Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Elected Visiting Fellow to All Souls College, Oxford
Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin KC (Hons) has been elected a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, for Trinity Term in 2027.
As a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Ní Aoláin will advance her ongoing research on cumulative civilian harm with a particular focus on obstetric and maternal harm in armed conflict zones. Her research at Oxford will build on the policy work she has undertaken this past year with UN Women and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) to address conflicts in Gaza, Syria, and Ukraine. Ní Aoláin offers insight into obstetric violence and a gendered view of cumulative civilian harm in Gaza at Just Security.
“In academia, an invitation to an All Souls fellowship is the golden ticket to the chocolate factory,” says Dean William McGeveran, William S. Pattee Professor of Law. “It’s yet another testament to Fionnuala’s influence that some of the smartest people in the world want to spend time in conversation with her.”
All Souls College currently has 88 Fellows, two Honorary Fellows, 24 Visiting Fellows, and 33 Emeritus Fellows, whose continuing research the College actively supports.
All Souls College was planned, built, and endowed in the 1430s by Henry Chichele, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It received its foundation charter in 1438 from King Henry VI. The College is primarily an academic research institution that focuses on the humanities and social and theoretical sciences, and hosts an internationally renowned academic library. Although its Fellows are involved in teaching and supervision of research, there are no undergraduate members.
In 2025, Ní Aoláin was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences. She was also named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2025-26 academic year in the Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Program. In 2023, she was elected to the International Commission of Jurists, and in 2024, she received a lifetime appointment as Honorary King's Counsel (KC Hon) by His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom.
Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin KC (Hons) is a University of Minnesota Regents Professor, the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, and faculty director of Minnesota Law's Human Rights Center. She is concurrently a professor of law at Queen's University of Belfast, School of Law. In 2017, Professor Ní Aoláin was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. In this capacity, she worked closely with states and United Nations entities to advance human rights protections in some of the most challenging contexts globally. She was re-elected for an additional three-year term in 2020, which ended in November 2023.
Congratulations, Professor Ní Aoláin!
