Miriam Cullen

Short presentation

Miriam is Assistant Professor of Climate and Migration Law at Copenhagen University. She sits on the Advisory Committee to the Platform on Disaster Displacement and heads the Nordic Network on Climate Induced Displacement. Her current research is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark and examines international legal protections for people displaced in whole or in part for climate related reasons. Miriam maintains an ongoing research interest in the rule of law and the law and practice of the United Nations. 

During her PhD studies, Miriam was a Visiting Doctoral Student at the University of Oxford, a Visiting Professional in the Immediate Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court and a Visiting Researcher at the TMC Asser Institute. Miriam has appeared on Danish television and radio, and is a member of the Research School on Peace and Conflict (Norway).  She was for several years on the Board of Directors of TraumAid International, a not-for-profit NGO which provides mental health services to victims of violence in Uganda and the Congo.

Teaching

• Course leader – Migration and Forced Displacement from Climate Change
• Course leader – Law and Practice of the United Nations
• Lecturer – International Migration Law
• Lecturer – Public International Law
• Lecturer – International Criminal Law  (2013-2015)

Miriam holds a PhD from Copenhagen University, a Master of Laws (International Law) and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University, and a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Politics) (First Class Honours) from Monash University. She is admitted to practice as an Australian Legal Practitioner in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.

Previous experience

Prior to joining the Faculty at KU, Miriam was part of the Australian Research Council funded project ‘Australia’s Response to Trafficking in Women: Towards a Model for the Regulation of Forced Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region’ hosted at Monash University, and won prizes for her research related to the rights of indigenous people internally displaced by climate change. Miriam has represented the Australian Government on the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, having independently negotiated a range of human rights resolutions, including those on the rights of migrants, trafficking in woman and girls, social development, and extreme poverty. Miriam has been a consultant to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and managed Parliamentary Committee Inquiries in the Legislative Council of the New South Wales Parliament, as well as Law Reform Inquiries for the Victorian Law Reform Commission. She has also held positions in the International Legal Division, and the International Security Division and the Afghanistan Desk of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.