Staff Profiles

"Work as a UN peacekeeper in the Middle East and later work in Africa shaped my interest in peace operations, international humanitarian law and human rights."

Dr. Ray Murphy is a professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland. He completed his B.A. in Political Science and Legal Science in 1979, and then took a Bachelor in Law (LL.B.) degree in 1981. He studied at Kings Inns in Dublin where he completed a B.L. degree and was called to the Irish bar in 1984. He completed his M.Litt. degree in International Law at Dublin University (Trinity College) in 1991. In 2001 he was awarded a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Nottingham, England. In addition to his position at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Prof. Murphy is on the faculty of the International Institute for Criminal Investigations and Justice Rapid Response. He was the EU Fundamental Rights Agency Senior Expert for Ireland, a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Human Rights Institutes and a Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (2014-19).  He is a former member and Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of Amnesty International (Ireland).  He has also conducted training on behalf of the ICRC, No Peace Without Justice, Amnesty International, the UN, the International Institute for Humanitarian Law and the Pearson Peacekeeping Center, Canada. 

Prof. Murphy was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for International Law, Al-Haq, Palestine in 2014. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 2006 and worked with Human Rights Watch in New York as a resident scholar. In 2007 he was awarded the National University of Ireland, Galway President’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2008 he received the National Award for Excellence in Teaching by the National Academy for the Integration of Research & Teaching & Learning (NAIRTL).

Prof. Murphy is a former Captain in the Irish Defence Forces and he served as an infantry officer with the Irish contingent of UNIFIL in Lebanon in 1981/82 and again in 1989. He practiced as a barrister for a short period before taking up his current appointment at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He was Chairperson of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission from 1997 to 2000. He has field experience with the OSCE in Bosnia in 1996 and 1997. He has also worked on short assignments in west and southern Africa and the Middle East for Amnesty International, the European Union and the Irish Government.

Selected Publications

1. Ray Murphy, The United Nations Mission in South Sudan and the Protection of Civilians’ 22 (3) Journal of Conflict and Security Law, (December 2017), pp. 367–394.
2. Ray Murphy, Peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Protection of Civilians, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, (2016).
3. R. Murphy (with R. Burke),  'Sexual and gender based violence and the Responsibility to Protect: where does gender come in?'. Irish Studies in International Affairs, (2015) 26 :227-256.3.
4. R. Murphy, ‘Contributor Profile – Ireland 2018’, Providing for Peacekeeping, International Peace Institute, New York, USA (2018).
5. R. Murphy (ed), Post Conflict Peacebuilding and International Law, Ashgate Oxon., (2012).
6. R. Murphy, UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo: Legal and Operational Issues in Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2007 (Monograph, reprinted 2008).
7. R. Murphy and D. Gannon, ‘Changing the Landscape:  Israel’s Gross Violations of International Law in the Occupied Syrian Golan’, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 11, 2008, Cambridge University Press, (2010). pp. 139-174. (Journal article).
8. R. Murphy, ‘Gravity Issues and the International Criminal Court’, 17 Criminal Law Forum, (2006), pp. 281-315. (Journal article)