Conor Gearty graduated in law from University College Dublin before moving to Wolfson College, Cambridge in 1980 to study for a PhD. He became a fellow of Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1983 and in 1990 he moved to the school of law at King’s College London where he became a professor in 1995.

He was Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights (2002-2009) and is Professor of human rights law in the LSE Law Department. He has published widely on terrorism, civil liberties and human rights. Conor is also a barrister and was a founder member of Matrix chambers from where he continues to practise.

He has been a frequent adviser to judges, practitioners and public authorities on the implications of the UK Human Rights Act, and has appeared in human rights cases in the House of Lords, the Court of Appeal and the High Court.

In 2012 he became Director of LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs and was responsible for a crowd-sourced UK Constitution, drafted in 2015 and available at constitutionuk.com. His next book On Fantasy Island. Britain, Europe and Human Rights is published by OUP in 2016.