Dr Vera Pavlou
- Senior Lecturer (School of Law)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0048-0799Biography
Vera joined the Law School in 2018, having previously held postdoctoral positions at Goethe University in Germany and at the University of Castilla-la Mancha in Spain. She earned a PhD in Law from the European University Institute with a thesis on migrant domestic workers. Vera’s doctoral thesis was awarded the 2017 Mauro Cappelletti prize for the best thesis in comparative law. Her doctoral work formed the basis of a monograph, ‘Migrant domestic workers in Europe: law and the construction of vulnerability’, published with Hart Publishing in late 2021. Reviews of Vera’s monograph were published in the Modern Law Review, the Industrial Law Journal, the Common Market Law Review and the Giornale di diritto del lavoro e di relazioni industriali.
Vera also holds an MA in Human Rights from the European Inter-University Centre in Venice and a Degree in Law from the University of Athens.
Since 2019, Vera has been a member of the European Equality Law Network which provides independent legal advice to the European Commission on issues relating to gender equality and the implementation of the EU gender equality acquis. In 2023 Vera co-led a large study on women’s representation in political decision-making for the European Commission.
Vera is currently the School’s Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research.
Research interests
Vera’s research focuses on labour law, labour migration, gender equality and feminist approaches to work. Her extensive research on migrant domestic workers examined the role of different legal regimes in producing vulnerability to exploitation, as well as the potential law offers to marginalised workers for resistance and transformative legal change.
Currently, Vera is involved in a collaborative project that examines the impacts of green capitalism on workers and their communities.
Grants
In 2024 £20,000 from the Glasgow Centre for International Development Small Grants Fund for the project “Green Precarity” (with Dr Giedre Jokubauskaite)
In 2023 EUR 7,500 from the Autonomous University of Madrid to fund 3-month research stay (declined)
In 2019 £1,250 from the John Robertson Bequest for the project “The role of ILO Convention C.189 on decent work for domestic workers as a law reform and mobilisation tool”
In 2017 EUR 12,000 from the University of Castilla-la Mancha to fund a research stay
Supervision
Vera is interested in supervising postgraduate research students in her areas of expertise. Current students under supervision include:
- Deng, Jiaheng
Protection of the Rights of Female Migrant Domestic Workers and Child Labourers--Two Sides of the Same Coin - Saddington, Neil
Algorithmic Management: A proposed method for navigating a contested domain - Zhang, Qingqin
Workplace surveillance and protecting of worker’s privacy in the UK and China
Teaching
Vera currently convenes and teaches Labour Law (level 2) and Migration and Work (honours).
She also teaches Politics of Labour Law (honours). Past teaching includes EU Law and Comparative Labour Law.
