Dr Lilija Alijeva

Overview

Dr Lilija Alijeva is Presidential Fellow at the City Law School, University of London. Her research focuses on the human rights of national, ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities. Her current research projects focus on the way international justice institutions and International Organisations protect minorities and their rights. She is part of the Minority Rights Solidarity Network steering group, which is a network of academics and practitioners working in the field of minority rights protection.

Dr Alijeva is an interdisciplinary scholar who actively combines the disciplines of Law and Political Science in her research. She graduated in International Politics at Middlesex University (London) before pursuing her LLM degree at the same institution. She completed her master’s degree in Law with Distinction and published her postgraduate dissertation with the International Journal on Minority and Group Rights in 2017. She was awarded a full scholarship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council - London Arts and Humanities Partnership in 2016 to pursue her interdisciplinary PhD studies in Law and Political Science at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. 

Dr Alijeva’s academic profile is complemented by her extensive experience in practice. Building on that experience, she has become an active supporter of knowledge exchange initiatives between academics and practitioners, and interdisciplinary empirical research to understand how international human rights law is implemented in domestic contexts. Her regional specialism is the post-Soviet Baltic states, where she focuses on the realisation of minority rights, especially within the realm of public life participation. 

She joined City St George's in September 2023. Currently, Dr Alijeva teaches on Public Law and Administrative Law & Human Rights modules. In 2024, she was successful in achieving the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for a project she is leading, titled ‘Mainstreaming Inclusivity and Decolonisation in International Minority Rights Legal Norms.’

Qualifications

• PhD in Law and Political Science, School of Advanced Study, University of London, United Kingdom
• LLM, Middlesex University, United Kingdom
• BA International Politics, Middlesex University, United Kingdom

Employment

• Presidential Fellow, City, University of London, Sep 2023 – present
• Research Fellow, University of Sussex, Jul 2023
• Researcher and Project Manager, University of London Institute in Paris, Jan 2022 – Aug 2023
• Visiting Lecturer, University of Roehampton, Feb – Nov 2019
• Visiting Lecturer, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Jan – Sep 2019
• Research Assistant, Human Rights Consortium, Jan 2017 – Dec 2018
• Research Assistant, Middlesex University, Jul 2015 – Jul 2016

Memberships of committees

• Project Group Member, Knowledge Diplomacy Network

Memberships of professional organisations

• Steering Group Member, Minority Rights Solidarity Network

Award

• Arts and Humanities Research Council (2016) London Arts and Humanities Partnership Award
  Full doctoral studies scholarship award

Languages

English, French, Latvian and Russian.

Publications by category