Lena Holzer

Lena Holzer is an Assistant Professor in Gender, Race and the Law at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Law and serves as Sheila Lesley Fellow at Girton College. Her work bridges queer-feminist, anti-racist, and intersectional methodologies with international law, focusing on human rights and sports law.

• PhD in International Law with a minor in International Relations from the Geneva Graduate Institute
• European Masters Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation
• Bachelor of Arts in International Development from the University of Vienna

Her research explores critical feminist, queer, and intersectional approaches to international law, particularly how international legal frameworks perpetuate binary gender categories and racialized sports governance. She is working on a book tracing international law’s role in legal identity’s gender binary and another analyzing sports regulations’ gendered and racialized impacts.

Recent publications highlight her expertise in queer-feminist legal analysis, gender recognition reforms, and the interplay between sports governance and human rights. She has contributed to journals like Australian Feminist Law Journal and Leiden Journal of International Law and authored reports on non-binary gender registration in Europe.

• 2022 SNIS Award for her PhD thesis
• 2023 Prix Senior Maurice Chalumeau for her thesis

Lena’s academic work engages with the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Cambridge Family Law Centre, emphasizing collaborative and inclusive legal scholarship. She has previously taught at Goldsmiths, University of London, and supervised at the Geneva Graduate Institute.