Stephen Knight

DPhil Socio-Legal Studies (Part-time)

Other affiliations

Wolfson College

Biography

Stephen's research explores the application of international humanitarian law by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria ("the DAANES"). The DAANES is a unique non-state democracy which emerged from the Syrian Civil War, based on the principles of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, and which claims to comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights standards.

Stephen also practises as a barrister at One Pump Court Chambers, specialising in the interactions between criminal law, protest law, immigration law, and public law.

Within the field of law Stephen's research interests span international humanitarian law, human rights law, criminal law, terrorism law, and trafficking law. Outside of the field of law Stephen's research looks at the interaction between mythology and political movements.

Stephen has forthcoming works in the fields of trafficking law and Kurdish mythology.

Publications

Journal article

Knight S, ‘The Trafficking Defence in Criminal Law: Nexus and Compulsion’ (2023) 87(3) The Journal of Criminal Law 192
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Knight S, ‘Libertarian Critiques of Consent in Sexual Offences’ [2011] UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence
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Chapter

Knight S, ‘Gender, militarism and mythology in the Kurdish Freedom Movement’, Governance of Resistance in North and East Syria The Experience of Rojava (I.B. Tauris 2025)

Knight S and Schulz J, ‘Gender, militarism and mythology in the Kurdish Freedom Movement’, Governance of Resistance in North and East Syria the Experience of Rojava (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2025)
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Research projects & programmes

Centre for Socio-Legal Studies