Dr Catherine O'Rourke

The senior lecturer in human rights and international law succeeds Professor Rory O’Connell at the head of the law-led multidisciplinary research centre, which focuses on “transitional justice”, meaning how societies deal with the transition from conflict or oppression.

Dr O’Rourke is internationally recognised for her research in gender, conflict, international law and transitional justice. She has led the TJI’s gender research stream since 2009, overseeing the establishment of the TJI’s LLM Gender, Conflict and Human Rights.

She also directs the gender research theme of the political settlements research programme, an academic-practitioner, global north-south research consortium funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Dr O’Rourke said: “I am delighted to be taking up the role of TJI director. At a time when global norms around justice and accountability are under great strain, I look forward to supporting the work of TJI’s world-class scholars, talented PhD researchers and LLM students, and our partners in policy and practice, to better understand and address these challenges.”

Dr O’Rourke holds an LLB Law with Politics from Queen’s University Belfast and MSc Gender from the London School of Economics. Her PhD, from Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute, was subsequently published as a monograph, Gender Politics in Transitional Justice (Routledge, 2013).

Her second monograph, Women’s Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law, will be published with Cambridge University Press in 2020.

She works with the Irish and UK governments, the United Nations and several non-governmental organisations in policy work related to her expertise.