International law is often described as being in crisis or at its breaking point. The scale of suffering and destruction wrought in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, and throughout the world indicate that respect for the international legal order is in decline. Direct attacks on indispensable international institutions, such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court by powerful States further suggest a global turn to lawlessness. International law has nonetheless retained its centrality in how we talk about these crises, how States and other actors respond, and how and why these situations are resolved or fester. Whether international law has a positive or negative role to play going forward, the discipline demands our attention.


In this spirit, the School of Law of Trinity College Dublin and the Trinity Centre for Constitutional Law & Governance (TriCON) invite the submission of abstracts for ‘New Voices in International Law’, an early-career workshop to take place on 22 May 2026 in person at the Trinity Long Room Hub. This workshop aims to bring together early-career researchers from universities on the island of Ireland who are working within the field of international law, broadly defined.


The workshop organisers welcome submissions on questions of general international law, as well as work in specialised areas of international law (human rights, armed conflict, law of the sea, international criminal law, international organisations, trade and investment, environment and climate change etc.). Submissions on critical perspectives (TWAIL, feminist, etc.) are also welcomed. The conference aims to provide a dynamic forum for early-career researchers to present and discuss their ongoing research in international law, including with established scholars in the field. Each presenter will be assigned a commentator to provide feedback on their paper.


Submission guidelines:

Interested applicants should submit an abstract (up to 500 words) and a brief author bio or CV by the deadline of 30 January 2026 to pgconf.intlaw@gmail.com with the subject-line ‘NVIL Submission 2026’. Successful applicants will be informed by 13 February and will be asked to submit draft papers of 5,000-8,000 words by 22 April 2026.

Please note that no funding is available for travel and accommodation costs, but food and refreshments will be provided on the day. Please direct any queries to Dr Pearce Clancy at pearce.clancy@tcd.ie.