Vinod Bal

Vinod Bal (he/him) is an emerging scholar with research interests in LGBTQIA+ rights within the international legal framework. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours (First Class) and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Political Science and Sociology) from the University of Waikato.

He is the co-founder and policy lead of Adhikaar Aotearoa, a New Zealand-national charity that advocates for LGBTQIA+ people of colour. Through this role, he has recently been funded by the New Zealand Government to deliver policy recommendations as to how New Zealand can better support LGBTQIA+ people of colour, both domestically and internationally, through the use of foreign policy.

He has also advised various government ministries and ministers on issues of saliency including the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022, LGBTQIA+ relevant policy, and ethnic community engagement.

He has worked and studied across three continents in fields including commercial law, policy, diversity and inclusion, human rights, anti-human trafficking and international trade unionism.