Andrew Mazibrada

Primary fields of research

Andrew's research explores the future evolution of international law, particularly international human rights law, in light of emerging technologies, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence. His research considers these intersections through various lenses, in particular the effects of climate change, evolving surveillance paradigms, and the key importance to sufficiency and equality of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

His Masters Thesis involves a consideration of the 'deepfake' phenomenon and its potential effect on the veracity of evidence used in criminal investigations and subsequent criminal court proceedings. His focuses will include analysis of whether Art.6 ECHR rights can be protected and he will examine potential areas of tension and conflict and how that tension/conflict could be resolved (and whether it can be resolved), as well as surveillance paradigms in a criminal justice context (including the exchange of intelligence across borders). Related to this, he is researching the evolution of Freedom of Expression as a consequence of both the digital age and the post-truth world which currently exists and, in particular, whether Freedom of Expression is an outmoded right which requires reconsidering.

His PhD research explores the justiciability of the Right to Science, found formally within Art. 15(1)(b) of the ICESCR, and Art. 27 of the UDHR. His thesis will advance the proposition that existing scholarship has focused too narrowly on Article 15(1)(b), and too specifically on rights enabling equal access to the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. Discussion of the need to enforce states’ protective obligations in respect of the misuse of scientific and technological developments, including the development of technology that might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or the environment has been marginalised. To make the right to science justiciable (or, to put it bluntly, to make it useful), a broader and more balanced approach is required. His thesis seeks to advance scholarship (1) by examining the right’s full normative apparatus, arguing that a complete doctrinal understanding can only be found in a framework of instruments that have focused piecemeal on science-related issues since the UDHR in 1948, and (2) by contextualising the right’s relationship with other international human rights norms, in order to set out clear principles for the interpretation and enforcement of states’ protective obligations and equal access duties.

In addition, he is interested in the way complex interdisciplinary legal themes are rendered in literature, particularly in the speculative genres like science fiction. One current research project considers the way human rights and human values are explored in science fiction.

Andrew was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1999 where he practised at the criminal bar until 2014.

CV

2018-2020 Master of Laws, LLM/Cand.jur, University of Copenhagen

2017-2019 Master of Letters, MLitt, University of Glasgow, Distinction

2006-2014 Crown Advocate, Crown Prosecution Service, London

1999-2006 Barrister, Furnival Chambers, London

1998-1999 Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law, Very Competent

1998-1999 Postgraduate Diploma in Criminal Procedure, City University, London

1997-1998 Master of Laws, LLM, King's College, University of London, Merit

1994-1997 Bachelor of Laws, LLB(Hons), University of Greenwich, First Class Honours