The International Justice and Human Rights Centre is comprised of a small team of core Academic Members, who mostly specialise in international legal issues and human rights. In addition to these members, the Centre has Associate Members from departments across Edge Hill University, strong national and local connections, and distinguished external members. The team is supported by a our Graduate Teaching Assistants / PhD Candidates, who bring their new insights and creative approaches to our work.
The Research Centre is a grouping of academics, experts, policy stakeholders, and others, that provides a forum for research collaboration, networks, discussion, and debate. It is undertaking a varied collection of projects, research, and support networks on issues relating to international justice and human rights that we hope will have a real world impact.
Some of our members have clear policy directions or ambitions in their research, while others seek to be more impartial and provide an independent source of international legal expertise. Either way, all contributions are welcomed and encouraged in our Centre to inform our work, and our primary goal is the pursuit and improvement of knowledge and expertise in international justice and human rights.
Academic Members
Dr Patrick Butchard
Director
Senior Lecturer in Law
Patrick is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the School of Law and Criminal Justice. He is also an International Law Researcher for the House of Commons Library in the UK Parliament. Patrick’s research interests generally are in conflict and security law, the law of armed conflict, and the use of force in international law.
Dr Jennifer Giblin
Associate Head of Department
School of Law and Criminal Justice
Dr Jennifer Giblin’s general research interests lie in the fields of conflict and security law, United Nations law, peacekeeping, and post-conflict situations. Jennifer’s current research examines international law and United Nations peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fiona Davies
Lecturer in Law
Fiona is currently completing her PhD at the University of Sheffield School of Law which was funded by the Doctoral Academy Scholarship.
Fiona’s PhD thesis focuses on international criminal law and its application to the use of advanced technologies such as autonomous weapon systems. More specifically, Fiona’s thesis examines the doctrine of command responsibility to understand how military commanders can be held responsible for the use of autonomous weapon systems.
Dr Siobhan Smith
Senior Lecturer in Law
Dr Siobhan Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Law. Siobhan joined Edge Hill University in September 2024. Her research interest focuses firstly on Public International Law. This first aspect of her research looks at International Human Rights Law, and more specifically the realisation of the right to education during armed conflict situations, and her research also examines the simultaneous protection of education during armed conflict situations within International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law.
Dr Divin Irakiza
Lecturer in Law
Divin has been a Lecturer in EU/International Law at the School of Law, Criminology, and Policing since September 2022. Prior to this, he was a GTA/GTF at the University of Liverpool, where he completed his thesis on the integration of Fundamental Rights in the substantive application of competition law.
Divin’s main research interests center around EU Constitutional Law, the internal market, EU Competition Law, and Fundamental Rights. His doctoral research considered the role of non-economic aims, particularly fundamental rights, in the substantive application of EU Competition Law. His thesis investigates this question through the prism of data protection and collective bargaining.
Dr Scott Keay
Senior Lecturer in Policing
Scott is a senior lecturer and a former Criminal Intelligence Analyst. He worked in policing and criminal justice for 20 years. During this time, he diversified across roles including Community Safety and Partnership Intelligence Manager, and Data Analysis and Insight Manager. His efforts in developing intelligence analysis standards led to being the recipient of the 2018 International Service Award for “outstanding contribution as a supervisor to the achievement of law enforcement objectives”, awarded by IALEIA (International Association of Law Enforcement Analysts). He is a judge on the sifting panel for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Problem Solving and Crime Prevention Programme’s national Tilley Awards, which celebrates problem-oriented projects that have successfully resolved community problems. His research includes policing vulnerability, criminal intelligence, and the effectiveness of police analysts.
Associate Members
GTA/PhD students
Jessica Drew
Graduate Teaching Assistant, PhD Candidate
School of Law and Criminal Justice
Jessica is a PhD Researcher and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Law and Criminal Justice. She obtained her LLB at Edge Hill University and LLM at the University of Liverpool. Her PhD research, which began in 2022, critically examines potential protections available for climate migrants who enter Europe. The project is titled ‘Climate Migration Policy and the European Crisis in Refugee Law’. The critical analysis of this research is also concerned with international law as a theory of crisis, looking at the influence of crisis thinking on policymaking.
Beyond the PhD, Jessica’s research is also concerned with the matter of statehood relating to climate change and the rising sea. Jessica’s research interests include refugee law, human rights law and critical approaches to international law. She is also a director of Support for Wigan Arrivals Project (SWAP), a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugees in the Wigan Borough.
Mrs Elizabeth Devine (GTA/PhD)
- Mrs Devine is a former Graduate Teaching Assistant (Law) and current PhD Candidate at EHU.
- Mrs Devine joined Edge Hill in October 2019 as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) and is currently undertaking her PhD in Law entitled: ‘Exploitation of People and Planet: An international legal approach to the role of modern slavery in environmental destruction and climate change.’
Dr Holly Devlin (PhD)
- Ms Devlin is a former Graduate Teaching Assistant (Law) and PhD Candidate at EHU.
- Ms Devlin joined Edge Hill as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in October 2019 and successfully defended her doctoral research into the differing applications of the legality principle between international criminal tribunals and human rights bodies.
Student Opportunity Fund interns
Previous Interns
Mr Byron Austin
- As a Student Opportunity Fund Intern (2022), Ms Austin will assist Dr Giuffré in conducting research on externalisation of borders, State responsibility, and the readmission of migrants and asylum seekers.
Ms Georgina Lucy
- As a Student Opportunity Fund Intern (2022), Ms Lucy has assisted Dr Giuffré in conducting research on search and rescue at sea and the right to life.
Ms Tonika Stephenson
- As a Student Opportunity Fund Intern (2021), Ms Stephenson has assisted Dr Giuffré in conducting research on access to asylum and cooperation between European and African States to control migration.
External Members
We are currently updating our list of external members for the 2025-2025 Academic Year. Check back here soon for updates and announcements of our current partnerships and external collaborations.