Biography
Wendy Hart is a Lecturer in Defence Studies. Her research interests lie in the relationship between law and the regulation of violence, with a particular focus on lawfare, the judicialisation of conflict, and the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law. She was awarded her doctorate from King’s College London in 2018. Her thesis adopted a socio-legal approach to understanding counterinsurgency and state-building in Afghanistan, and examined the effect of British judicial decisions on UK military operations. She has been a Teaching Fellow at the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2018.
Prior to joining academia, Wendy worked as a civil servant dealing with criminal justice policy, international war crimes, and rule of law capacity building. She is also a Senior Security and Justice Adviser with the UK Government’s Stabilisation Unit.
Research Interests
- The relationship between IHL and human rights law in non-international armed conflicts
- Counter-insurgency
- Detention operations
- Socio-legal research methods
Teaching
- MA International Affairs