We are pleased to announce that Dr Catherine O’Rourke will be taking over as Director of the Transitional Justice Institute from 26 February 2020. Catherine is a Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law.
Catherine is internationally recognised for her research in gender, conflict, international law and transitional justice. She has a noted record of publications and research grants. Her scholarship has been recognised with the Ulster University Faculty Distinguished Researcher Award (2019/20), an Irish Fulbright Scholar Award (2016/17) and the Basil Chubb Prize (2010) for the best PhD in politics produced in an Irish university.
Catherine has led the TJI’s Gender Research Stream since her appointment in 2009, including 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.
On this new role, Catherine says:
‘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.’
Catherine 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.
Catherine succeeds Prof Rory O’Connell who discharged the role from February 2014.