Helena Wray

Helena Wray is Professor of Migration Law at the University of Exeter's Law School, specializing in British immigration law with focus on family regulation through immigration control. She is affiliated with the Network on Family Regulation and Society, Human Rights and Democracy Forum, Bracton Centre for Legal History Research, and Routes: Migration, Mobility and Displacement research network.

She earned her PhD from SOAS, University of London, following a career as a solicitor in London where she co-founded a Law Centre. Her educational background bridges practical legal experience with academic scholarship in migration law.

Her research critically examines family migration regulation under UK immigration law, particularly financial requirements' impact on children, Article 8 ECHR family reunification rights, and Brexit's consequences for UK-EU couples. Current work includes an ESRC-funded project (2023-2026) analyzing migrantization in post-Brexit family immigration regimes.

Professor Wray has secured major research funding including her current ESRC grant and a Children's Commissioner-commissioned report. She served as specialist advisor to the House of Lords Committee on Justice and Home Affairs (2022-2023) and provided evidence in landmark Supreme Court cases (Ali and Bibi v SSHD, MM v SSHD) that changed immigration rules. She supervises PhD research on migrant domestic workers' rights, migration dignity frameworks, and remote bail hearings.

She actively contributes to the Bracton Centre for Legal History Research and Human Rights and Democracy Forum, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration on migration law's historical and human rights dimensions.