Infra-Legalities Research Team

Dr Gavin Sullivan, Reader in International Human Rights Law, Edinburgh Law School

Gavin Sullivan is a Reader in International Human Rights Law at Edinburgh Law School, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow (2021 – 2028) and principal investigator and project lead of Infra-Legalities: Global Security Infrastructures, Artificial Intelligence and International Law. His research focuses on the politics of global security law, algorithmic governance, data infrastructures, and human rights and accountability practices in relation to preemptive counterterrorism measures. His interdisciplinary work cuts across numerous fields, including law, critical security studies, politics and IR, and Science and Technology studies (STS). Gavin is a practising solicitor with experience of providing pro bono representation to people targeted by security lists worldwide, including before the UN Office of the Ombudsperson. He has worked widely as an expert consultant on counterterrorism issues, including for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Gavin is a member of the ‘Transparency’ and ‘Legal Frameworks’ working groups of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). His recent book – The Law of the List: UN Counterterrorism Sanctions and the Politics of Global Security Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020) – was awarded the 2021 International Studies Association (ISA) STAIR Book Award for research bringing STS into dialogue with global politics and the 2020 ISA ILAW Book Award for outstanding contributions to the field of international law. Gavin is on the Editorial Committee of Transnational Legal Theory and he co-convenes the European Society of International Law (ESIL) International Law and Technology Interest Group. He is a member of the Law and Society Association, the International Studies Association, the Socio-Legal Studies Association, Society of the Social Studies of Science.

Twitter: @g_sullivan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (currently vacant)

We will be recruiting for this PDRA role in early 2023. The previous postdoctoral research fellow (Dimitri Van Den Meerssche) commenced a lectureship at Queen Mary University School of Law on 1 September 2022.