Ciara Smyth is an established scholar of international, European and Irish refugee and immigration law. She has published in 
many of the leading international journals, including the European Law Journal, the Human Rights Law Review, the International Journal of Refugee Law, the European Journal of Migration and Law and the Journal of Refugee Studies. She has written extensively on the Common European Asylum System and her book, ‘European Asylum Law and the Rights of the Child’ (Routledge, 2014), explores the extent to which the European regional system of refugee protection is consistent with the rights of the child. She lectures in the School of Law, University of Galway and is programme director of the LL.M in International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. Before joining the University of Galway, Ciara worked for a number of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations in Ireland and abroad, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She continues to be involved in supporting civil society organisations working in the asylum and immigration space at the local and national level, was the only academic member of the government-appointed Working Group on the reform of the Irish international protection process and is the leading academic voice in media discussions on asylum and immigration in Ireland, bringing facts and balance to an otherwise polarised debate. Visit https://www.universityofgalway.ie/our-research/people/law/ciaramsmyth/ for her full profile.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS (PAST 6 YEARS)
Peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters:
Ciara Smyth (2023) ‘The Dublin Regulation, mutual trust and fundamental rights: No exceptionality for children?’. European Law Journal, 28 (4-6):242-262.
Ciara Smyth (2021) ‘The Human Rights Approach to 'Persecution' and its Child Rights Discontents’. International Journal of Refugee Law, 33 (2):238-276.
Ciara Smyth (2021) ‘Family life and the Best Interests of the Child in the Field of Migration’ in Iglesias Sanchez and Gonzales Pascual (eds) Fundamental Rights in the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Cambridge University Press, 2021: 119-138.
Ciara Smyth (2019) ‘A Turn Towards Fundamental Rights or Just a Swerve? The Jurisprudence of the CJEU on Family Reunification for Static Union Citizens and Third Country National Immigrants’. Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law, 33 (4):283-301.
Ciara Smyth (2019) ‘Towards a Complete Prohibition on the Immigration Detention of Children’. Human Rights Law Review, 19 (1):1-36.
Ciara Smyth (2018) ‘Migration, Refugees and Children’s Rights’ in Kilkelly and Leifaard (eds) International Human Rights of Children, New York: Springer Publishers: 421-454.
Ciara Smyth (2018) ‘The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights Relevant to Child Migrants’; in Bhabha, Kanics and Senovilla Hernandez (eds) Research Handbook on Child Migration, Northampton MA: Edward Elgar Publishing: 140-156.
Conference contributions
Ciara Smyth (2024) ‘No room at the inn: Ireland and asylum seekers’ [Invited Lecture] Féile na Bealtaine, Dingle, Co. Kerry.
Ciara Smyth (2022) The face-off between mutual trust and fundamental rights in the Dublin Regulation. [Conference Paper], What role for EU rights in the current global order? Common Market Law Review on tour, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Dublin.
Ciara Smyth (2019) Present and past members of the Irish Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the Seychelles discuss the role of women judges and lawyers. [Chaired Session], Women on Supreme Courts, University of Galway.
Ciara Smyth (2018) Towards a Complete Prohibition on the Immigration Detention of Children. [Conference Paper], Safeguarding Children’s Rights in Immigration Law, Leiden University.
Ciara Smyth (2018) Ireland’s Human Rights Obligations and Opting-in to the Reception Conditions Directive. [Conference Paper], The Reception Conditions Directive, Law Society of Ireland, Dublin.
Ciara Smyth (2018) The European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Immigration Detention of Children. [Conference Paper], The Rights of Migrants & Refugees: Exploring the Role of Courts & Tribunals, University of Galway.
Ciara Smyth (2018) The International Legal Position on the Immigration Detention of Children.