Rachel Seoighe

Dr Rachel Seoighe is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent's School of Social Sciences, specializing in state violence, resistance, memory studies, and abolitionist frameworks. Her research focuses on Sri Lanka's civil war legacies, carceral geographies (particularly Holloway Prison), and Tamil diaspora memory practices. She actively collaborates with human rights organizations and employs decolonial, feminist methodologies.

Teaching responsibilities include modules on state crime, resistance, and penal policy. Professional roles include Athena SWAN champion and EDI lead at SSPSSR, leading the Reflexive Teaching Working Group and co-chairing the Visual and Sensory Research Cluster. External engagements include trustee roles at Beauty out of Ashes and Women at WISH, and consultancy with the Tamil Information Centre.

Publications span academic journals like Punishment and Society and State Crime Journal, with a notable monograph War, Denial and Nation-Building in Sri Lanka. Her work bridges activism and academia, emphasizing abolitionist affect, carceral spatial analysis, and postcolonial critique.