Ciara Laverty is a PhD candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University. Her research examines the interests protected by international criminal acts and how they relate to the communicative function of the law. Ciara has been a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and holds an Advanced LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University, an MSc in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA from University College London. Prior to joining the Grotius Centre, Ciara was working as an Associate in the Protection of Civilian Population Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross.