In order to support the substantive work of the Panel, the United Nations Secretary-General also established a diverse Expert Advisory Group composed of four distinguished professors and experts with wealth of knowledge in the field of Internal Displacement. The Expert Advisory Group:

• Provides relevant research, thematic, regional and country-specific advice to support the Panel’s deliberations;
• Provides advice on stakeholders which the Panel should engage and consult;
• Participates, as relevant, in thematic, regional or national consultations undertaken by Members of the Panel;
• Provides input into themes for research commissioned on behalf of the Panel, and reviews the output of such research, as relevant;
• Provides inputs on the draft report of the Panel to the UN Secretary-General, including to ensure that it builds on existing research and is in line with international standards; 

Members of the Expert Advisory Group:

Mr. Chaloka Beyani (UK/Zambia) is Associate Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics (LSE). He served previously as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and as a legal advisor to a range of UN entities and international organizations;

Ms. Alexandra Bilak (France) is Director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and served previously as Country Director and Programme Manager for several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes in sub-Saharan Africa;

Mr. Walter Kälin (Switzerland) is Professor Emeritus of International Law at the University of Bern, Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and Special Adviser on internal displacement to the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators in Ethiopia, Somalia and Ukraine. He served previously as Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons;

Ms. Elizabeth Ferris (US) is a research professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University. She previously was non-resident fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and Co-Director of the Brookings Project on Internal Displacement. In 2016, she served as senior advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York.