Dr. Mulgrew is an Associate Professor in Law. She is the Director of Research at the School of Law and lead for the Crime, Punishment and Rights Research Cluster. She is Programme Director for the LLM in Criminology, Criminal Justice and Human Rights. Previously, Dr. Mulgrew was Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor in Law at the University of Nottingham (2010-2020).Dr. Mulgrew is currently a Director on the Board of Irish Penal Reform Trust, and a member of the expert panel of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons. Dr. Mulgrew completed a Bachelor of Corporate Law and LL.B. at the National University of Ireland, Galway before moving to the University of Nottingham to undertake the LL.M. in International Criminal Justice and Armed Conflict. With funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, she completed the MA in Socio-legal and Criminological Research and a PhD at the University of Nottingham School of Law.

Dr. Mulgrew is an expert in international penal law and human rights. Her monographs include Towards the Development of the International Penal System published by Cambridge University Press in 2013 and Early Release in International Criminal Law, published by Elgar publishing in 2025. Her research has been published in numerous renowned peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. Recent articles featured in Human Rights Law Review , Incarceration and the Journal of International Criminal Justice . She was lead editor for the Research Handbook on the Punishment of Atrocity Crime (2024) andthe Research Handbook on the International Penal System (Elgar, 2016). She also co-edited a special edition of International Criminal Law Review on National Prosecutions of International crimes: Sentencing Practices and (Negotiated) Punishments (2019) and a symposium in the Journal of International Criminal Justice on Post-Trial (In)Justice: Reflections on the Legacies and Impacts of Atrocity Crime Prosecutions (2023). She is currently working on a monograph, International Principles of Prison Law and Policy, with Emeritus Professor van Zyl Smit for Oxford University Press.

In January 2025, Dr Mulgrew was appointed as scientific expert by the Council of Europes Council for Penological Cooperation to revise the 2012 Committee of Ministers Recommendation concerning foreign prisoners and its Commentary. Dr Mulgrew has previously acted as an expert and consultant for a number of international penal policy and rights bodies and projects. These include the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, the Council of Europe's Council for Penological Cooperation (PC-CP) and Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the Euromed III Justice Project and the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas. She co-authored the UNODC Handbook on the International Transfer of Sentenced Persons. She has been a member of the EUROPRIS-CEP Expert Group on Foreign Nationals in Prison and Probation since 2013 and has written updates for the Human Rights Spotlight segment of the EUROPRIS newsletter. She was recently part of COST Action 18228 on Global Atrocity Justice Constellations and member of the Research Advisory Panel for UKRI project SAFESOC.

Sentencing, Punishment, Imprisonment, Justice, Punishment of Atrocity Crimes,Human Rights, Liberty Deprivation