Dr Olga Jurasz is a senior lecturer in law at the Open University Law School, specialising in international law, human rights, and legal responses to violence against women (including online violence).
International Law, women, and post-conflict situations
Olga’s research interests lie in the area of international law, human rights & post-conflict situations. She is particularly interested in how various mechanisms of public international law address the long-term impact of armed conflict on women and how women’s rights are protected in the aftermath of war, during the process of transition from war to peace.
In 2018-19, Olga is working on the British Academy funded project 'Making international law work for women post-conflict: new voices'.
Online violence against women, social media and law
Another area of Dr Jurasz's research is online violence against women, online trolling and gender-based abuse on social media. Olga is working on several projects which related to this area and contributed to a number of consultations concerning hate crime reform and legal responses to violence against women (both online and offline), including submissions to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, the Bracadale Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland, and Women & Equalities Committee.
Dr Jurasz's research (with Dr Kim Barker, University of Stirling) explores a number of aspects of online, text-based abuse, including consideration of online misogyny as a hate crime as well as legal regulation of online abuse. Olga's book Online misogyny as a hate crime: a challenge for (legal) regulation? (authored with Dr Kim Barker) which addresses these themes will be published by Routledge in late 2018.
Olga has published in the above research areas and presented her research at many conferences, both in the UK and internationally. Her research has been funded by the British Academy, Economic & Social Research Council, and British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association (BILETA). She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gender Studies.
Dr Jurasz contributed to a number of consultations in her areas of research, including submissions to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, the Bracadale Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland, and Women & Equalities Committee.
Since 2011, Olga has been a convenor and organiser of the Women in War and at War biennial conference. In September 2013, Olga co-organized (with Dr Kim Barker) a "Virtual Gender (Un)Conference" (Open University Law School, 12th September 2013).