Professor Lorna McGregor
Email
lmcgreg@essex.ac.ukLocation
5S.6.18, Colchester Campus
Academic support hours
My academic support hours are on Thursdays 3-5pm by prior appointment (in person or zoom)
Biography
Lorna McGregor is a Professor of International Human Rights Law in Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre, Deputy Dean (External Relations) and Director of the multi-disciplinary Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project (HRBDT) originally funded with £4.7m from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. Her current research focuses on new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and human rights; all forms of detention under international law; access to justice and remedies under international law; and the position and effects of international human rights law within public international law and in dealing with global challenges. Her work has appeared in journals such as the American Journal of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, the Journal of International Criminal Justice and the International Journal of Transitional Justice. Her research has been cited by the International Court of Justice, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Secretary-General and was awarded the Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Law Studies. Her latest book, Detention and its Alternatives under International Law, was published by Oxford University Press in 2023. Lorna has extensive experience in research leadership, including leading multi and interdisciplinary teams, both as the Director of Essex Human Rights Centre (2013-2019) and as the Director of HRBDT (2015 - present). Her research has been funded by the British Academy (Co-Investigator of a Newton Senior Fellowship on The Effects of International Human Rights Law on Public International Law and its Sub-Branches), the ESRC (PI of HRBDT and Co-Investigator on Utilising Big Data in the Practice of Torture Survivors' Rehabilitation), the Nuffield Foundation (PI on the role of National Human Rights Institutions in Complaints-Handling), the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Lorna regularly works with and advises human rights NGOs, national human rights commissions and international organisations. She has held positions as a Commissioner of the British Equality and Human Rights Commission and as a trustee of the AIRE Centre. She was one of the founding co-chairs of the European Society of International Law's Interest Group on Human Rights, was previously a contributing editor of EJIL Talk! and between 2012 - 2015, was a co-chair of an expert group of academics and human rights practitioners on the review of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners the product of which was the 'Essex papers' which were heavily influential in the updated rules, now referred to as the 'Mandela Rules'. Prior to becoming an academic, Lorna held positions at REDRESS, the International Bar Association, and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Sri Lanka. She holds an LL.B (First Class Honours) from Edinburgh Law School and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was a Kennedy Memorial Trust Scholar and Henigson Fellow. She is admitted as an attorney in New York State.
Qualifications
LLB(Hons) University of Edinburgh,
LLM Harvard Law School,
Appointments
University of Essex
Director of the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex (1/1/2013 - 30/12/2019)
Director and PI of the ESRC Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, University of Essex (1/10/2015 - present)
Deputy Dean (External Relations), Essex Law School (4/2023 - present)