Kathryn McNeilly

Kathryn is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law. Her research intersects the areas of international human rights theory and practice, feminist and gender scholarship, and critical legal theory. She is particularly interested in gendered and critical engagements with the theoretical underpinnings and everyday activity of human rights.

Kathryn is the author of a monograph titled Human Rights and Radical Social Transformation: Futurity, Alterity, Power which was shortlisted for the 2018 Hart-SLSA Early Career Prize. In 2019-20 Kathryn was awared a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to investigate issues of time and materiality in international human rights law monitoring. In 2018 Kathryn was awarded the QUB Vice Chancellor's Early Career Research Prize. This University-wide Prize recognises a scholar whose research demonstrates outstanding significance and excellence in the first 5 years of their career.

Kathryn's work has been presented widely including as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia, funded by the County Antrim Grand Jury Bursary, and in conversation with Professor Judith Butler at LSE School of Law in February 2015. In September 2016 Kathryn was a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto.

Kathryn is a contributor to a number of collaborative research initiatives. These include the Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project, a venture between academics and legal practitioners which sought to bring a feminist methodology to bear on key cases in Northern/Irish law. 

Kathryn is an Editorial Board Member of the leading UK feminist law journal, Feminist Legal Studies. She is also an Associate with Oxford Human Rights Hub.

You can follow Kathryn's research on Twitter and on academia.edu. Her work has been featured on a number of news/public engagement outlets, including The Conversation, The Independent and LSE Politics and Policy.

Kathryn teaches in the areas of Legal Theory, Human Rights, Gender and Law, and Equity.

Kathryn is the Director of Research in the School of Law.

Her previous leadership roles include Athena SWAN Champion. In 2018 Kathryn led the School of Law's successful application for a Bronze Athena SWAN Award. This national Award recognises the School's commitment to gender equality and addressing of challenges in this area.

As Athena SWAN Champion Kathryn led development of the School's artwork installation and companion text 'Women in Law: It's Hard to Be What You Can't See' in collaboration with local artist, Susie Rea.

Kathryn was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award for her work in this area at the Queen's Staff Excellence Awards 2018.

Further information on Athena SWAN can be found here.