Daniela Suárez Vargas, a first-year PhD student at QUB Law and a qualified lawyer in Colombia has had some very good news: she has won a coveted international-student scholarship from the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium.

Daniela is excited about the opportunities that this award will open up for her:

"Through its doctoral training programme, I will not only be able to fund my PhD, but I will also be able to conduct my project in a cutting-edge research network and strengthen my research, leadership and professional development skills."

Before commencing her PhD, Daniela completed a Master’s at QUB Law. Her research experience in international criminal law and human rights law has enabled her to publish academic papers, public policy reports and court briefs.

For her PhD, Daniela is studying the issue of sexual violence within armed groups in Colombia. In particular, she is exploring how some female combatants within groups like FARC who suffer violations, such as forced pregnancy or rape, are denied recognition as victims and instead treated as criminals.

Daniela’s aim is to develop our understanding of individuals who are both perpetrators and victims, and how the Colombian legal system struggles to address these dual identities. The research will also contribute to thinking more critically about how to deal with the past in Colombia through its extensive transitional justice system of truth, justice and reparation mechanisms. It will consider how perpetrator-victims can be fitted into these transitional justice mechanisms so as to ensure the broader goals of justice and reconciliation for all those affected by violence.

Daniela's supervisory team spans Northern Ireland’s two universities. It includes QUB Law’s Dr Luke Moffett and Dr Rachel Killean, as well as Ulster’s Dr Fidelma Ashe. All three have strong backgrounds in law, victimology, political science and gender.

Speaking about Daniela’s scholarship success, Dr Moffett, her primary supervisor says:

"I am really pleased to see that Daniela's exciting research proposal is being funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium. This funding will strongly complement and give further opportunities to Daniela who has already shown a strong academic record and passion for this area. While the project will concentrate on Colombia, it will have broader implications for other countries moving away from a violent past, including our own. The funding success also represents the hard work by colleagues within QUB Law to support students and supervisors to compete with success in prestigious funding competitions."