From 1997-9 she was Director of the Centre for International and Comparative Human Rights Law, Queen's University of Belfast, and from 2000-2011, she was Professor of Public International Law, and a founder and Director of the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster.

She has been active in non-governmental organizations, and was chairperson of Belfast-based Human Rights organization, the Committee on the Administration of Justice from 1995-7, and a founder member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission established under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. In 1999 she was a member of the European Commission’s Committee of Experts on Fundamental Rights. 

Her research interests lie in the interface between constitutional and international law, gender and conflict, and legal theory, with a particular interest in peace processes and their agreements. In 2007 Christine won the American Society of International Law's Francis Deake Prize for her article on 'Peace Agreements: Their Nature and Legal Status' 100(2) American Journal of International Law. The prize is awarded annually for the leading article by a younger author in the AJIL. She has authored two books: On the Law of Peace: Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria (Oxford University Press, 2008) which won the Hart Socio-Legal Book Prize, awarded by the Socio-legal Studies Association UK, and Peace Agreements and Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2000). She has also authored the a report published by the International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled 'Negotiating Justice? Human Rights and Peace Agreements' (2006). 

Christine was awarded the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship for 'established academics with an international reputation' at the European University Institute Law department, Florence, Italy, from January to June 2007. She has also taken part in various peace negotiations discussions, giving constitutional law and human rights law advice, and also in training for diplomats, mediators and lawyers and acted as an expert in transitional justice for the UN Secretary-General, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and UNIFEM.

Melani's work centers on identity politics, intergroup relations, and development, and many of her current research projects explore the nexus between politicized identity-based conflict and socioeconomic factors.   

Melani’s research focuses on Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lebanon and aims to compare the nature of relations across different subnational localities.   

Melani previously held a Visiting Scholar title at the Mitchell Institute.

Her critically acclaimed book, A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness won the Christopher Award in the United States and the Alan Paton Award in South Africa. The book has been published seven times, including translations in Dutch, German, Italian and Korean.

Siobhán is the Principal Investigator of the Irish Research Council project on Human Trafficking, Forced Migration and Gender Equality in Uganda, a collaborative research programme with the Refugee Law Project, Makerere University.  She is the Senior Legal Expert for Ireland on FRANET, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency multidisciplinary research network.

Professor Mullally has worked as an adviser and consultant on human rights, migration and asylum law, gender and justice sector reform for UN bodies (including UNIFEM, UNDP, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe) and international organisations in many parts of the world, including in Ethiopia, Timor-Leste, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

She is the recipient of numerous research awards for work relating to gender equality, migration and refugee protection, human trafficking and migrant workers, including from the Irish Research Council, European Commission, Irish Aid, International Bar Association, Nuffield Foundation.

Professor Mullally’s research in the fields of gender, women’s rights, migration, asylum and multiculturalism has been published widely in leading journals including Human Rights Quarterly, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, American Journal of Comparative Law, European Human Rights Law Review, Social and Legal Studies, Asian Yearbook of International Law.

Her books include:

Care Migration and Human Rights: Law and Pracitice (ed.) (Routledge: 2015);

Gender Culture and Human Rights: Reclaiming Universalism (Hart: 2006).

Published reports include:

 A Child Rights Response to Child Migration and Migrant Children at Risk (International Bar Association: 2019)

 Report into the Independence of the Judiciary in Pakistan (International Bar Association: 2007).