Dr. Tanya Ní Mhuirthile
Dr Tanya Ní Mhuirthile is Associate Professor of Law and Head of the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. She joined DCU in 2015 following academic appointments at University College Cork and Griffith College. A graduate of University College Cork and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, she brings to her work a lifelong interest in the ways people make sense of themselves, their communities and the institutions that shape their lives.
Throughout her career, Tanya has sought to bridge the worlds of scholarship, public policy and lived experience. Whether working with students in the classroom, collaborating with community organisations, contributing to public debate or engaging with policymakers, she is interested in how ideas travel beyond universities and how research can contribute to more thoughtful, inclusive and humane responses to complex social challenges.
Alongside her research, Tanya is deeply committed to higher education as a collaborative and public endeavour. She has extensive experience in teaching, curriculum development, research leadership and academic governance, and is particularly interested in creating supportive academic environments in which students, researchers and colleagues can flourish. As Head of School, she provides strategic, academic and operational leadership for one of Ireland's largest interdisciplinary schools of law and political science, fostering a culture that combines intellectual ambition with collegiality, inclusion and public engagement. Alongside her own scholarship, she is passionate about supporting the development of ambitious and inclusive research cultures and creating environments in which researchers at all career stages can thrive.
Much of her work has involved collaboration with government bodies, international organisations, civil society groups and community partners. She has a particular interest in evidence-informed policy development and in ensuring that research can contribute meaningfully to public debate and decision-making. She values research that is rigorous, accessible and useful, and is committed to ensuring that universities remain places where knowledge is created in dialogue with the wider society they serve.
Her teaching spans legal systems, equity, trusts, law, health, identity, the body and society, and legislative drafting. She supervises research at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level and is passionate about supporting students to develop confidence as independent thinkers, researchers and citizens.
Research Interests
Tanya's research is driven by a longstanding interest in the relationship between law, the body and lived experience. She explores how legal, medical and administrative systems shape people's lives, identities, relationships and opportunities, and how law can both enable and constrain human dignity, autonomy and wellbeing.
Working at the intersection of human rights law, medical and health law, socio-legal studies, gender and sexuality, and feminist legal theory, her research examines how law responds to human diversity and difference. Much of her work focuses on questions of embodiment, healthcare, legal identity, equality and inclusion, with particular expertise in intersex rights, gender recognition and bodily autonomy.
A defining feature of Tanya's research is its commitment to listening carefully to the experiences of those most directly affected by law and policy. This approach has enabled her to work at the interface of scholarship, policy and civil society, translating research findings into legislative, policy and institutional change in Ireland and internationally. She combines doctrinal legal analysis with empirical and community-engaged research, working collaboratively with community organisations, policymakers, healthcare professionals and civil society partners. Through this approach, she seeks not only to understand how law operates in practice but also to contribute to more thoughtful, humane and effective legal and policy responses.
Her work has informed legislative and policy development in Ireland and internationally, including in the areas of gender recognition, equality, healthcare and human rights. She has also been appointed to expert advisory and drafting roles by both the Irish Government and the Council of Europe. These appointments reflect the influence of her research beyond the university sector and the wider academic community.
At its heart, however, her research is concerned with a simple but important question: how can law better support people to live lives of dignity, recognition and flourishing?
Research interests: Human rights law; medical law; health law; socio-legal studies; intersex rights; gender recognition; gender and sexuality; feminist legal theory; bodily autonomy; law and healthcare; law and wellbeing; equality law; legal identity; public policy; community-engaged research; legal reform; law and society.
Teaching Interests
Tanya is passionate about creating learning environments that are intellectually rigorous, inclusive and engaging. She believes that legal education should do more than introduce students to legal rules and institutions. It should encourage curiosity, critical thinking and reflection, while equipping students with the skills and confidence to engage with the complex social, ethical and policy questions that law raises.
Her teaching is research-led and research-informed, drawing on her scholarship while helping students connect legal doctrine to contemporary social issues and lived experience. She is particularly interested in student-centred learning, authentic assessment, research supervision and legal education as a space for dialogue, exploration and intellectual growth.
Tanya teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate subjects, including legal systems, legal research, equity and trusts, law, health, identity, the body and society, and legislative drafting. Her broader teaching interests include human rights law, medical and health law, law and society, gender and sexuality, public policy, legal theory and socio-legal research methods.
Alongside her disciplinary teaching, Tanya has a strong interest in curriculum design, academic leadership and the enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Training and Education (QQI) and was awarded Senior Fellowship of Advance HE in 2026 in recognition of her sustained leadership and influence in teaching, learning and academic development.
She particularly enjoys supporting students and researchers at all stages of their academic journey and values education as a collaborative process through which students develop not only knowledge and skills, but also confidence, independence and a deeper understanding of the world around them.
Funding Highlights
Tanya has a strong track record of securing and leading nationally and internationally competitive research projects and research collaborations. Her funded research brings together law, health, human rights, public policy and the social sciences through interdisciplinary and international collaborations that combine academic excellence with meaningful social impact.
As Principal Investigator, she led the Intersex Mapping Study: Mapping the Lived Experiences of Intersex/Variations of Sex Characteristics in Ireland, funded through the Irish Research Council's Coalesce Programme (€199,997.60). This landmark project was the first national study of intersex lived experience in Ireland and brought together researchers, healthcare professionals and community partners to develop an evidence base capable of informing law, policy and professional practice.
Tanya has also played a leading role in major European research collaborations. She was the Dublin City University lead for INIA: Intersex New Interdisciplinary Approaches, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network with total funding of €2.7 million. Bringing together universities, researchers and community organisations from across Europe, the project advanced interdisciplinary understanding of intersex lives through collaborations spanning law, healthcare, ethics, social science and public policy.
As institutional lead for the project at DCU, Tanya successfully secured an additional Marie Skłodowska-Curie Special Needs Lump Sum Allowance award (€51,168.75) to support the participation of a researcher within the network. The funding was awarded to provide reasonable supports that would enable the researcher to engage more fully in the project and reflects Tanya's commitment to inclusive research practices and equitable participation in research environments.
She also served as mentor to Dr Marta Prandelli, Principal Investigator of CHRISALIS: Cultural Heritage and Religion Impact on Social Acceptance and Lives of the InterSex (€215,534.40), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie funded Individual Fellowship exploring the social, cultural and legal dimensions of intersex lives across Europe. Through this role, she provided academic mentorship while contributing her expertise to a wider programme of international and interdisciplinary scholarship.
In addition, Tanya has secured support from Enterprise Ireland to strengthen international research collaboration, disseminate research findings and build international partnerships.
Collectively, Tanya has secured funding as Principal Investigator, led institutional participation in major European research networks, and contributed to collaborative research programmes with a combined value exceeding €3 million. Her funded research reflects a longstanding commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, international partnership, researcher development and research that contributes both to scholarly knowledge and to wider social understanding, policy development and social change.