Established in 2021, the RLI Working Group on the Role of Courts in Shaping Access to Asylum provides a space for academics and practitioners engaging with the decisions of international, regional, and domestic courts (and quasi-judicial adjudicative bodies) in their impact refugees and asylum seekers. It is a platform for discussion and the exchange of ideas, and a space where members can receive constructive feedback on work in progress. 

Key outputs and activities

  • The group meets once every 3 months to discuss a paper of interest, presented by group members or a guest speaker. In 2022, meetings have centred on the theme of the role of human rights treaty monitoring bodies in the asylum context. In future, it is hoped that the group will develop collaborative research outputs and contribute to RLI Declarations.

The Working Group on the Role of Courts in Shaping Access to Asylum is convened currently by Dr Gillian Kane. RLI network members who wish to become involved should email the convenors directly.

Current members

Ramy Abdelhady

Egyptian Chief Judge and PhD Student at the University of Bristol

Mariza Avgeri

Associate lecturer in Law, Culture and Society, International Law and Public Law at the Open University, UK

Katia Bianchini

Research Fellow, Law and Anthropology Department, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Tatiana-Maria Cernicova-Dragomir

PhD student within a joint-PhD program between the Law Faculty of the West University of Timișoara (Romania) and Università degi Studi di Udine (Italy)

Chunyang Chong

PhD Candidate, School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University

Charles Shane Ellison

Clinical Professor of Law/Supervising Attorney, Immigrant Rights Clinic, Duke University School of Law

Valentin Feneberg

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Chair for Public Policy and Law at the Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany)

Gillian Kane

Dr Gillian Kane

Lecturer in the School of Law/Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University

Sara Lembrechts

PhD researcher at Ghent University’s Migration Law Research Group (MigrLaw)

Dr. Madalina Moraru

Assistant Professor of EU law, Centre for Judicial Cooperation, European University Institute

Chiara Scissa

Chiara Scissa

PhD candidate in Law at the Institute of Law, Politics and Development, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa

Hasna Sheikh

LAHP Doctoral Student, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Ciara Smyth

Programme Director of the LL.M in International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy at the Irish Centre for Human Rights

Dr Lili Song

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Otago, New Zealand

Ricardo Strauch Aveline

Professor of Law and Coordinator of the Legal Practice Center at Faculdade Estácio in Porto Alegre/Brazil

Kris van der Pas

LL.M, PhD Candidate, Centre for Migration Law, Department of International and European Law, Radboud University

Denise Venturi

PhD Candidate in International Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Zagor

Matthew Zagor

Associate Professor at Australian National University, Director of Law Reform and Social Justice (ANU)