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Dr. Ayla do Vale Alves serves as a Lecturer in Law at Adelaide University's School of Law within the College of Business and Law, a position she has held since 2023. Her academic journey includes a PhD in Law from the University of New South Wales (Sydney, 2023), an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom, 2018), and a Bachelor of Laws from the State University of Feira de Santana (Brazil, 2017). She is registered as a lawyer with the Brazilian Bar Association. Previously, she worked as a Teaching Fellow at UNSW Sydney from 2021 to 2023, Research Assistant at both the University of Technology Sydney and UNSW Sydney during overlapping periods from 2019 to 2023, and as a Judicial Clerk, known as a Study Visitor, at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg from 2020 to 2021. Ayla has gained legal experience across Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Portugal, and France.
Dr. do Vale Alves's research interests span international law, human rights law, cultural heritage law, rights of Indigenous Peoples including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law, Latin American legal developments, conflict of laws, public international law, law and society, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the rights of the family. She currently coordinates the Latin America and the Caribbean Chapter of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies and is a Board Member of the Human Rights Law Interest Group of the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law. She formerly co-edited the American Society of International Law's Rights of Indigenous Peoples Interest Group Newsletter. Her teaching portfolio at Adelaide University includes courses such as LAWS 3076 Human Rights Law, LAWS 3086 Law, Land and Peoples, LAWS 1025 Intercultural Communication, Interviewing and Negotiation, and LAWS 1032 Torts. Notable publications include 'Enforcing International Judgments Domestically: The Case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' co-authored with Lucas Lixinski (Brill, 2025), 'Children’s Religious Identity in Adoption: The Need to Recentre the Child’s Best Interest in International Human Rights Adjudication' (Human Rights Law Review, 2023), and forthcoming works such as 'Cultural Heritage Rights and Indigenous Peoples' in the Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Peoples and International Law (Oxford University Press, 2025). Proficient in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish (Latin American), she is eligible to co-supervise Master's and PhD students and is available for media comment.
