ILHRU Lunchtime Series

Members of the International Law and Human Rights Unit gather to discuss a range of international legal issues.

If you have any queries, or would like to present in or propose a topic for a future session, please contact Dr Katie Johnston (katie.johnston@liverpool.ac.uk) and Dr Ben Murphy (hsbmurph@liverpool.ac.uk).

Schedule - Semester 2 2025/26

During this semester, sessions will normally take place in the SLSJ Building, Nelson Yu Meeting Room (3rd floor), on Thursdays of even weeks from 12 - 1pm.

Week 2, Thursday 5 February 2026 – Current affairs forum: the US attack on Venezuela

A panel of speakers will introduce a group discussion of the legal issues raised by the US’s recent threats and use of force against Venezuela.

Week 4, Thursday 19 February 2026 – New scholarship discussion

We will have a group discussion of Orfeas Chasapis Tassinis’s new article in the European Journal of International Law, ‘Statehood and International Organization: Rethinking Their Conceptual Relationship with Reference to Customary International Law’.

Week 6, Friday 6 March 2026 – Demi-Lee Franklin (PGR)

Demi will give a presentation based on her PhD research, on the topic ‘The Role of Causation in Establishing Breach of Positive Obligations: The European Court of Human Rights as a Case Study’.

Week 8, Thursday 19 March 2026 – Dr. Jack Kenny (Manchester, BIICL)

Jack will give a presentation on ‘The concept of sovereignty and challenges to the international legal order’, based on his recent BIICL research report.

Week 10, Thursday 23 April 2026 – Dr. Mustafa Yilmaz

Mustafa will present a paper on ‘Climate Change as Pollution of the Marine Environment: State Obligations under the Law of the Sea’.

Week 12, Thursday 7 May 2026 (Room G) – Meryem Yildirim (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University)

Meryem, a visiting research fellow in the Law School this semester, will give a presentation based on her doctoral research, on the topic ‘Due diligence in the Law of State Responsibility’.