Dr Ayesha Shahid is an Assistant Professor at Coventry Law School, Coventry University. Prior to joining Coventry University, Ayesha was Law lecturer at Brunel University and University of Hull, UK. She has also held full-time and part-time lectureships at Faculty of Law, University of Peshawar, Pakistan and University of Warwick, UK. Ayesha has extensive and varied experience of teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has designed and developed a number of innovative courses and modules in law. Ayesha presently leads the posgraduate International Organisations and Development Law module, Research Design Module, and undergraduate Islamic Law module.

 Ayesha's teaching and research interests are in the area of International Human Rights Law, Islamic Family Law, Gender and the Law and Public International Law. Her monograph titled, Silent Voices, Untold Stories Women Domestic Workers and their Struggle for Empowerment has been published by the Oxford University Press. Ayesha has recently co-edited a book,  International Law and Islam, Historical Explorations, Brill 2018. Ayesha has published articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters in edited collections and has received external research grants as Principal investigator and Co-Investigator from the UKCLE,  Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law, Philip Reckett Foundation, Asia Foundation, International Labor Organization, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. Ayesha was appointed as national consultant(2017-2019) for the ‘Family and Child Law’,  research project, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law, Hamburg, Germany.

As Co-Editor in Chief of the Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law(AYBHRHL), Ayesha leads the publication of the AYBHRHL and organizes the annual AYBHRHL conference. She is also the Associate Editor of the Manchester Journal of Transnational Islamic Law and State Practice,  Editor LUMS Law Journal and former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Islamic State Practices in International Law.

 In 2016-2017, Ayesha was awarded  research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law. In 2002, Ayesha received the prestigious Warwick Postgraduate Research Fellowship Award to pursue her doctoral study. She has twice been the recipient of International Research Fellowship Award, Center for Human Rights, Columbia University (2000 and 2002). Ayesha also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in teaching ‘Human Rights Law’, from Columbia University, USA. 

Ayesha is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In addition, she is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars, Socio-legal Studies Association, and Association of Law Teachers.

Books

• Shahid, A. (2010) Silent Voices, Untold Stories: Women Domestic Workers in Pakistan and their Struggle for Empowerment, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-547730-6.  246 pages.
• De La Rasilla, I. and Shahid, A. (2018) International Law and Islam: Historical Explorations, Brill Publishers.
• Rehman, J. and Shahid, A. (2017-2018) (ed) Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Volumes I, II and III. Brill Publishers.

Selected Book Chapters 

Shahid A and Khan, I. (2019) “Country Report on Establishing Child filiation in Pakistan” in N,Yassari et al,  Filiation and Protection of Parentless Children: Towards a Social Definition of the Family in Muslim Jurisdictions. Asser Press.

•   Shahid, A. (2018) “An Exploration of the ‘Global’ History of International Law: Some Perspectives from within the Islamic Legal Traditions”, in Ignacio De La Rasilla and Ayesha Shahid, International Law and Islam: Historical Explorations, Brill Publishers.
• Shahid, A. Khan, I.(2017) “The Application of the Best Interest of the Child Principle in Custody and Guardianship Cases in Pakistan” in  N. Yassari et al, Parental Care and the Best Interests of the Child in Muslim Countries. TMC Asser Press, pp169-204.
• Shahid, A. (2015) “Migrant Filipino Domestic Workers in Pakistan; Agency, Rights and the Limits of the Law”in Siobhan Mullally, Care, Migration and Human Rights: Law and Practice, Routledge, pp150-170.
• Rehman, J and Shahid, A. (2010) ‘Sharia and Application of Human Rights Norms of Equality and Non Discrimination in the Family: A Case Study of Family Law in Pakistan'. In:  Hatem Elliesie  (Ed.) Menschenrechte und Islam / Islam and Human Rights (Jubilee Edition of the  German Association of Arabic and Islamic Law) Peter, Lang Publishing Group, New York, Berlin,  Oxford. Pp361-386
• Ali, S.S. and Shahid, A. (2006) “Women, Law and Empowerment: Securing Equal Rights for Women in the Workplace: A Case-Study of Women and Employment in Pakistan)” in Paul Crick (ed.,) Our Freedoms: A Decades Reflection on the Advancement of Human Rights. International Bar Association. pp175-193

