Dr Alice Storey is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Associate Director of the Centre for Human Rights. She leads the Human Rights in America & American Criminal Procedure and Evidence LLB modules. Alice is also Associate Director of Research in the School of Law, with a specific focus on impact and knowledge exchange.
Alice’s research predominantly focuses on the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism and State engagement with international human rights, predominantly from the perspective of women's rights and the abolition of capital punishment. Her published work has analysed the operation of the UPR, making suggestions on how the UPR can be strengthened in order for it to achieve its full potential.
In 2018, Alice was awarded her PhD without corrections, which was funded by the prestigious Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. During her PhD studies, she was awarded the M3C Cultural Engagement Award for her work with the wider community.
Alice is the Lead Academic of the UPR Project at BCU, which was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award in 2021. The UPR Project engages directly with the UPR mechanism through submitting stakeholder reports to selected countries’ UPRs and taking part in UPR Pre-sessions, facilitating discussions with UN government delegations from across the globe and other civil society organisations. This allows Alice’s academic research to be translated into practical change for human rights on the ground and has led to in her being invited to government consultations on human rights issues such as women’s rights and HIV treatment. Alice is also one of three co-founders of the ‘UPR Academic Network’, which brings together a large, international network of scholars working on the UPR mechanism.
Alice is regularly invited to sit as an expert panellist, speaking at events such as UPR Info’s “Strengthening the UPR for the Fourth Cycle” and Geneva Peace Week’s “Applying Insights from the UPR Process to Improve Reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 16.” Since 2015, she has been a pro-bono academic for the charity, Amicus, providing expertise on international law and the death penalty.
- International Human Rights
- Universal Periodic Review
- Women’s Rights
- Capital Punishment
- PhD
- LLM (Distinction)
- PgDip Legal Practice (Distinction)
- LLB (Hons)
- PgCert (Higher Education)
- PgCert (Research)
- SEDA (Doctoral Supervision)
- SEDA (Postgraduate Teaching)
- Certificate of Professionalism in Innovation Practice
- Co-founder of the UPR Academic Network 2022 – present
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE)
- Training Programme Lecturer, Amicus, 2015 – present
- Assistant Editor, British Journal of American Legal Studies, 2018 – present
- Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
- Member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association
- Member of the Association of Law Teachers
- American Criminal Procedure & Evidence (LLB)
- Human Rights in America (LLB)
- American Legal Practice (LLB/LLM/PGDL)
- International Women’s and Children’s Rights (LLM)
The core focus of Alice’s research is the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, assessing its operation and making recommendations for its improvement, alongside evaluating its impact on the ground. Currently, Alice is working on the UPR in terms of the following issues:
- Women and girls with HIV in Namibia and Eswatini
- Female Genital Mutilation in Somalia
- Domestic abuse in the UK
- Domestic abuse in the USA
Alice welcomes proposals for doctoral research in the areas of international human rights, the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, women’s rights, and capital punishment.
Alice’s current supervision is as follows:
- Melisa Oleschuk: Examining Civil Society’s Role in Translating International Human Rights into Domestic Legal Change: The ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice and the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (funded by Midlands4Cities)
- Maria Oliviera: Human Trafficking in Portugal and the UN Universal Periodic Review (funded by Midlands4Cities)
Selected Publications
- Storey A, ‘The USA’s Engagement with the UN’s Human Rights Committee on the Question of Capital Punishment’, Intercultural Human Rights Law Review (Forthcoming Autumn 2022).
- Storey A, ‘National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA’, in, Adam Lynes, Craig Kelly and James Treadwell (eds)50 Dark Destinations: A Criminological Analysis of Contemporary Tourism (Forthcoming, Bristol University Press, 2022).
- Storey A & Eccleston-Turner M, ‘Transparency, Accountability, and Legitimacy in the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review’, in, Salvador Santino Regilme Jr. & Irene Hadiprayitno (eds) Human Rights at Risk: Rethinking International Institutions, American Power, and the Future of Dignity (Rutgers University Press, 2022).
- Storey A, ‘Challenges and Opportunities for the UN Universal Periodic Review: A Case Study on Capital Punishment in the USA’, 90 UMKC Law Review 129 (2021).
- Storey A, ‘A Tale of Two Realities: Foreign Nationals, Consular Assistance, and the Death Penalty in the USA’, 15 Charleston L. Rev. 459 (2021).
- Yorke J & Storey A, ‘Towards a World Without the Death Penalty’, in, Peter Stearns (ed) Routledge Handbook on Death (2020).
- Storey A, ‘Engaging with the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review as an Academic’ Juris Poiesis, Vol. 23, No. 32, 662-664 (2020).
- Storey A, “Austin Sarat (ed.), Human Rights and Legal Judgments: The American Story”, Human Rights Law Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, 28 February 2019, 193–198.
Selected Reports
For a full list of UPR Project at BCU Reports click here.
- Storey A, Nazir A, & Yorke J, ‘Japan Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2022).
- Centre for Women’s Justice, ‘Double Standard: Ending the Unjust Criminalisation of Victims of Violence Against Women and Girls’ (2022).
- Storey A et. al., ‘United Kingdom Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2022).
- Brigagão Natalia et. al., ‘Brazil Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2022).
- Storey A, Nazir A, & Yorke J, ‘Eswatini Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2021).
- Storey A, Nazir A, & Yorke J, ‘Namibia Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2020).
- Storey A, et. al., ‘United States Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Submission’, The UPR Project at BCU (2020).
Blog Posts
Selected Research Presentations
- 30/03/21 SLSA Annual Meeting 2021 (Online due to COVID-19) Paper Title “Utilising the UN’s Universal Periodic Review and Feminist Theory to Prevent Domestic Abuse in the UK.”
- 28/05/20 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting 2020, Denver, CO, USA (Online due to COVID-19) Paper Title “Engaging with the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review as an Academic.”
- 06/06/19 University of Leiden – Global Human Rights at Risk Conference, The Hague, Netherlands Paper Title “How to Perfect the Imperfect: A Critical Analysis of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review.”
- 11/05/18 University of British Columbia – 22nd Interdisciplinary Legal Studies Graduate Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Paper Title “The United States’ Engagement with the UN Universal Periodic Review: A Case Study on the Death Penalty.”
- 19/07/17 Birmingham City University – Business, Law and Social Sciences Faculty Conference, Birmingham, UK Paper Title “The Drugs Don’t Work: Will Pharmaceuticals be the Death of the Death Penalty in the United States?”
- 14/06/16 University of Liverpool - Inaugural Postgraduate Conference in International Law and Human Rights: Is International Law in Crisis?, Liverpool, UK Paper Title “A Rocky Relationship with International Law: The Death Penalty in the United States and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.”
- 02/06/16 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting 2016, New Orleans, LA, USA Paper Title “Facilitating the Abolition of the Death Penalty in the United States: The Role of the Universal Periodic Review and International Law.”
- 05/03/16 University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre Postgraduate Conference, Nottingham, UK Paper title “The Universal Periodic Review: The Human Rights Council's Innovative Mechanism.”
Policy Engagement
