Maeve O'Rourke, PhD (Birmingham), LLM (Harvard), BCL (University College Dublin), is Assistant Professor of Human Rights at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, Ireland. She is also a Barrister at 33 Bedford Row, London. She is a member of the Young Academy Ireland, a former Harvard Law School Global Human Rights Fellow, and a former recipient of the UK Family Law Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award for her research and advocacy alongside survivors of Ireland's twentieth century church/state and family separation abuses. She has authored and edited numerous publications on state responsibility for protecting human rights in the social care context. She directs the Human Rights Law Clinic at the Irish Centre for Human Rights.