Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in:
- The legal framing of sexual consent
- Rape reform
- Responses to sexual and gender based violence in international and domestic criminal law
- Feminist legal theory
Public outreach & key achievements
- Produced two policy briefs from a Socio Legal Studies Association (SLSA) funded project on sexual consent in Northern Ireland; distributed to key stakeholders working within the sexual violence sector in Northern Ireland:
- Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women’s thematic report on rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women, May 2020
- Chair, Outreach event on the Gillen Review into the Investigation and Prosecution of Serious Sexual Offences in Northern Ireland, January 2019
- Response to the Preliminary Report of the Gillen Review – Chapter on Consent, January 2019
- Consent Training delivered to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, June 2018
- Published short blogs in The Conversation, including ‘An International Response to #MeToo, Rape and Sexual Abuse is Needed’,
- Contribution to agendaNI Magazine, ‘Rape and Consent: Ongoing Challenges’, 28 April 2018
- Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women’s call for submissions on the adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women, with Dr Y Brunger, November 2016
- Contributed to School of Law Human Rights Centre submissions to international judicial bodies in the case of The Prosecutor v Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo before the International Criminal Court: L Moffett, R Killean, Y Brunger, E Dowds, L Dempster, K Schwarz and S Gilmore (2016). Submission by QUB Human Rights Centre on reparations issues pursuant to Article 75 of the Statute
Research students
| PhD area | How can anti-carceral feminism influence Chinese feminist legal discourse? |
| Name | Qingran Yan |
| PhD area | The Evolution of Women's Rights to Political Participation in Modern China: Shanghai, 1840-1949 |
| Name | Ningning Liu |
| PhD area |
He who shall not be named? Rethinking Northern Ireland's approach to defendant anonymity in rape trials |
| Name | Chloe Hanna |
| PhD area | A critical evaluation of the admission of sexual history evidence in Northern Ireland trails: Prevalence, Impact and Reform |
| Name | Chloe Templeton |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Addressing misogyny: The law, hate crime and new feminist approaches |
| Name | Dr Meghan Hoyt |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2024 |
| Current Position | Women's Sector Lobbyist Policy Assistant, WRDA |
| Quotation | "Dr. Dowds is a wonderful supervisor. She was supportive and thorough when commenting on my work, and always happy to discuss any issues arising. I remain thankful for her kind, flexible approach to supervision which undoubtedly made my PhD process more pleasant. I also benefited from Dr. Dowds' knowledge and expertise in my field of study and am grateful for the many productive conversations which helped to shape and improve my work." |
| PhD area |
Ethical value pluralism as a constitutive element of legal sovereignty: The case of the United Kingdom |
| Name | Dr Leanne Cochrane |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2020 |
| Current Position | Senior research analyst, Trilateral Research Ltd |
| Quotation | "I could write a story on my PhD experience, or rather, experiences. Looking back, I can most simply say that it is a journey well worth embarking on!" |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- Human Rights Centre
- Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law
Read our on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.