in Berlin.
Richard Hilmer
is co-founder and Managing
Director at
policy matters
, a Berlin-based political
research and consulting institute. A trained soci-
ologist, he started his career in 1982 as a scien-
tific project manager at Infratest, Munich. As of
1992, he established Infratest political research
in former East Germany as Managing Director.
Some years later, he successfully steered and
oversaw his company’s application for election
coverage with German public broadcaster ARD.