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Ms Merris Amos, BEc (Sydney) LLB (Sydney) BCL (Oxon.) Solicitor, Supreme Court of NSW and Supreme Court of England and Wales

Merris

Professor of Human Rights Law

Email: m.e.amos@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 3938
Room Number: Mile End

Profile

Merris Amos is Professor of Human Rights Law in the Department of Law, and Director of the Human Rights Law Centre for the School of Law.

Professor Amos graduated in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney and as a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford. She has been admitted as a solicitor in NSW and in England and Wales. Following her studies, Professor Amos practiced as a solicitor in employment law at Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills). She subsequently worked as a research assistant in the House of Lords for Lord Lester of Herne Hill, and as a policy adviser in the area of racial discrimination at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

In 1997 Professor Amos commenced her academic career at Westminster Law School, University of Westminster. In 2000 she was appointed as a Lecturer in Law at Essex Law School, University of Essex where she became Deputy Director of the Human Rights Centre. In 2007 she joined the Department of Law, Queen Mary University of London where she is currently Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Law Centre. During her time in the Department she has held the posts of Senior Tutor, Director of Education and Director of Graduate Studies.

Professor Amos’ research and writing focusses on the protection of human rights through law at the national and European levels. She is an expert on the UK Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights. Her book Human Rights Law Third Edition(Oxford: Hart, 2021) is the leading work on the Human Rights Act. She has numerous publications in the fields of national and European human rights law including ‘The Value of the European Court of Human Rights to the United Kingdom’ (2017) 28 European Journal of International Law 763-785. Recently Professor Amos’ research has focussed on methods of human rights law reform in states experiencing democratic backsliding. She is regularly invited to present her work at national and international conferences and in 2022 convened the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Seminar ‘The Human Rights Act After Twenty-Two Years: Evolution, Impact, Future Directions’.

Professor Amos is a longstanding member of the Executive Committee of the UK Constitutional Law Association and also holds the post of Treasurer. In 2018 she was appointed to the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law.She is a member of a number of editorial boards including: Diritto Pubblico Comparato Ed Europeo (Comparative and European Public Law); Teoria y Realidad Constitucional(Constitutional Theory and Practice); Routledge Studies in Law, Rights and Justice; andReview of British and Irish Constitutional Affairs. From 2006-2013 she was the Editor of Human Rights Law Reports UK Cases. Her work is frequently cited in official reports including J. George The Modern Bill of Rights Bill (London: The Constitution Society, 2022) and The Independent Human Rights Act Review (2021).

Languages: English (native language); French (B1 CEFR)

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