Susan Treadwell is deputy director of the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program, the principal grantmaking program at the Open Society Institute, Budapest. She joined the Open Society Foundations in 2003 and manages the program’s funding in the Western Balkans, which consists predominantly of institutional support to human rights watchdog NGOs using advocacy and strategic litigation to promote systemic reform. In addition to fundamental rights concerns, Treadwell’s substantive focus is on promoting freedom of information and accountable governance throughout Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union by promoting best practices and knowledge sharing.
Treadwell received her BA in political science and international relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA in human rights from the University of Essex. Prior to joining the Foundations, she was a researcher for the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, where she conducted fact-finding missions and authored a multi-country advocacy report on inhuman and degrading treatment of people with mental disabilities in psychiatric and social care institutions. She has also worked in Korea, Mexico, and Japan.