Professor McNeilly’s research intersects the areas of public international law, international human rights law and international legal theory, with recent research leading development of scholarship on the connection between international human rights law and time. Professor McNeilly explores how concepts of time and temporality can assist understandings of the theory and the operation of human rights law internationally.

Professor McNeilly is one of 74 new Fellows who have been elected from 38 UK organisations, comprising 36 universities, as well as think tanks, research institutes, public research funding bodies.

Speaking about her election, Professor McNeilly said: “Being elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences is an honour for me as a legal scholar. I look forward to joining the Academy’s work to promote understandings of the social world, its foundational elements and functioning, of which law is an integral part.”

Congratulating Professor McNeilly, president and vice-chancellor of Queen’s, Professor Sir Ian Greer commented: “Professor Kathryn McNeilly’s election as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences is a significant recognition of the excellence and international impact of her scholarship. Her research brings fresh perspectives to international human rights law and demonstrates the vital contribution that legal scholarship makes to our understanding of society and the challenges we face. 

“I warmly congratulate Kathryn on this well-deserved honour, and I am delighted to see her expertise recognised by the Academy.”