Personal profile
Biography
Dr. Qandeel is a Lecturer in International Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. She is a promoted Associate Professor (Reader) of International Law / Law and Technologies in Sweden in 2024. Dr Qandeel is a licensed lawyer with 20 years of experience at in academia, law practice and organisations/institutions in, among others, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, USA and Palestine. She has extensive experience in international humanitarian law and the question of Palestine.
Dr Qandeel holds an LLM of international law from the University of Pittsburgh, USA, and a Ph.D. of international humanitarian law ( with a focus on Palestine) from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She is the author of, among others, Enforcing Human Rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territory, Violence and State Attribution: The Case of Palestine, and The Palestinian Environment under Military Occupation: International Humanitarian Law Perspective.
Her research has three themes:
i) the question of Palestine under belligerent occupation
ii) implications of new technologies on human rights – human rights in cyberspace in connection with cyber norms and cybersecurity - and the rule of law
iii) the protection of the natural environment in international law, especially in armed conflicts.
Research Interests
Cybersecurity law, the rule of law and human rights.
Fundamental rights in cyberspace.
International humanitarian law and the protection of civilians under belligerent occupation.
The question of territorial annexation by force.
The protection of the natural environment during armed conflicts.
Teaching Interests
Cybersecurity and cybercrimes
Fundamental rights in cyberspace
International humanitarian law
Human rights law
Comparative law
Legal theory
Research Projects
Project 1: Large Language Models in Conflict: Knowledge, Legitimacy, and AI in Contested Territories
This project opens new directions for conceptualizing the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) as epistemic infrastructure in war and conflict affected contexts. It brings together diverse perspectives through a sociotechnical entry point to examine how AI systems generate, structure, and legitimize knowledge, with particular attention to the infrastructural processes that govern what becomes visible, knowable, and actionable. Ethical and legal dimensions are treated as intrinsic to these processes, and the project seeks to establish a basis for understanding how questions of law, human rights, proportionality, and accountability emerge from, and are shaped by, the ways AI infrastructures organize knowledge. It also considers how such knowledge practices affect informational security and society more broadly.
Research Projects
Project 2: International Law in Times of Conflict and Geopolitical Upheaval
From a comparative international law (CIL) perspective, we ask: how do States perform their international obligations over time and in connection to other States? During the current violent events in the world and geopolitical upheaval, some States are showing signs of reversing long-established positions and inconsistent implementation of international obligations. As much as this may be driven by political and military interests. We aim to examine government responses, shifts in international legal positions, and the role and direction of legal advice. We will also examine directions taken in international legal scholarship.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD
Keywords
- K Law (General)
Accepting PhD Students
- Accepting PhD Students
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
-
SDG 5 Gender Equality
-
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
-
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
-
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
-
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
-
SDG 13 Climate Action
-
SDG 15 Life on Land
-
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Genocidal Surveillant Assemblage in Palestine: A Socio-Legal Analysis
Qandeel, M. & Topak, Ö. E., 8 Oct 2025, In: Journal Of Genocide Research. p. 1-22 22 p.Research output: Contribution to a Journal (Peer & Non Peer) › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
On the Way to Cyber Norms: Legal Frameworks and Human Rights.
Qandeel, M. & Cristiano, F., 2025, The Palgrave Handbook on Cyber Diplomacy. Christou, G., Vosse, W., Burton, J. & Koops, J. A. (eds.). Palgrave McMillan, p. 167-183Research output: Chapter in Book or Conference Publication/Proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Settler Violence as State Wrongful Act and Third State Obligations
Qandeel, M., 15 Aug 2025, In: Opinio Juris.Research output: Contribution to a Journal (Peer & Non Peer) › Comment/debate
-
Territorial Annexation of Palestine: Illegality, Third States Obligations and the ICJ’s 2024 Advisory Opinion
Qandeel, M., 25 Feb 2025, In: European Journal Of International Law. (EJIL:Talk! BlogPost)Research output: Contribution to a Journal (Peer & Non Peer) › Comment/debate
-
The Palestinian Environment under Israeli Military Occupation: An International Humanitarian Law Perspective
Qandeel, M., 2025, De/Colonising Palestine: Contemporary Debates . Geneva: Graduate Institute Publications , p. 201-238Research output: Chapter in Book or Conference Publication/Proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open Access
Press/Media
-
'Higher education has been destroyed in Gaza'
Darcy, S., Abtli, B., Nuseibah, M., Qandeel, M. & Reynolds, J.
3/11/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media