Professor Colin Harvey

Dr Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law and the Head of the Law School at Queen’s. From 2005-2008 he was the Director of the Human Rights Centre at Queen’s and from 2000-2004 he was Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law, School of Law, University of Leeds and Co-Convenor of the Human Rights Research Unit. In 1999,  he was a Visiting Professor at the Refugee and Asylum Law Program, Faculty of Law, University of Michigan.

Professor Harvey was appointed to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in June 2005 and took up his position as a part-time Commissioner from 1 September 2005, he was re-appointed for a further three years in September 2008. He is on the Advisory Board of the British Institute of Human Rights and was a member of the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council from 2002-2006 and a member of the Steering Committee of the UK section of the International Association of Constitutional Law from 2003-2006.

He was Refugee Co-ordinator for Amnesty International (Irish Section) 1998-2000 and a member of the Executive of the Committee on the Administration of Justice 1999-2000.

He has published extensively on issues of human rights law and politics. He is the General Editor of Human Rights Law in Perspective published by Hart Publishing, Oxford.  He is on the editorial board of Human Rights Law Review  and is the Case Editor for the International Journal of Refugee Law. His books include: Seeking Asylum in the UK: Problems and Prospects (2000, Butterworths), Human Rights in the Community: Rights as Agents for Change (ed., 2005, Hart Publishing),  Sanctuary in Ireland: Perspectives on Asylum Law and Policy (ed., with Ursula Fraser, 2004, Institute of Public Administration), Human Rights, Equality and Democratic Renewal in Northern Ireland (ed., 2001, Hart Publishing). He is currently involved in a major research project (funded by Atlantic Philanthropies – £250,000) on Budget Analysis and the Advancement of Economic and Social Rights in Northern Ireland.