Work as a UN peacekeeper in the Middle East and later in Africa shaped Ray Murphy’s interest in peace operations, international humanitarian law and human rights. Dr Ray Murphy is a Professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at University of Galway. He completed his BA in Political Science and Legal Science in 1979, followed by an LL.B. in 1981. He studied at the King’s Inns in Dublin, completed the BL degree and was called to the Irish Bar in 1984. He went on to earn an M.Litt. in International Law at Trinity College Dublin in 1991 and was awarded a PhD in International Law by the University of Nottingham in 2001.

In addition to his position at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Professor Murphy is on the faculty of the International Institute for Criminal Investigations and Justice Rapid Response. He has served as Senior Expert for Ireland with the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Human Rights Institutes and as a Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (2014–19). He is a former member and Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of Amnesty International (Ireland). He has delivered training for the ICRC, No Peace Without Justice, Amnesty International, the United Nations, the International Institute for Humanitarian Law and the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Canada.

Professor Murphy was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for International Law at Al-Haq in Palestine in 2014. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 2006 and worked with Human Rights Watch in New York as a resident scholar. In 2007 he received the University of Galway President’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2008 he was awarded the National Award for Excellence in Teaching by the National Academy for the Integration of Research and Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL).

He is a former Captain in the Irish Defence Forces and served as an infantry officer with the Irish contingent of UNIFIL in Lebanon in 1981–82 and again in 1989. He practised as a barrister for a short period before taking up his current academic appointment at University of Galway. From 1997 to 2000, he was Chairperson of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. He also has field experience with the OSCE in Bosnia in 1996 and 1997, and has undertaken short assignments in West and Southern Africa and the Middle East for Amnesty International, the European Union and the Irish Government.

Selected Publications

1. Ray Murphy, The United Nations Mission in South Sudan and the Protection of Civilians, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 22(3), December 2017, pp. 367–394.
2. Ray Murphy, Peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Protection of Civilians, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2016.
3. R. Murphy with R. Burke, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and the Responsibility to Protect: Where Does Gender Come In?, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 2015, 26: 227–256.
4. R. Murphy, Contributor Profile: Ireland 2018, Providing for Peacekeeping, International Peace Institute, New York, 2018.
5. R. Murphy (ed.), Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and International Law, Ashgate, 2012.
6. R. Murphy, UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo: Legal and Operational Issues in Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2007 (reprinted 2008).
7. R. Murphy and D. Gannon, Changing the Landscape: Israel’s Gross Violations of International Law in the Occupied Syrian Golan, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 11, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 139–174.
8. R. Murphy, Gravity Issues and the International Criminal Court, Criminal Law Forum, 17, 2006, pp. 281–315.