Deborah is a Ph.D research fellow with the School of Law and Transitional Justice Institute.  She holds a First Class Honours degree in Law with Accountancy from the University of Ulster where she graduated first in her year and delivered the Valedictorian speech.  As part of her LLB she completed a dissertation on “The Rights of Cohabitees in Real Property.”  During her undergraduate studies she represented the University of Ulster and won the Law Society of Northern Ireland Client Counselling Competition.  She went on to represent Northern Ireland at the International finals in Las Vegas reaching the semi-finals.  Deborah has worked in the public sector for 3 years and the private sector for 3 years, in both industry and legal practice.  She carries out part-time teaching in the School of Law undergraduate programmes and serves on the Faculty of Social Sciences Research and Research Degrees Committee.  She is currently undertaking research in the area of employment law and human rights.  Her study focuses on the role of tribunal system, and in particular the OITFET in Northern Ireland, in the adjudication of employment disputes and the protection of employment rights.

Sorcha joined the TJI as a PhD research fellow in 2004. She hold a degree in Legal Science and Philosophy from NUI Galway, where she wrote a dissertation on the sentencing of sexual offences in Ireland, and a Masters in Human Rights from Queens University Belfast, where her research focused on the commercial exploitation of Children. She is currently in the second year of her PhD, which expands on her earlier interest in children’s rights and sexual violence by extending into the field of international law and the specific context of armed conflict. The thesis, entitled "Innocence Lost - The effectiveness of international law in the protection of children from sexual violence during armed conflict”, will critique existing humanitarian and human rights provisions for failing to provide adequate protection to children. The case studies of Sierra Leone and Bosnia will be used to illustrate how child sexual violence can manifest during armed conflict, and the various responses to such abuses post conflict. In particular the thesis will focus on the mechanisms of accountability used in each of the case studies and the role of children within them. The aim of the research is to contribute to the dearth of socio-legal child specific information on the impact of conflict on children, child as victims of sexual violence and access to justice for child victims post conflict.

Shauna Page joined the School of Law and the Transitional Justice Institute of the University of Ulster as a PhD student in 2006. She holds an LLB in Law and International Politics from the University of Ulster, where she wrote a dissertation on father’s rights in the abortion decision, and a Masters in Human Rights Law from the University of Ulster, where her research focused on gender-based violence. She is currently in the final year of her doctoral studies, which expands on her earlier interests in international human rights law and gender-based violence by extending into the field of international refugee law, and other issues surrounding human rights, gender-based violence and cultural practices. Her thesis will critique the existing humanitarian, refugee and human rights provisions for failing to provide adequate protection to women and children, fleeing the cultural practice, female genital mutilation. Shauna is a part-time lecturer for the School of Law, on the LLB undergraduate programmes, she is the PhD student representative for the Research Degrees Committee and the Social Sciences Research Graduate School.  Shauna is Co-Editor of the Social Sciences Newsletter and a Member of the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum, Working Group on Women.

Aisling Swaine

Aisling Swaine is a specialist in Gender Based Violence and Gender Equality issues as they relate to conflict-affected and development contexts.  She has spent over seven years working with civil society organisations and the United Nations in conflict affected communities in Kosovo, Burundi, Timor L’este and Darfur, Sudan.   Aisling holds an MSc. in Humanitarian Assistance and a B.A in Sociology and Information Studies, both from University College Dublin.  Aisling produced a study on ‘Gender Based Violence and Traditional Justice in Timor-Leste’ in 2003; has published ‘A Neglected Perspective: Adolescent Girls’ Experiences of the Kosovo Conflict of 1999’ and was the keynote speaker at the 2006 Amnesty International annual conference.  Aisling is currently a first year PhD Research Fellow with the Transitional Justice Institute and her research is looking at the dynamics of violence against women post-conflict and its impact on successful transition from conflict to peace.