Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Colonies & Colonization, emigration & immigration, History, Human rights, International Law, Law

Research keywords:

nationality, statelessness, citizenship, legal identity, human rights, Africa, comparative law, post-colonial history, international law

Regions:

Africa

Summary of research interests and expertise:

Dr Bronwen Manby is Lecturer in International Human Rights Law at the School of Advanced Study. She is a leading authority on the right to a nationality and legal identity in international law and on comparative nationality law and statelessness in Africa. She has written on a wide range of human rights issues in Africa and in continental developments in human rights law.

Languages:

	Spoken	Written
French	Fluent	Good
Italian	Good	Intermediate

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
01-Aug-2025	Statelessness Chapters Chapter in the Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Migration and Asylum Law, edited by Vincent Chetail.
23-Jul-2025	Book Review: Sites of Statelessness: Laws, Cities, Seas. Edited by Ayse Çaglar, Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, and Ranabir Samaddar (SUNY Press, 2024) Review Book review in Perspectives on Politics (APSA)
01-Nov-2024	Litigating the Right to a Nationality: A Guide for Practitioners Papers This 90-page guide -- commissioned by the Open Society Justice Initiative and UNHCR -- is designed to support legal practitioners in advancing that goal. It reflects the collective experience of a dedicated community of practitioners who are committed to challenging statelessness through the courts, and was the subject of extensive consultation.The guide offers practical strategies for litigating nationality cases and emphasizes opportunities to deploy legal arguments from both national and international human rights standards, while taking into account the social and political complexities at national level.
28-Aug-2024	Schrödinger’s Citizenship: Framing Perspectives for the Resolution of Statelessness Articles Article in the Statelessness and Citizenship Review considering the importance of framing and choice of terminology in relation to statelessness, undetermined nationality and risks of statelessness. Open Access.
24-Jun-2024	The Governance of Digital Public Infrastructure: Beyond Technical Standards (blog post: Medium.com) Papers Blog post reflecting on the development and use of global standards in shaping digital identification systems, based on observations at the ID4Africa annual conference.
28-Apr-2024	Citizenship in Post-Independence Africa Chapters Chapter 57 in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Citizenship Studies, edited by Thomas Faist and Marisol García Cabeza, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024.
06-Mar-2024	A New Treaty on Statelessness and the Right to a Nationality in Africa (blog post, GLOBALCIT) Papers Blog post for the Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT), hosted by the European University Institute.
09-Oct-2023	Citizenship is a Right, Not a Political Tool (blog post: The Elephant) Papers Reflecting on exceptional naturalisation processes in Kenya. Co-authors: Dalle Abraham, Samantha Balaton-Chrimes, and Mustafa Mahmoud

Additional Publications

Research Projects & Supervisions

Available for doctoral supervision: Yes

Professional Affiliations

Professional affiliations:

Name	Activity
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion	Board member
Statelessness and Citizenship Review	Editorial board member
International Lawyers Project	Board chair

Collaborations:

Name	Type	Activity	Start date	End date
GLOBALCIT Global Citizenship Observatory, European University Institute		Africa coordinator, expert	2016

Consultancy & Media

Available for consultancy:

Yes

Media experience:

Yes

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