Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in:
- International and regional human rights law, particularly applications which focus on gender-based violence
Public outreach & key achievements
- I have published five sole-authored books, which are as follows:
- International Human Rights Law and Domestic Violence (2011, Routledge)
- Bills of Rights: A Comparative Perspective (2014, Intersentia)
- The Istanbul Convention, Domestic Violence and Human Rights (2017, Routledge)
- Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Abuse in Northern Ireland (2022, Routledge)
- The European Convention on Human Rights and the COVID-19 Pandemic (2024, Routledge)
- I have also published widely in international peer reviewed journals, such as the European Journal of International Law, the International Journal of Human Rights, the European Human Rights Law Review and Public Law
- As well as presenting papers at a large number of conferences, I have been an invited speaker at a Judicial Studies Board seminar on domestic violence for the Magistrates' Courts Tier of the judiciary and the invited speaker at a meeting of the Irish Society of International Law held in Trinity College Dublin. I have also delivered a training session to staff from Women’s Aid.
Research students
| PhD area | The Evolution of Women's Rights to Political Participation in Modern China: Shanghai, 1840-1949 |
| Name | Ningning Liu |
| PhD area | Accessing justice: How women experience the legal system when seeking redress for domestic abuse in Northern Ireland |
| Name | Aoife Clements |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Saudi Arabia and Human Trafficking: Poised between Sharia and International Law |
| Name | Dr Latif Alkharji |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2023 |
| PhD area | The responsibility to protect and the promise of protecting populations 17 years on |
| Name | Dr Sian Fisher |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2023 |
| PhD area | Sanctions for copyright infringement in relation to the film industry in developing economies: Nigeria as a case study |
| Name | Dr Nkem Itanyi |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2022 |
| PhD area |
Languishing in a legal limbo: Ireland's cross-border surrogate child |
| Name | Dr Mary O'Connor |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2019 |
| PhD area |
Understanding desistance from sexual offending |
| Name | Dr Mark Farmer |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2016 |
| PhD area |
Domestic abuse and women with no recourse to public funds: Where human rights do not reach |
| Name | Dr Rebecca Dudley |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2014 |
| Current Position | International Humanitarian Law Advisor, New Zealand Red Cross |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- Human Rights Centre
- The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law
Read our on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.
Interested in a postdoctoral fellowship at QUB Law?
If you have already completed a PhD or are about to do so, and you are looking for a mentor for a postdoctoral fellowship in one of my areas of expertise, please get in touch via email. The School of Law has a strong track record in supporting able candidates who are working towards fellowship applications to funders such as the British Academy, EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie scheme, ESRC NINE and the Leverhulme Trust.