Bio
Dr. Ciara Smyth researches in the area of refugee and immigration law at the international, regional and domestic levels and is particularly interested in how these fields intersect with international human rights law. She has published in many of the leading international journals, including the European Law Journal, the Human Rights Law Review, the International Journal of Refugee Law, the European Journal of Migration and Law and the Journal of Refugee Studies.
Ciara's PhD (University of Leiden 2013) was titled: 'The Common European Asylum System and the Rights of the Child, An Exploration of Meaning and Compliance'. It won a Max Van Der Stoel Human Rights award in 2013 and was subsequently published as a monograph: Ciara Smyth, European Asylum Law and the Rights of the Child, Routledge, 2014.
Ciara is Programme Director of the LL.M in International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, which began in September 2019. She is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in third level education. She founded the University of Galway Inclusive Centenaries Scholarship - the forerunner to the university's current University of Sanctuary Scholarship, and has sat on the University of Sanctuary Scholarship panel since its inception.
Ciara is also actively involved in civil society in the area of refugee law and policy: she provides training and advice to local NGOs, was a former chair of the Irish Refugee Council and a member of the McMahon Working Group - an expert group created in 2014 to advise the Irish government on reform of the protection process. She regularly contributes to media discussions on refugee and immigration issues.
Key publications
- Ciara Smyth (2023) ‘The Dublin Regulation, Mutual Trust and Fundamental Rights: No Exceptionality for Children?’ European Law Journal, Volume 28, Issues 4-6, July-November 2022, 242-262.
- Ciara Smyth (2021) ‘The Human Rights Approach to “Persecution” and Its Child Rights Discontents’, International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2021, 238–276.
- Ciara Smyth (2021) ‘Family Life and the Best Interests of the Child in the Field of Migration’ in Iglesias Sánchez,and González Pascual (eds) Fundamental Rights in the EU Areas of Freedom, Security and Justice, Cambridge: CUP, 119-138.
- Ciara Smyth (2019) ‘Towards a Complete Prohibition on the Immigration Detention of Children’, Human Rights Law Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, February 2019, 1–36.
- Ciara Smyth (2019) 'A Turn Towards Fundamental Rights or Just a Swerve? The Jurisprudence of the CJEU on Family Reunification for Static Union Citizens and Third Country National Immigrants', Jounal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law, Volume 33, Issue 4, 283-301.