A conference in honour of Professor Françoise Hampson

The Human Rights Centre are hosting a conference in honour of Professor Françoise Hampson, an Emeritus Professor of Law from the Human Rights Centre and School of Law at the University of Essex.

Françoise has expertly bridged the gap between academia and practice. Over the course of her career, Françoise has been at the forefront of both fields of international human rights law and the law of armed conflict, while bringing her practical experience to bear on her teaching and research activities.

This all-day conference celebrates Françoise’s contributions by using her work as a means to explore some of the most pressing and enduring challenges confronting international law. The conference will bring together some of the most prominent experts in this field to discuss matters relating to the European Convention on Human Rights, the law of armed conflict, and the operationalisation of international law. The conference will conclude with reflections from Françoise.

Speakers include Professor Başak Çalı, Professor Charles Garraway, Professor Geoff Gilbert, Professor Karen Hulme, Professor Philip Leach, Professor Noam Lubell, Professor Lorna McGregor, Michael O’Boyle, Jelena Pejic, Aisling Reidy, Professor Clara Sandoval, Professor Marco Sassoli, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst.

See the full programme of the day.

Key times and Registration. 

• Registration: 9.30am
• Conference start: 10.00am
• Conference end and evening drinks reception: 4.45pm

Please book your free place to confirm your attendance via Eventbrite. 

Biography
Professor Françoise Hampson is an institutional thinker, revolutionary human rights lawyer, and a kind and influential teacher who shaped generations of students. Francoise taught at the University of Dundee from 1975 to 1983 and has been at the University of Essex since then. She dedicated her career to address some of the most pressing and enduring challenges confronting International Law. She was an independent expert member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights from 1998-2007. She has acted as a consultant on humanitarian law to the International Committee of the Red Cross and taught at Staff Colleges or equivalents in the UK, USA, Canada & Ghana. She represented Oxfam and SCF (UK) at the Preparatory Committee and first session of the Review Conference for the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention. 

She has successfully litigated many cases before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and, in recognition of her contribution to the development of law in this area, was awarded Human Rights Lawyer of the Year jointly with her colleague from the Centre, Professor Kevin Boyle. She has taught, researched and published widely in the fields of armed conflict, international humanitarian law and on the European Convention on Human Rights. Francoise continues to challenge problematic issues in international law. Her latest work examines the use of autonomous weapons, investigations into alleged violations in situations of armed conflict and on the use of an individual petition system to address what are widespread or systematic human rights violations.