Prof. Dr. Jelena Ristikj is an Associate Professor of Human Rights and Freedoms at the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research at the University "Ss. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje. She graduated from, received her master's degree and her doctorate degree at the Faculty of Law "Iustinianus Primus" at the University "Ss. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje, where in 2013 she received her master's degree on the topic "The Principle of Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice", within the framework of the postgraduate master's studies in international law and international politics. The same year she enrolled in doctoral studies in international law and in 2016 she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on the topic "Intellectual Property Rights and the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights" and acquired the scientific title of Doctor of Law in International Law. In 2022, she successfully completed a one-year postdoctoral program in new technologies and law at the Mediterranea International Centre for Human Rights Research at the University “Mediterranea”, Department of Law, Economics and Humanities, in Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Her professional background encompasses twenty years of work experience in the legal field, including within several international organizations and institutions: the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), the American Bar Association Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (ABA CEELI), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). For a certain period, she also worked as the Executive Director of the North Macedonia Bar Association. Since 2018, she has been the Vice President of the North Macedonia Bar Association and a member of its Governing Board. She is also a member of the Program Council of the Education Centre of the North Macedonia Bar Association and an attorney-at-law. She is a Council of Europe expert in various legal areas and a certified trainer of the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP). In 2021, she was elected as a member of the Consultative Board of the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP). With her papers and presentations, she has participated in around fifty scientific and professional conferences in the country and abroad. She was a leader of and was involved as an expert in several international and national projects related to reforms in the justice sector, the rule of law and human rights. She was also a member of working groups at the Ministry of Justice for the preparation of laws, as well as a member of commissions for the preparation of by-laws. She is the author of around forty scientific and professional papers, including several monographs.