Neil's PhD research focuses on the term yefat to'ar (a shorthand phrase referring to the woman taken captive in Deuteronomy 21:10-14) and its occurrence in rabbinic literature with a particular focus on the Babylonian Talmud. Neil is using methodologies of orality, intertextuality, and critical semantics to examine the evolving meaning of the term and analyses how the shift in meaning points towards ideas and conflicts in relation to themes including: gender, ethnic identity, relationships between Jews and non-Jews, rape and sexual violence, and forced conversion.