Nora Jaber

Dr Nora Jaber joined the University of Edinburgh Law School as Lecturer in Law in the Globalised Muslim World in September 2024.

Her research lies at the intersection of international law, human rights, and feminist theory, with a particular focus on gender justice in the Arab and Islamic world. She critically examines the role and limitations of international law in advancing justice in non-Western contexts, centring alternative frameworks and epistemologies that are often marginalised in dominant legal discourse.

Nora’s doctoral research on legal activism and struggles for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia was awarded the 2022 Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. More broadly, her work explores the complex relationship between law and social justice, particularly how legal frameworks can both enable and constrain political struggles against oppression. In 2024, she co-founded the Juridification of Justice research network, which brings together scholars and practitioners engaged with these themes.

At Edinburgh, Nora convenes and teaches courses including International Human Rights Law, Law and Power in the Muslim World, and Rethinking International Law. She currently serves as Deputy Director of the Al-Waleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World and as Programme Director of the Human Rights LLM.

Before joining the University of Edinburgh, Nora was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Exeter. She holds a PhD in Law from King’s College London and an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics.