Nicola Palmer

Dr Nicola Palmer is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Criminal Law at King’s College London’s Dickson Poon School of Law. She specializes in international criminal law, transitional justice, and legal anthropology, with a focus on Rwanda and Central Africa. Her work examines the intersection of border control, migration policies, and international legal obligations, particularly in post-conflict contexts.

Education: DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford (2011, Rhodes Scholar), undergraduate degrees in law and economics from Rhodes University, South Africa. Previously held the Global Justice Research Fellowship at St Anne’s College, Oxford, and worked at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Research interests include legal pluralism in post-genocide Rwanda, the role of universal jurisdiction trials, and racialized exclusion in migration policies. She leads projects funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust, including studies on Rwanda’s migration policies and post-conflict peace education.

Recent articles highlight themes like ‘safe third country’ agreements, racialized exclusion in legal frameworks, and the expressive role of criminal justice in migration contexts. Her book Courts in Conflict: Interpreting the Layers of Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda (OUP, 2015) analyzes judicial systems in post-conflict societies.

• Awards: British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2024), Rhodes Scholarship (2007).
• Grants: Projects include ‘Renewing Positive Complementarity: Reframing Justice Relations after Atrocity’ (Leverhulme Trust) and ‘Race, Refugees and International Crimes: Rwanda’s role in the global legal ordering of migration’ (British Academy).

Collaborates with institutions like the Africa Research Group and the War Crimes Research Group at King’s College. Engaged in global knowledge exchange programs with Rwandan researchers through the Aegis Trust’s RPHE programme.