Dr Demetra Loizou

Dr Demetra Loizou is a Lecturer in International Criminal Law and Skills at the University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus). Demetra is also a licenced legal professional, admitted to the Cyprus Bar Association in 2008.

Demetra holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Bristol, an LLM in International Law from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. In her doctoral thesis, she explored the establishment and early jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court, focusing on the substantive law-making potential of the Court. Her main areas of expertise are international criminal law, international humanitarian law and human rights law. Her current research interests include human trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence and children in armed conflict, with a particular focus on child soldiers. Demetra has been publishing and presenting her research at conferences in both Cyprus and abroad. As a practising lawyer, Demetra specialises in corporate law, shipping law, family law, and migration. She also has a keen interest in election observation and social mediation and has undertaken specialised training with respect to both. She completed the HREA Election Observation e-learning course and attended ICLAIM’s pilot two-day workshop on ‘Social Mediation in Practice’.

In addition to her professional experience as a practising lawyer, Demetra has also worked for the International Criminal Court (Visiting Professional), the European Commission (Short-Term Election Observer) and Aegis Trust (Banyan SOAS Advocate). Currently, she is a Contributor to the online database ‘Oxford International Organizations’ (Oxford University Press). Furthermore, she is the Cyprus expert on the ongoing EU project ‘EU-En4s’. Between 2018-2019, Demetra was also a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at SOAS.