Dr Orla Kelleher

Law

Assistant Professor

Riverstown House
Ground Floor
6
Biography

Biography

Dr Orla Kelleher joined the School of Law and Criminology in August 2022. Orla specialises in climate change, environmental, and human rights law. Her current research focuses on environmental rights, climate law and litigation, climate justice, and just transitions. Orla was awarded her Ph.D. without corrections from UCD Sutherland School of Law in March 2022. Her Ph.D. examined the impact of climate change on legal reasoning in rights-based systemic climate change litigation in European countries. Her Ph.D. was awarded dual research scholarships: an IRC Government of Ireland Postgraduate scholarship (2019-2021) and a UCD School of Law Doctoral Scholarship (2017-2019). Her work has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Environmental Law, the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, the Review of European Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL), the Irish Jurist, the Irish Judicial Studies Journal, and the Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal. Orla has been funded to conduct engaged research with bodies such as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Environmental Justice Network Ireland and Community Law and Mediation Centre for Environmental Justice.
Prior to joining Maynooth, Orla lectured at the University of Limerick. She holds a Ph.D. from UCD, an LL.M. from the College of Europe (Bruges) and a BCL (Law and French) from UCC. Orla is also a qualified barrister, having been called to the Irish Bar in 2020. 
Research Publications Professional