After graduating in a BA in English Language, Literature and Civilisations and a BA in History, Claire spent 3 years in Northern Ireland, where she graduated in a pluridisciplinary Masters in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice from The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast. While undertaking a research internship for a Belfast law firm specialised in human rights, she realised the importance of connecting research to societal needs. This experience in a post-conflict zone has taught her a lot about the importance of community-building and local democracy in fostering quality societal change.
A strong advocate of democracy and intercultural bridges, she has been involved in different civil society organisations in France and Ireland in various fields, namely in assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, education to social entrepreneurship, and CSO development through skilled-based volunteering.
Through her position of Head of Research and International Relations at the French Institute for Civil Society Organisations, she developed a sound understanding of CSO knowledge needs. She has conducted a national survey on CSOs’ needs and organised several working groups on more specific issues: CSOs and democracy in Europe, Associative Governance and Participation, CSOs’ contribution to local territories, to name a few. She has designed several research calls for proposals aimed at meeting CSOs’ needs, helped researchers disseminate their research findings in formats suited to practitioners, and organised multiple events aimed at providing a space for dialogue between CSOs, their private and public stakeholders, and researchers.