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Daragh Murray

Daragh

Senior Lecturer and IHSS Fellow

Email: d.murray@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Mile End

Profile

Daragh Murray is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University London School of Law, and a Fellow of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences. He specialises in international human rights law and the law of armed conflict, with a particular interest in the use of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, particularly in an intelligence agency and law enforcement context. He has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to examine the impact of artificial intelligence on individual development and the functioning of democratic societies. This 4 year project runs until January 2026 and has a particular emphasis on law enforcement, intelligence agency, and military AI applications. Previous research examined the relationship between human rights law and the law of armed conflict and the regulation and engagement of non-State armed groups.

Daragh's research has been covered by BBC Newsnight, BBC PM, PBS Newshour (US), The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Financial Times, La Repubblica, Le Monde, BBC Radio 4 and other national news outlets across the world. 

Daragh is currently co-authoring Facial Recognition Surveillance: Policing and human rights in the age of AI (OUP 2023) with Prof. Pete Fussy and co-editing the CUP Handbook on AI and Human Rights (2023) with Prof. Lorna McGregor.

Daragh is the author of 'Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups' (Hart, 2016). He also authored the 'Practitioners Guide to Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict' in conjunction with Dapo Akande, Charles Garraway, Francoise Hampson, Noam Lubell and Elizabeth Wilmshurst. (OUP 2016) and is co-editor of 'Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation and Accountability (OUP 2020) with Alexa Koenig and Sam Dubberley

He has a PhD in Law from the University of Essex, an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, and an MSc in Computer Security&Forensics from Dublin City University.

Research

Funded research

UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship 2021-2026: ‘What does artificial intelligence mean for the future of democratic society? Examining the societal impact of AI and whether human rights can respond’.

Publications

Publications: Manuscripts

  • Daragh Murray & Pete Fussey, Facial Recognition Surveillance: Policing and human rights in the age of AI (OUP, 2025, forthcoming).
  • Sam Dubberley, Alexa Koening & Daragh Murray (eds.) Digital Witness: Using Open Source Intelligence for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation and Accountability (OUP, 2020).
  • Daragh Murray, Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups (Hart, 2016).
  • Daragh Murray, Practitioners’ Guide to Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict (OUP, 2016, co-editors Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Francoise Hampson, Charles Garraway, Noam Lubell & Dapo Akande).

Publications: Journal Articles & Book Chapters

  • Daragh Murray, ‘Adapting a Human Rights-Based Framework to Inform Militaries’ Artificial Intelligence Decision-Making Processes’ (2024) St Louis University Law Journal
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Facial Recognition and the End of Human Rights as We Know Them?’ (2024) The Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Police Use of Retrospective Facial Recognition Technology: A Step Change in Surveillance Capability Necessitating an Evolution of the Human Rights Law Framework’ (2023) The Modern Law Review
  • Daragh Murray,  Pete Fussey,  Kuda Hove, Wairagala Wakabi,  Paul Kimumwe,  Otto Saki & Amy Stevens, ‘The Chilling Effects of Surveillance and Human Rights: Insights from Qualitative Research in Uganda and Zimbabwe’ (2023) Journal of Human Rights Practice
  • Amy Stevens, Pete Fussey, Daragh Murray, Kuda Hove & Otto Saki, “’I started seeing shadows everywhere’: The Diverse Chilling Effects of Surveillance in Zimbabwe’ (2023) Big Data & Society
  • Daragh Murray, Yvonne McDermott & Alexa Koenig, ‘Mapping the Use of Open Source Research in UN Human Rights Investigations’ (2022) Journal of Human Rights Practice .
  • Yvonne McDermott, Alexa Koenig & Daragh Murray, ‘Open Source Information’s Blindspots: Human and Machine Bias in International Criminal Investigations’ (2021) 11 Journal of International Criminal Justice 3.
  • Daragh Murray, Pete Fussey, Lorna McGregor & Maurice Sunkin, ‘Effective Oversight of Large-Scale Surveillance Activities: A Human Rights Perspective’ (2021) 11 Journal of National Security Law & Policy 3.
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Non-State Armed Groups and oPeace Agreements: Examining Legal Capacity and the Emergence of Customary Rules’ in International Law and Peace Settlements (Weller, Retter & Varga eds., CUP, 2021).
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Using Human Rights Law to Inform States’ Decisions to Deploy AI’ (2020) 114 American Journal of International Law Unbound.
  • Daragh Murray & Pete Fussey, ‘Bulk Surveillance in the Digital Age: Rethinking the Human Rights Law Approach to Bulk Monitoring of Communications Data’ (2019) 52 Israel Law Review.
  • Lorna McGregor, Daragh Murray & Vivian Ng, ‘International Human Rights Law as a Framework for Algorithmic Accountability’ (2019) 68 International and Comparative Law Quarterly.
  • Ashley Deeks, Noam Lubell & Daragh Murray, ‘Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the Use of Force by States’ (2018) Journal of National Security Law and Policy.
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Engaging Armed Groups Through the Development of Human Rights Obligations: Incorporating Practice, Motivation, and Ideology to Promote Compliance with International Law’ (2018) Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law.
  • Daragh Murray, 'Non-State Armed Groups, Detention Authority in Non-International Armed Conflict, and the Coherence of International Law: Searching for a Way Forward’ (2017) Leiden Journal of International Law.
  • Daragh Murray, ‘How International Humanitarian Law Treaties Bind Non-State Armed Groups’ (2015) 20 Journal of Conflict & Security Law.
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Investigating the Investigations: A Comment on the UN Committee of Experts Monitoring of the Goldstone Process’ in Chantal Meloni & Gianni Tognoni (eds.) Is There A Court for Gaza? A Test Bench for International Justice (T.M.C. Asser Press 2012).
  • Daragh Murray, ‘Freedom of Expression, Counter-Terrorism and the Internet in light of the UK Terrorist Act 2006 and the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights’ (2009) 27 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights.

Public Engagement

Daragh's research has been covered by BBC Newsnight, BBC PM, PBS Newshour (US), The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Financial Times, La Repubblica, Le Monde, BBC Radio 4 and other national news outlets across the world.

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