Eithne Dowds

Dr Eithne Dowds is a Senior Lecturer in the Law School at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research focuses on the legal construction of the crime of rape, with a particular focus on formulations of sexual consent, in international and domestic criminal law. Her monograph, Feminist Engagement with International Criminal Law (Hart 2019) explored the relationship between consent and coercion as elements of the crime of rape.

More recently, her work has focused on the trend towards the adoption of affirmative notions of consent, as well as legal framings of the accused’s mindset in respect of consent. Eithne has responded to a range of consultations including those addressed to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. Eithne’s work on consent has been cited in the Gillen Review on the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences in Northern Ireland. She is a member of the Legal Expert Council for the Conversations on Consent (CoC) Campaign and also has an interest in the law and procedure surrounding the prosecution of sexual offences more generally, co-editing a collection of papers on reform efforts in the context of Northern Ireland (Killean, Dowds and McAlinden, Sexual Offences on Trial, 2021).