Dr Aphrodite Papachristodoulou

Dr Aphrodite Papachristodoulou

Dr Aphrodite Papachristodoulou is a Special Teaching Scientist in Refugee and Migration Law at the Department of Law, University of Cyprus and a Visiting Fellow at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University Galway. She is also a Research Affiliate to the Refugee Law Initiative, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Dr Papachristodoulou has completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, working on her independent research project, entitled ‘AI Technologies in Maritime Border Management: The Panopticon of Migration’. Her research was supported by a prestigious Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities awarded by the National University of Ireland (NUI) on the basis of educational excellence and research plans (2022-2024).

Moreover, she has held several prestigious Visiting Fellowships around the world, including as an Academic Visitor at the Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford (2023) and as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School, Harvard University (2024). She has also taught courses in Human Rights Law in various Universities in Ireland and has given several guest lectures and seminars in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and the United States.

Dr Papachristodoulou holds a PhD in Law from University College Dublin (awarded with no corrections) supported with generous funding received from the NUI E J Phelan Fellowship in International Law and from the A.G. Leventis Foundation scholarship. She holds a Master of Laws in Maritime Law from University College London (distinction) and an LLB from University of Southampton.

She is a licensed lawyer (Cyprus Bar, 2016) and engages in strategic human rights litigation with non-governmental organisations. She further provides advice and interacts with the media on migration issues, and has been quoted in the New York Times as an expert in international human rights law and law of the sea (see e.g., here). Her standing in the international scholarly community was further recognized by her election as Member of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on the ‘Protection of People at Sea’ (Irish Branch) and in the Management Committee of COST Action: Life, liberty and health: ensuring universal protection of human rights at sea (BlueRights), representing Cyprus (2024-2028).

Dr Papachristodoulou has published various peer-reviewed articles, policy papers, book chapters and blogposts (see here, here and here). Her first monograph based upon her highly-commended PhD thesis, entitled Protection of Human Life at Sea in International Law: Rescuing Maritime Migrants will become available in June 2025 by Routledge (in Law and Migration series) and is available for pre-order here. Some of her recent journal articles include:

• ‘The Exercise of State Power over Migrants at Sea Through Technologies of Remote Control: Reconceptualizing Human Rights Jurisdiction’ (2024) 73(4) International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 931-961 (open access) available here.
• 'Euphemisms of Success: Unpacking the Dark Realities of AI Technology in European Border and Migration Management’ (2025) 16(2) European Journal of Legal Studies (forthcoming in February 2025).
• 'M.A. and Z.R. v Cyprus: ECtHR ‘Pushing Back’ on Pushbacks? Debunking Readmission Agreements and Upholding the Rights of Maritime Migrants' (2025) 1 European Human Rights Law Review (forthcoming in February 2025).
• ‘The Recognition of a Right to be Rescued at Sea in International Law’ (2022) 35(2) Leiden Journal of International Law, available here.