Dr Mohammad (Shahab) Shahabuddin

• PhD (London)
• MA (Yokohama)
• LLM (Dhaka) Gold medallist
• LLB Hons. (Dhaka)

Shahab joined Birmingham Law School as a Senior Lecturer in September 2016. Prior to joining Birmingham, he served Keele University as a Lecturer in Law, Yokohama National University as a Visiting Professor of International Law, and Jahangirnagar University as the founding chair of its Department of Law and Justice. He is a Faculty Member for Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) Workshop since 2013.

Shahab completed his PhD in law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is the author of Ethnicity and International Law: Histories, Politics, and Practices (Cambridge University Press, 2016). He is currently working on a new book project – Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021) – under the Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.

Shahab is happy to supervise postgraduate research students in the areas of International Law and International Human Rights Law. He has specific interest in supervising PhD students in the field of international legal history, international legal theory, third world approaches to international law, ethnic minority rights and ethnic conflicts, and right to self-determination.

Find out more - our PhD Law  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Shahab’s research is a part of a vibrant line of critical historical projects, in which the assumptions inherent in international law’s conceptual foundations are being scrutinised. His research interests include legal theory, international legal history, international human rights law, international law of minority rights, international law of ethnic conflicts, postcolonialism and law, and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL).

In recent years, he has received a number of research grants including the Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (2018-2020), the British Academy Writing Workshops Grant (2018), Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) Research Grant (2015), Brown University’s Brown International Advanced Research Institute (BIARI) Grants (2016) and the Japan Foundation Fellowship (2016).

In addition to academic research, he is also actively involved in policy work. He worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh as its National Consultant in 2011/12 to conduct compliance studies on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). These study reports have been published by the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh. 

For Shahab’s research updates, follow him on Twitter @MShahabuddin77