The School of Law extends heartfelt congratulations to Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Professor of Law at Queen's University Belfast, on her election as an International Fellow of the British Academy in 2025. This prestigious honour recognises her transformative contributions to human rights law, particularly in conflict, accountability, and gender justice, marking a crowning achievement in a career that began at Queen's University Law School in 1987.

Professor Ní Aoláin's election to the British Academy, as one of 92 new Fellows from institutions across the UK, the US, Ireland, and beyond, celebrates her global impact as a scholar and advocate. Her work, spanning conflict management, state violence, and gender equality, aligns with the Academy's mission to advance the humanities and social sciences.

She joins eminent company among the British Academy's Fellows, including classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, historian and China expert Professor Rana Mitter, and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O'Neill. The Academy also counts Professor David Olusoga, Baroness Brenda Hale, and Professor Gary Younge among its Honorary Fellows. 

Professor Ní Aoláin reflected, "This award constitutes the pinnacle of my academic career, which started at the Queen's University Law School in 1987 when I started my academic studies as a law student.  It is such an honour to be recognised by my peers in the Academy, and to see decades of work on conflict, human rights, accountability and gender-justice recognised in this way. Being a Fellow of the British Academy also gives recognition to the issues and the communities I have worked with in Belfast and beyond over decades, as well as affirming the support of so many colleagues and friends at the Law School"

Her illustrious career includes landmark roles such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism (2017–2023), where she issued a 2023 report condemning the "ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" at Guantanamo Bay, advocating for its closure. She has also served as Chair of the Open Society Foundations International Women's Program (2011–2017) andwas nominated by Ireland in 2004 as the first woman and academic lawyer for the European Court of Human Rights. Her books, including Law in Times of Crisis (2006), which earned the American Society of International Law's Certificate of Merit, and On the Frontlines: Women, War and the Post-Conflict Process (2011), demonstrate her interdisciplinary approach, blending law, policy, and gender studies.

Head of School Prof Joan Loughrey commented, "I'm delighted about this wonderful news. Fionnuala is a world-leading academic in the fields of international law, human rights, national security law, transitional justice and feminist legal theory. As well as this, her impact beyond the Academy, including as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counterterrorism and Human Rights, has been incredibly significant. She is hugely collegial and supportive of her colleagues, including early career researchers. Her fellowship is an honour, for her and for the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast, and we are very proud of her and this distinguished recognition of her achievements."

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

School of Law

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