Dr Kathryn Allinson
BA (Hons), LLM, PhD
Expertise
Kathryn researches the interaction of the laws on state responsibility with international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. Her focus is on how we can improve protection of vulnerable people in displacement contexts.
Current positions
Senior Lecturer
University of Bristol Law School
Contact
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Biography
Kathryn is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, where she teaches international and human rights law. She serves as the Director of the Human Rights Implementation Centre, leading the Human Rights Law Clinic, which collaborates with external human rights organisations to support their initiatives and enhance the implementation of human rights globally. Additionally, Kathryn was a researcher on the Horizon 2020 PROTECT project, directed by Professor Elspeth Guild. In this capacity, she contributed to various commentaries and blogs on the Global Compact on Migration, published extensively on the topic, and produced a Handbook for legal practitioners on the Global Compact on Migration.
Kathryn's specific interests focus on humanitarian responses to crises related to forced migration and the protection of human rights during conflicts and natural disasters. Her work aims to improve the effectiveness of international legal frameworks in safeguarding the rights of individuals during crises and to hold states accountable when they fail to fulfil their international obligations. In January 2021, she was awarded her PhD for her dissertation titled "Establishing Responsibility for Causing Displacement: An Inquiry into the Role of Displacing Third States" at Queen Mary University of London, and she is currently under contract for her monograph with Oxford University Press.
Moreover, Kathryn is the Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed journal, The International Community Law Review.
Research interests
Kathryn's research concerns the establishment of state responsibility for breaches of international law focussing on the interaction of human rights and humanitarian law in relation to displacement. Specific interests includes issues of causation, attribution and jurisdiction as well as treaty interpretation and the fragmentation of international law.
Kathryn has presented her research at numerous international conferences including: the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) Conference; the Society for Legal Scholars, the SLSA, the International Law Association and at the European Society of International Law.
Kathryn is a Research Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative and was a Researcher on the Horizon 2020 PROTECT project. She has published peer-reviewed journal articles, a number of chapters in edited volumes and writes topical blogs on legal developments in the field of migration and international law. She has also published numerous commentaries on the Global Compact on Migration. Kathryn has presented on the Global Compact at conferences at the Zoldberg Institute in New York, at the Migration Centre in Geneva and the University of Geneva as well as convening workshops with NGOs, CSOs and practitioners in London and Geneva on implementation of the Global Compacts.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
State Responsibility and Displacement in Armed Conflict
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
31/08/2024 to 31/08/2026
Publications
Selected publications
11/11/2025Shifting Responsibility on a Spectrum
Laws
Pushbacks as a Breach of Fundamental Human Rights: A Convergence of the Approaches of European Courts
European Journal of Migration and Law
The UN Global Compacts and the Common European Asylum System: Coherence or Friction?
Laws
Recent publications
31/07/2025Pushbacks as a Breach of Fundamental Human Rights: A Convergence of the Approaches of European Courts
European Journal of Migration and Law
Shifting Responsibility on a Spectrum
Laws
Editorial
International Community Law Review
Editorial: Forms and functions of soft norms and informal law-making in international migration law: a different frontier
Frontiers in Human Dynamics
Making a global compact
Research Handbook on the Institutions of Global Migration Governance
Teaching
Trusts, General Principles of International Law, International Law and Human Rights and International Law and Armed Conflict.
Will supervise research in state responsibility, human rights and humanitarian law compliance during armed conflict, refugee and migration law, accountability mechanisms for breaches of international law, including international criminal law.