Selected Journal Articles

• Shaheen Sardar Ali, Justin Jones & Ayesha Shahid,(2020) “To register or not to register? Reflections on Muslim marriage practices in Britain” Jahrbuch islamisches Recht (Yearbook Islamic Law), C.H. Beck Munich publishers.(Accepted for publication)
•  Shahid, A. (2018) "Post-Divorce Maintenance Rights for Muslim Women in Pakistan and Iran: Making the Case for Law Reform" Muslim World Journal of Human Rights (MWJHR).  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mwjhr-2018-0004
• Shahid, A. (2013) “Post-Divorce Maintenance for Muslim Women in Pakistan and Bangladesh: A Comparative Perspective” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. Issue 2, pp197-215.
• Shahid, A. (2010) " For the Sake of Justice:  Protecting Divorced Women’s Rights in Pakistan by Re-Examining the Sharia Principle of Mutat (Post-Divorce Maintenance)”, Journal of Islamic State Practices in International Law, Volume 6, Issue 1.
• Shahid, A. (2009) "The Socio-Legal Implications of Women’s Work in the Informal Sector: A Case Study of Women Domestic Workers in Pakistan, (1) Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal (LGD).

International Human Rights Law, Islamic Law, Gender and the Law

PhD Supervisions as First Supervisor(DOS) and Second Supervisor

Abdullah Al Mutairi (2017) Protecting the Rights of Foreign LowSkilled Workers in Saudi Arabia: A Case for Law reform

Humaid Al Bannai (2018) Combating Trafficking of Women in the United Arab Emerates: A Critical Analysis of UAE's Legal Response in the Context of International Law

Sharmin Chaudary Hamvas (2017)The Race Equality Directive is it effective in ensuring the Rights of Roma Community : A case study of Hungary

Ali Al Matroushi A (2018) ACritical Evaluation of combating Child Sexual Abuse in the UAE and the limitations of International Law

Wilson Diriwari((2016) Efficacy of the Legal Frameworks for Child Protection in Nigeria

Currently Supervising

Mahmood Masoud Freedom of Speech and Islam: Is there a Possibility of Reconciliation between Islamic and Human Rights Law?

Aminu Abbass, Soverign Debt Condition and people's Right to Self Determination

Oluwatobiloba Oyefeso, Child Corporal Punishments; A Case Study of Nigeria

Recent Research Projects

• 2017-2020:  Co Organiser of the Asian Yearbook's three Intrnational conferences.Brill-Nijhoff(£1500), BIICL(£8000) and internal grant(£9,500) 

• 2018-2019: Co-Researcher, To Register or Not to Register: Muslim Marriage perceptions in the UK, University of Warwick.(£3500) 

• 2017-2019: National Consultant and Member Working Group on Child Law in Muslim Countries Second Project: Establishing Filiation: Towards a social definition of the family in Islamic and Middle Eastern Law? (£1000)

• 2015-2017: National CoOrdinator,‘Best Interest of the Child Principle in Custody and Guardianship Cases in Muslim Countries’ Project, Max Planck Institute International and Comparative Family Law, Hamburg, Germany.(£1000)

• 2016-2017: International Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law(£3,600)

• 2014- 2015: “Islamic Law and Human Rights” Oxford University Annotated Bibliography for International Law section, Oxford Annotated Online Bibliographies.(£1000)                       

• 2010 to 2011: Research Project, ‘Filipino Domestic Workers in Pakistan’ funded by Sir Philip Reckitt Educational Trust.(£300)

 External Positions

External PhD Examiner, University of Hull

External PhD Examiner, University of Hertfordshire

External Examiner Taught Programmes, University of Sussex

External Supervisor, University of Aberdeen

International Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute of Comparative and Private International Law