Fellowship: PhD Studentship – The Spatial and Affective Dimensions of Litigating LGBTQI Rights

Manchester Metropolitan University

Qualification Type:	PhD
Location:	Manchester
Funding for:	UK Students, EU Students, International Students
Funding amount:	Not Specified
Hours:	Full Time, Part Time

Placed On:	9th July 2021
Closes:	30th July 2021

Project contact:

Dr Kay Lalor, k.lalor@mmu.ac.uk

Funding info: 

This opportunity is open to UK, EU and overseas applicants, and includes funding for the equivalent of UK fees (£4500 for 2021/22), plus a stipend in line with UKRI rates (£15,609 for 2021/2022).

Mode of study:

Full-time (3 years) or part-time (6 years)

Eligibility: 

UK / EU / International

Key dates:        

30 July 2021 (deadline to apply)

16 August 2021 (shortlisted applicants notified)

w/c 6 September 2021 (interviews)

Advert text:

While the earliest international legal protections for LGBTQI minorities relied heavily on the protection of privacy and autonomy, recent international jurisprudence is much more diverse, encompassing protection from torture, freedom of expression and assembly, immigration rights and even the right to participate in sport. Equally, even modest international legal gains have faced fierce backlash, which is often also framed through the lens of rights protections.

Wider international LGBTQI rights politics is underpinned by affect (emotion, belonging, narratives of self and community) and space (global north/global south, the ongoing effects of colonial laws, access to specific spaces, protest and public expressions of identity). These affective and spatial dimensions also manifest within international legal decisions and judgments.

The project will draw upon legal and socio-legal methods to assess the affective and spatial dimensions of LGBTQI decisions and judgments in international courts and human rights bodies. Through analysis of case law and qualitative empirical research the project aims to reach a holistic understanding of how LGBTQI issues and debates are articulated through international law and within international human rights bodies.

This project draws on the expertise of the Law School and its members of the Sylvia Pankhurst Gender and Diversity Research Centre. It continues the Law School’s extensive research in the field of equalities law and human rights, with a particular focus on the international dimensions of rights protections.

Aim: To develop a theoretical framework supported by empirical evidence to advance understandings of how the mobilization of affect and space within international LGBTQI rights cases affect the material conditions, community relations, identities and activist practices of LGBTQI groups in different locations.

Objectives:

• To develop a systematic overview of the issues that have been litigated by pro or anti- LGBTQI groups in international bodies
• To analyse the patterns of judicial production of affect and space in international bodies in LGBTQI litigation.
• To develop novel theoretical frameworks for capturing the role(s) played by affect and space in international LGBTQI rights politics as found within international judgments and in wider LGBTQI litigation strategies.
• To empirically explore how activists and/or decision-makers engage with the affective and spatial dimensions of LGBTQI rights in their work at or with international bodies.

Eligibility:

Applicants should have an honours degree (2:1 or above) and a relevant Master’s degree, or equivalent qualifications or experience.

Eligible disciplines: Law, human rights, LGBT rights

Funding

This opportunity is open to UK, EU and overseas applicants, and includes funding for the equivalent of UK fees (£4500 for 2021/22), plus a stipend in line with UKRI rates (£15,609 for 2021/2022).

How to apply

Further information on this opportunity is available at https://www.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-study/scholarships/detail/gsbl-kl-2021-litigating-lgbtqi-rights.php

For an informal discussion, please contact Dr Kay Lalor at k.lalor@mmu.ac.uk