Professor Therese O'Donnell

Law

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Personal statement

I was originally appointed as a Lecturer at Strathclyde in 1999 and now, as a Professor in the Law School, my particular areas of expertise are Public International Law and Human Rights Law.  I obtained my LL.B. from Strathclyde Law School and successfully undertook postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge (Newnham College) and the University of Dublin (Trinity College). 

I previously held lecturing positions at the University of Liverpool and Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, and professionally qualified as a solicitor.  I have also carried out postgraduate teaching engagements for the Universities of Edinburgh, Nottingham and Bristol, and Glasgow School of Art.  I have been a repeat Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, Cambridge University. 

As well as peer reviewing for numerous high-impact journals and the major academic presses, I sit on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law and the African Journal of Comparative Constitutional Law.  I am also a member of the editorial review board of Human Rights & Human Welfare.  I have been a Book Review Editor for the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and am an active member of the Peer Review College of the Arts & Humanities Research Council.

One focus of my research has been on the legacy of World War II and, in particular the Holocaust. This has taken my work in the direction of hate speech, Holocaust denial, looted art, the contemporary prosecution of war criminals and collective guilt and transitional justice. I am currently working towards the development of a larger work which will pull these strands together giving a sense of the concerns which have preoccupied law in the management of the historical legacy of the Third Reich.

Most recently, I have been carrying out extensive research into the law regarding disasters, with a particular focus on the Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters drafted by the International Law Commission which were completed in 2016. I have published a number of articles regarding a disaster-affected state’s right to refuse aid, duties of co-operation, the coincidence of disaster aid and security issues, the question of whether there is (or should be) an emerging legal duty to provide aid, what the draft Articles tell us about solidarity, how disaster law may be reconceived and how disaster law recontours the role of NGOS.

I have also previously undertaken research in the area of terrorism. To this end, I was a contributing editor to September 11, 2001: A Turning Point in International and Domestic Law (Transnational, 2005). This collection comprised specially commissioned chapters from twenty-two eminent authors representing every continent and covered a variety of areas including definitions of terrorism, terrorism’s impact on the rule of law and the impact on human rights law of using military tribunals to try suspected terrorists. I was also commissioned by Save the Children UK to compile a report entitled Iraq and the Proportionality of UN Sanctions after Ten Years (2000).

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Professional Activities

'Rapid-response Reflections on the ITLOS Advisory Opinion’
Participant
30/5/2024
‘From Spoliated Art Restitution to Colonial Loot Repatriation: Lessons Learnt and Ways Forward’
Participant
21/5/2024
‘A Rules-Based International Order: Benefits and Challenges’
Participant
18/3/2024
'Rapid Response Webinar: Reflections on the South Africa v. Israel Case at the International Court of Justice'
Participant
9/2/2024
‘Towards a Human Rights Framework for Scotland’
Participant
8/12/2023
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Legal Directorate, Academic Meeting
Recipient
23/11/2023

More professional activities

Projects

Spatial Open-Source Intelligence (S-OSINT) in the Age of Misinformation and Disinformation
Schippers, Birgit (Principal Investigator) Riccardi, Annalisa (Principal Investigator) O'Donnell, Therese (Principal Investigator) Vasile, Massimiliano (Principal Investigator)
Reliable and verifiable sources that can document human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law are crucial in legal contexts. Spatial open-source intelligence (S-OSINT), which is information that is gathered from publicly available digital data such as satellite or remote sensing data, has become an increasingly significant resource in human rights lawyering, from investigations and fact-finding missions through to courtroom evidence at trial. S-OSINT can bypass challenges in evidence gathering, especially where access to witnesses or sites is difficult.

Despite its considerable value, the use of S-OSINT raises concerns about its impact on data privacy and security, and about the validity and reliability of open-source information. Specifically, worries about the effects of misinformation—the inadvertent sharing of inaccurate content—and disinformation—the intentional sharing of inaccurate content with the aim of causing harm—can raise doubts about the trustworthiness of S-OSINT.

This project asks what best practice in the use of S-OSINT in legal contexts should look like, and it will create frameworks to prevent misinformation and disinformation from undermining the value of S-OSINT.

By investigating the legal, ethical and engineering challenges of S-OSINT, the project will establish rigorous standards that will inform a best practice framework for engineers, legal professionals, researchers, and other S-OSINT users. Its interdisciplinary approach supports the project’s ambition to advance the development of human-centred, ethical and lawful uses of digital and industrial technologies. With this focus, the project will also enhance the Global Challenges theme ‘Digital, Industry and Space’.

To deliver on its ambition, the project will (1) develop a Strathclyde-led interdisciplinary research programme that will create a best practice framework for the use of S-OSINT; (2) foster interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaborations with external partners, including international governmental and non-governmental organisations, legal professionals, and SMEs; and (3) prepare two external funding applications.
30-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2025
Study UK Justice and Law Study Visit
O'Donnell, Therese (Principal Investigator)
24-Jan-2025 - 28-Jan-2025
What can International Disaster Law Learn from Global Health Responses? A Tool for Negotiators
O'Donnell, Therese (Co-investigator) Switzer, Stephanie (Research Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2028
Conor Hill Ph.D. (SEA Award, £59,137) ‘Problematising the Construction of Women in Transitional Justice: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Women’s Participation and their Portrayal in the Reports of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’
Hill, Conor (Principal Investigator) O'Donnell, Therese (Researcher)
Ph.D. research funded by SEA. Project supervised by Therese O'Donnell
Total value £59,137 (3 years fees and stipend)
01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2022
Dumisani Ngoma, Ph.D. Commonwealth Scholarship, £40,700 ‘A Critical Analysis of Zambia’s Disability Discrimination Legal Framework: Reasonable Accommodation and the Right to Work for Persons with Disabilities in Zambia’
Ngoma, Dumisani (Principal Investigator) O'Donnell, Therese (Researcher)
Ph.D project supervised by Therese O'Donnell.
Commonwealth Scholarship (Total value £40,700 (3 years fees)
01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
The ILC Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters – What do they tell us about International Law?
Evangelidis, Elena (Principal Investigator) O'Donnell, Therese (Researcher)
RI@S Internship supervised by Therese O'Donnell
Funded by RI@S scheme.
12-Jan-2017 - 30-Jan-2017

More projects

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Contact

Professor Therese O'Donnell
Law

Email: therese.odonnell@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3289