Archives: Profiles

Dr. Gyal Lo is an educational sociologist and leading expert on China’s assimilation and education policies in Tibet. Born in Amdo, Tibet (an area of eastern Tibet China now calls Gansu), he received his master’s degree from the Tibetan Language and Culture Department at Northwestern University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, China. In 1995, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the same department where he taught for the next decade. He did extensive research into the area of Tibetan education and, in particular, school curriculum development for Tibetans and later received a master’s degree and PhD in Educational Sociology from the University of Toronto. He then returned to China where he worked as a professor at the Yunnan Normal University Institute for Studies in Education (ISE) from 2017-2020. He was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) Fellowship for his research entitled “Culturally-Relevant Education for Minority and Rural Villages in Asia”.

Dawa Paljor manages Tibet Action’s websites, as well as doing graphic design and creating materials for the organisation. Previously, he worked for three years as a computer trainer in the Tibetan Career Centre at the Central Tibetan Administration. A Tibetan born in Bhutan, he attended Upper Tibetan Children’s Village and completed his Bachelor in Computer Application degree from the Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education.

Tenzin Thayai has worked with Tibet Action since 2016, providing technical support to members of the Tibetan community and conducting numerous digital security trainings for both civil society organizations and individuals. As part of a Tibet Action program, he has also worked as the System Administrator for the Tibetan Youth Congress Centrex office, where he was responsible for managing networks and providing support to Tibetan Youth Congress members.

Dorjee Phuntsok works with Tibet Action as a digital security trainer and the Response Coordinator of TibCERT. He has two years of experience providing digital security trainings and support, regularly conducting trainings throughout India. Previously, Dorjee acted as Digital Security Advisor for one of the largest Tibetan civil society organisations in Dharamsala, India, including supporting secure networks and safeguarding the digital assets of the organisation. Dorjee has an academic specialisation in Mechanical Engineering from Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Tumkur.

Tenzin Tsering manages the India office of Tibet Action Institute, including its finances and administration. She also coordinates digital security trainings and arranges logistics for all of Tibet Action’s India-based programs. She graduated from Oxford College with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and completed her Masters of Commerce from Christ University Bangalore.

Lhadon is an award-winning activist and leader of the Tibetan freedom movement who has been organizing and strategizing for Tibet almost all her life. In 2009, she co-founded Tibet Action Institute with a vision of combining cutting-edge technology with strategic nonviolence to design strategies and carry out innovative programs that advance human rights and freedom in Tibet.

In 2011, Lhadon was awarded the first annual James Lawson Award for Nonviolent Achievement by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and in 2018 she accepted the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy on behalf of Tibet Action Institute. Born in Canada to a Tibetan father and Canadian mother, she previously served as the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, building a powerful youth movement for Tibet. 

A leading spokesperson on Tibet, Lhadon travels the globe educating governments, UN bodies, journalists, academics, and grassroots activists about China’s devastating role in Tibet and the power of strategic nonviolence, combined with new technologies, to affect social change even in the most repressed places on earth. When she’s not running around the world speaking out for Tibet, she’s trying to catch up to her three young children.

Co-founder of Tibet Action Institute,Nathan is a pioneer in the field of mobile software design. As an entrepreneur, Nathan co‐developed, and later sold to Palm, Inc., a patented mobile software platform competitive with the RIM Blackberry Enterprise Server. He now leads the Guardian Project, an effort to build secure, open-source mobile solutions for activists, journalists, and human rights organizations. He served on the Board of Directors of Students for a Free Tibet for four years and has acted as a technology adviser and volunteer with Students for a Free Tibet since 2001, most notably building the communications technology platform that enabled safe and untraceable coordination of nonviolent protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Nathan’s career has spanned the academic, entrepreneurial, government and non-profit sectors, with a consistent focus on realizing innovative ideas and solutions through the thoughtful application of new technologies.

Freya began working with Tibet Action Institute as Program Director in 2010, then serving as Deputy Director from 2013-2018. She has been leading strategic campaigns and inspiring action for Tibet and other social, political and environmental change for almost two decades. In her previous role as a Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace, she worked to change logging practices and protect Canada’s Boreal Forest. At EarthRights International, she helped raise the profile of the landmark Wiwa v. Shell case for justice and accountability in Ogoni territory in Nigeria. At the International Tibet Support Network, Freya coordinated the global Tibet movement’s campaign to spotlight Tibet’s occupation and pressure the Chinese leadership through the Beijing 2008 Olympics. She worked at Students for a Free Tibet from 2001-2005. Freya has led trainings in nonviolent action around the world.

Tenzin Choedon (Tenchoe) has been an active leader in the Tibet movement from a young age. She served on the executive of the Tibetan Youth Congress’ Delhi chapter while at university, and from 2006-2011, worked at Students for a Free Tibet India, first as Program Director and later as National Director. Tenchoe has seen firsthand the impact on the Tibetan community of online surveillance, censorship, and targeted malware attacks, as well as the need for creative solutions, and has worked with Tibet Action Institute to develop programs, content, and reach members of the community since 2011.

Lobsang Gyatso Sither is a Tibetan born in exile dedicated to increasing cyber security among Tibetans inside Tibet and in the diaspora. Working with Tibet Action Institute since 2011, he has helped to develop community-specific technologies and educational content and deploys them via training and public awareness campaigns at the grassroots level. He was a member of the Global Cyber Stewards network and the peer-review panel for Security Planner, an easy-to-use guide with expert-reviewed advice for staying safer online. He is currently on the Advisory Board of Citizen Clinic, a public-interest cybersecurity clinic at the University of California-Berkeley. He has worked and continues to work with key communicators and numerous civil society organizations in the Tibetan community.