Dr. Rumyana van Ark (née Grozdanova) is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and International Law at the T.M.C. Asser Institute within the Research Strand ‘Human Dignity and Human Security’. Her work focuses on the impact of counter-terrorism measures on the individual terror suspect and the long-term implications for the rule of law.
Dr. Rumyana holds a PhD in Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism from the University of Durham, a LLM in Criminology and Criminal Justice by University College Dublin and a BA (Hons.) Legal Studies with Business by Nottingham Trent University.
Between September 2014 and April 2018, she was a Lecturer (the equivalent of an Assistant Professor) in the University of Liverpool Law School where she taught and coordinated two research-led Year 3 undergraduate courses (Security, Conflict and the Law and Introduction to the Law of the ECHR) and a core LLM module on International Peace and Security. She also coordinated all the Year 3 undergraduate dissertation modules. During the 2015/2016 academic year, she was nominated for the LawCareers.Net Lecturer of the Year Award. During her PhD studies at Durham Law School, Rumyana was a Tutor in European Constitutional Law. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and holds a Certificate in Professional Studies in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.
Her research interests include International and European Human Rights, Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and Constitutionalism, States of Emergency, Legal and Political Theory and International Law or more specifically, the relationship between the individual (terror suspect) and the state following acts of terrorism. I am interested in the impact of domestic and international counter-terrorism measures and national security policies on the individual, the rule of law and state accountability. I am currently exploring the increasing normalisation of secret or closed evidence within counter-terrorism cases and the impact on the rule of law and individual human rights and dignity.
