Professor Caroline Fennell

Professor Caroline Fennell BCL (NUI) LLM (Osgoode Hall), Ph.D. (University of Wales), BL (Hon Society of Kings Inns), MRIA is Professor of Law in the School of Law University College Cork where her research interests is in criminal justice and the law of evidence, with a particular focus on gender and equality, and constructions of rights and fairness in crisis situations. She has published widely in these fields.
She has held the following positions: Dean of the Law Faculty (1996-1999); Dean of Law Faculty and Head of the Law Department (2002-2009); Acting Head of the College of Business and Law UCC (2005-2006); Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork (2010-2015); and Senior Vice President Academic and Registrar (Deputy President) (2015- 2018).

Professor Fennell has a strong commitment to interdisciplinarity in higher education, and was a founder member of the Board of Women’s Studies and MA in Women’s Studies in UCC, and founder member and co-Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. She has held visiting positions at Wadham College, Oxford, Mary Ball Washington Visiting Professor at the University of West Florida; All Souls College, Oxford; and the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of Economics. She was appointed by the Minister to Chair the Irish Research Council for Humanities & Social Sciences (2009-2012) and re-appointed to the newly established Irish Research Council (2012-15). She was recently appointed Chair of the independent Anti-Racism Committee (2020). Professor Fennell was admitted to membership of the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.