Centre for International Law Launch Event

23 February 2022

Bringing together the UK’s largest and most diverse community of international lawyers in a mission to drive collaboration and world-leading research, the University of Bristol Law School celebrated its new Centre for International Law with a launch event earlier this month.

Co-Directors of the Centre for International Law, Dr Kathryn Allinson and Dr Lee McConnell, opened the event on the 7 February 2022, introducing Law School alumna and renowned human rights barrister, Phillippa Kaufmann QC (LLB 1988) as the keynote speaker.

In her speech Phillippa shared her experience of working on behalf of Iraqis detained by the British military after the Iraq war was over and the UK remained under UN resolutions – reflecting on using human rights law under the European Convention on Human Rights in our domestic courts, and the interplay of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

Centre members Dr Joshua Paine, Anamaria Fonseca, Sophia Soares, Professor Tonia Novitz, Professor Patrick Capps and Professor Sir Malcolm Evans presented a showcase of current research themes within the Centre, covering international trade and investment law, international labour and migration law as well as international legal theory and the laws of armed conflict, which was followed by an opportunity to network with staff and students from the Law School and research institutes across the University.

Dr Kathryn Allinson said: “We are delighted to be able to launch the Centre with so many staff and students of international law. The Law School has a long history of international law expertise that we will be building on as we deepen our collaboration with research institutes within, and beyond, the University of Bristol.

“Our internationally recognised research has far-reaching impact and through greater engagement with external institutions we hope to widen this scope even further. Research-led teaching will remain at the core of what we do as we continue to inspire the international lawyers of the future through research seminars and events.”

Commenting on how the Centre’s research feeds into the Law School’s programmes, PGR Co-Director for the Centre, Anamaria Fonseca said: “Our international law degrees are so progressive they will allow the development of your thinking, your critical thinking, your engagement in politics and society and economics, and will ultimately see you develop a more holistic perspective of the world."

For more information about the Centre for International Law visit its webpage.
Find out more about the study of International Law at the University of Bristol on the Centre’s student opportunities page.
Listen to the launch event introduction and Phillipa Kaufmann’s speech online:

Further information

The Centre for International Law provides an interdisciplinary platform for collaboration, engagement with external institutions, and the dissemination of internationally-recognised research tackling some of the most pressing international challenges of our time.

Phillippa Kaufmann QC, barrister at Matrix Chambers, graduated from the University of Bristol Law School in 1988. She specialises in both public and private law tackling the unlawful use of the coercive machinery of the state against the individual, including in the fields of prisoners’ rights, mental health, inquests and actions against the police. She took silk in 2011, since when she has been involved in a number ofhigh-profile cases seeking to challenge government cuts to legal aid, and was awarded 'Human Rights and Public Law Silk of the Year' at the 2014 Chambers Bar Awards. Phillippa acted for two victims of the black-cab rapist John Worboys case in the Supreme Court, resulting in a landmark ruling in favour of her clients.