Feminist scholars have highlighted how the focus of international law on harm, particularly gender-based harm, fails to capture the broader, structural injustices women face. While this focus has driven important legal reforms, many now argue it limits the transformative potential of feminist international law.

Professor O’Rourke’s five-year research programme, backed with funding of €2 million from the European Research Council, will examine the inadequacies of existing international law in capturing gendered experiences of harm.

Her project, titled “Centring Care in International Law”, challenges the focus on the individualised and episodic experiences of harm and seeks to shift the outlook of international law scholarship towards the considerable though as yet unexploited resources of a focus on care. 

In practical terms, evidence of caregiving can be central to the recognition of relationships between people who do not have a biological or conventional legal connection, such as instances where children are crossing international borders without members of their family or same-sex couples in jurisdictions where marriage equality is not recognised.

By drawing on theoretical and methodological resources of feminist care theorisation, which emphasises the significance of relationship over legal frameworks centred on individual autonomy, this groundbreaking project will explore what international law would look like if care were at its centre. It will offer new ways to understand the core principles, institutions and processes of international law.

Professor O’Rourke brings a global reputation in gender, conflict and international law to DCU.

In 2020 she became director of the Institute for Transitional Justice at Ulster University, where she was a senior lecturer in human rights and international law.

She then moved to Durham University, where she was professor of global law. Professor O’Rourke secured the ERC award while at Durham University.

Commenting, Professor O’Rourke said: “At a time when the international system is under unprecedented challenge, I’m delighted to be able to bring this project that aims to rethink international law to the outstanding, vibrant and engaged scholarly community at DCU.”

Her recent publications include Women’s Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law (Cambridge University Press) and articles in the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the International Review of the Red Cross and Human Rights Quarterly.

Professor John Doyle, vice president for research in DCU, said: “European Research Council awards are among the most prestigious and competitive in international research. They are a marker of excellence in research at the highest level in a global context.

“In the past two years DCU has increased its research income by over 50 per cent — providing a strong basis for attracting ERC awardees of the calibre of Professor Catherine O’Rourke to DCU.”

Dr Tanya Ní Mhuirthile, head of DCU’s School of Law and Government, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Professor Catherine O’Rourke to DCU.

“Her pioneering research on care and international law will enrich our scholarly community, spark interdisciplinary collaborations, and inspire new conversations, both within the School and across the wider university. Her presence marks a significant moment for legal and global scholarship at DCU.”