Dr Nora Jaber

Her research lies at the intersection of international law, human rights, and feminist theory. She critically examines the role and limitations of international law in advancing justice in non-Western contexts, with particular attention to alternative frameworks and epistemologies that are often marginalised within dominant legal discourse.

Nora’s doctoral research on legal activism and struggles for women’s rights in the Gulf was awarded the 2022 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. She is currently leading a British Academy/Leverhulme-funded project examining emerging proposals to recognise ‘gender apartheid’ as a crime under international law.

More broadly, Nora’s work explores the complex relationship between law and social justice, particularly the ways in which legal frameworks can both enable and constrain political struggles against oppression. In 2024, she co-founded the Juridification of Justice research network, which brings together scholars and practitioners working on these questions.

At Edinburgh, Nora convenes and teaches courses including International Human Rights Law, Law and Power in the Muslim World, and Rethinking International Law. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World.

Before joining the University of Edinburgh, Nora was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Exeter. She holds a PhD in Law from King’s College London and an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Learn more about Nora's work HERE.