Rakiya Farah

Rakiya Farah is a DPhil in Law Candidate, researching alternatives to consent in the definition of rape, and the case for an expanded sexual offences law in the UK. Her main focus is the concept of dignity and its potential as a central organising value. Rakiya is supervised by Professor Jonathan Herring. She is the grateful recipient of the Law Faculty's DPhil BAME Scholarship awarded in conjunction with Magdalen College. 

Prior to undertaking her DPhil, Rakiya completed the BCL with Distinction at Exeter College, Oxford. She holds a first-class BA in Law from the University of Cambridge, which she completed as a senior status student, receiving the St Edmund’s College Prize for her First. Hugely passionate about continuous, inter-disciplinary learning, Rakiya also has an MSc in Philosophy & Public Policy (double distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Additionally, she has an MA in Organisational Leadership, a PGDip in Journalism, and a BA in French that included a year at the Sorbonne - Paris IV. This diverse profile enabled her to secure a stage in the European Parliament, establishing a successful early career in strategic reputation consultancy in Europe and the Middle East, before making the transition to law.  

Rakiya’s main research interests are in sexual offences. She is also interested in humanistic AI ethics, alongside aspects of family law and children’s rights — particularly, gestational surrogacy and corporeal punishment. Her thesis on rape by means of identity deception is published in SpringerBriefs in Law: Rereading Identity Deception in the UK Sexual Offences Act 2003: Incorporating Personal Traits and Attributes. The book interrogates the meaning of identity deception in section 76(2)(b) of the 2003 Act, offering a novel argument that the section should be read to include qualitative, and not only numerical, identity. Alongside her work in sexual offences, Rakiya has written a chapter in an edited book, addressing themes of justice and forgiveness in the context of human conflict and suffering.