Cheryl Lawther is Professor of Transitional Justice and Director of Research in the School of Law and a Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. She is the former Director of the Human Rights Centre at Queen's University Belfast.

Professor Lawther is an internationally recognised researcher in the field of transitional justice and has published extensively on truth recovery and dealing with the past, victims, ex-combatants, reparations and the use of atrocity sites. Her current research interests including ongoing work on conflict-related sexual violence and the politics of dead bodies.

Cheryl's key publications include the monographs Truth, Denial and Transition: Northern Ireland and the Contested Past (Routledge, 2014) and Constructing Victimhood: Beyond Innocence and Guilt in Transitonal Justice (Oxford University Press, 2025). She is also the lead editor for the Research Handbook on Transitional Justice, first published by Edward Elgar in 2017 (with L. Moffett and D. Jacobs), with a second edition commissioned and published in 2023.

Cheryl has published journal articles in a range of leading socio legal publications, including, amongst others, Social and Legal Studies, the International Journal of Transitional Justice, British Journal of Criminology, Journal of Human Rights in Practice, International Journal of Human Rights Practice, International Review of Victimology, Journal of Genocide Research and Policing and Society. In 2022, she co-edited a special edition of the Journal of Human Rights Practice (with L. Moffett and K. McEvoy) on 'Reparations Beyond the State: Non-State Armed Groups and Dealing with Past Harms'.

Cheryl is currently leading and working on a number of UKRI funded research projects. In late 2015 she was awarded an AHRC Early Career Research Grant for a project on 'Voice, Agency and Blame: Victimhood and the Imagined Community in Northern Ireland' (with K. McEvoy, £250,000). Full details on the project and associated publications can be found on the project website - victimsandthepast.org  In November 2016, Cheryl became a Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded project 'Reparations, Resonsibilites and Victimhood in Transitional Societies' (with L. Moffett and K. McEvoy, £655,198). The project website can be accessed here - reparations.qub.ac.uk.  Finally, Dr. Lawther is leading a Department for Education - Global Challenges Research Fund pilot project on representations of victimhood at dark tourist sites, with a specific focus on Cambodia.

In addition to these collaborative projects, Cheryl has had significant success in securiing research fellowships. These include a Fulbright Irish Scholar Award (2020) (based at the School of Law, UC Berkeley) and a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2022-2023). 

Board Memberships

In addition to her scholarly committments, Cheryl is actively engaged with a number of victim focused and human rights organisations in civil society. Specifically, she is a:

 - Member of the Victims' Payments Board (2022 - ongoing);

 - Member of the Victims' Commissioners Advisory Panel (2022 - ongoing);

 - Trustee of the Human Rights Trust (2013 - ongoing);

 - Former Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (2012-2018).

Qualifications

Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching 2014. QUB

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2014.

PhD in Law 2010. Pass with no corrections. QUB

MSSc Criminology 2007. Distinction. QUB

BA Hons Politics 2006. First Class Honours. QUB

Dr. Lawther's work has garnered significant success and scholarly recognition. Key achievements include:

 - British Academy Mid Career Fellowship (2022-2023).

 - Fulbright Irish Scholar Award (2021, School of Law UC Berkeley).

 - Socio-Legal Studies Association Article Prize. Shortlisted for: 'The Truth about Loyalty: Emotions, Ex-Combatants and Transitioning from the Past', International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2017, 11, 3:484-503.

 - Brian Williams Article Prize by the British Society of Criminology in July 2011.  This award is made in recognition of the best sole authored journal article by a ‘new’ scholar in the previous year.  Awarded for: “Securing’ the Past: Policing and the Contest over Truth in Northern Ireland’, British Journal of Criminology, 2010, 50, 3: 455-473.

Leadership and Administrative Roles

Core Disciplinary Research Group co-lead (2024 - ).

Chair of School of Law Research Ethics Committee (2023 - ).

Theme lead for Transitional Justice Research Cluster (2023 - ).

Co-lead for QUB - Boston College Partnership (2023 - ).

Member of North America Strategy Group (2023 - ).

External examiner, MPhil Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, Trinity College Dublin (2023 - ).

Director of the Human Rights Centre, QUB (2020 - 2022).

Theme lead for Human Rights and Public Law Research Cluster (2020 - 2022).

Programme Director, LLM International Human Rights Law (2018-2021).

Programme Director, LLM Criminology and Criminal Justice (2018-2021).

Programme Director, LLM Human Rights and Criminal Justice (2018-2019).

Current Teaching

Constitutional Law in Context (PGT, MLaw, Module Convenor)

Transitional Justice (PGT, LLM, Module Convenor)

Punishment, Justice and Legacy (PGT, LLM)

Criminology Theory and Practice (UG, LLB)

Previous Teaching

Constitutional Law in Context (UG, LLB, Module Convenor)

Criminal Law (UG, LLB)

Theoretical Criminology (PGT, LLM, Module Convenor)