Rachel Ibreck

Dr Rachel Ibreck serves as Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Goldsmiths, University of London, and holds a Visiting Senior Fellowship at LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. She concurrently directs the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) in Nairobi, a British International Research Institute advancing humanities and social science scholarship across East Africa.

Her academic credentials include a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Bristol and an MA in Area Studies (Africa) from SOAS, University of London.

Her research critically examines justice systems, human rights practices, and transitional mechanisms in conflict-affected East Africa and refugee contexts. Employing ethnographic and collaborative methodologies, she investigates how local customary law and memorialization practices interact with international humanitarian interventions. Key themes include civil society mobilization, genocide studies, and the politics of memory in post-conflict societies, with a regional focus on East Africa.

Current research includes the Volkswagen Stiftung-funded project "Traces of Mobility, Violence and Solidarity" (2022-2025) reconceptualizing cultural heritage through migration. Previously, she secured grants from the Global Challenges Research Fund, Social Science Research Council, and LSE's Conflict Research Programme to study justice interventions in South Sudan and the Horn of Africa.

Her major publication is the monograph "South Sudan’s Injustice System: Law and Activism on the Frontline" (Zed Books/Bloomsbury, 2019). She has contributed to journals including African Affairs, Memory Studies, and the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, and serves as co-editor of the Journal of Genocide Research.