Melina Otifeh

Melina Otifeh is a DPhil Candidate in Law at Merton College. Her research and writing interests are broadly within International Child Law, Private/ Public International Law, and Artificial Intelligence and the Law. Her doctoral project, supervised by Professor Rachel Taylor and Professor Jonathan Herring, focuses on intercountry adoption. 

She graduated with a dual-qualifying (Scots and English Law) LLB from the University of Aberdeen (First Class Honours, 1st in cohort), where she was awarded three academic prizes: (i)The Cruickshank Law Prize- Best Honours Graduate, (ii) The Captain Michael Ranjit Memorial Scholarship, for her commitment to law through extra-curricular activities, and (iii) The Jonathan Fitchen Private International Law Dissertation Prize for the best thesis on a Private International Law subject. 

Before commencing the DPhil, Melina completed an LLM in Public International Law (Distinction) and the BCL at Brasenose College, Oxford (Distinction). She was awarded the Law Faculty Prize for the best performance in the Family Law module, 'Regulating Relationships: Violence and Intimacy,' and the Brasenose College Prize. 
 

Publications: 

• M Otifeh, ‘A Critical Analysis on Whether the Islamic Republic of Iran Should Accede to the 1980 Hague Convention’ (2024) 2 IFLJ. 

   

Blog contributions: 

• M Otifeh, 'Female Genital Mutilation and the UK's Approach to Tackling it' (Human Rights Pulse, 2022). 
• M Otifeh, 'Menopause and the Law in the UK' (Human Rights Pulse, 2022).