Dr Sorcha MacLeod is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI) in the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. She is Principal Investigator of the MERCURY project 'Mercenarism and the Accountability Void: Finding routes to accountability and remedy for the victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by mercenaries' funded by a €2M, 5-year ERC Consolidator Grant. She specialises in business, human rights and security, in particular the human rights impacts and regulation of Private Military and Security Companies and mercenaries.

She was a Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellow and Associate Professor in CEPRI 2019-2022 for her project RESpECT 'Public Actions, Private Rules at the Margins: Ensuring Respect for Human Rights by Private Security Companies.' She holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow, UK, and an LLM in International Natural Resources Law and LLB (Hons) in Scots Law from the University of Dundee, UK.

Sorcha is an experienced teacher and postgraduate supervisor in international human rights law, business and human rights, private military and security companies, mercenaries and the privatisation of war. She joined CEPRI in October 2019 from Berlin, Germany where she taught at the Hertie School of Governance and Free University Berlin, including courses in: International Human Rights Law; Human Rights, Business and Gender; and Privatisation of War. Prior to that, she was a lecturer in international human rights law, public international law and international legal theory at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, UK. 

Between 2018-24 she was a member of the United Nations Working Group on the use of Mercenaries under the Human Rights Council's Special Procedures. She is an Adjunct at the Centre for Fundamental Rights, Hertie School Berlin and a Visiting Fellow at DCAF - Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance.

She is an invited expert to the UN Open-ended Inter-governmental Working Group on private military and security companies and participated in the drafting of the Montreux Document on private military and security companies and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers. She has Observer Status at the International Code of Conduct Association. In 2022 she was invited to become a member of ICoCA’s academic expert Advisory Group on responsible security. She advises governments, industry and civil society organisations on business, human rights, and security issues.

Research Projects

2024-29 ERC Consolidator Grant, 'MERCURY - Mercenarism and the Accountability Void: Finding routes to accountability and remedy for the victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by mercenaries.' 5 year project, €2M (PI) (MERCURY)

2023-24 NATO Science for Peace and Security Advanced Research Workshop, 'Addressing systemic legal and policy challenges of mercenaries and related actors in contemporary armed conflicts: Beyond the Wagner Group' in collaboration with DCAF-Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. 50 multistakeholder participants from NATO Member States, academia, international organisations, and civil society. (PI)

2019-22 Marie Skłodowska Curie Action IF 'RESpECT - Public Actions, Private Rules at the Margins: Ensuring Respect for Human Rights by Private Security Companies' (PI) (RESpECT)

2013 – 16 UK Economic and Social Research Council Seminar Series, ‘From Rhetoric to Practice: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ (PI)

2014 – 15 Innovation, Impact and Knowledge (IIKE) Collaborative Research and Development Partnership Award, 'Socialisation and Internalisation of Human Rights in Private Military and Security Companies,' University of Sheffield (PI)

2008 – 11 EU FP7, 'PRIV-WAR: Regulating Privatisation of ‘War’: the Role of the EU in Assuring Compliance with International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights,' (CI)

• Mercenaries
• Private military and security companies
• Privatisation of war
• Business and human rights
• International human rights law
• Human rights and gender

Education

PhD, University of Glasgow (UK)

LLM in International Natural Resources Law and Policy, Centre for Petroleum & Mineral Law & Policy, University of Dundee (UK). Recipient of the Petroleum and Mineral Law Education Trust LLM Scholarship.

Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Dundee (UK)

LLB (Hons), University of Dundee (UK)

Employment

2019-22 University of Copenhagen (DK) MSCA Individual Fellow and Associate Professor

2018-to date Hertie School Berlin (DE) Adjunct

2016-19 Free University Berlin (DE) Visiting Professor

2001-16 University of Sheffield (UK) Lecturer in Law