Sameer Rashid Bhat

Sameer Rashid Bhat is a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil / PhD) candidate in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. His doctoral research focuses on the interaction of legal regimes in armed conflicts and is supervised by Prof. Dapo Akande. He is a Rhodes Scholar (India & Linacre 2018) and a Clarendon Scholar. 

Before his DPhil, Sameer read for the MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy (2019-20) at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford and for the Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government. Prior to Oxford, he obtained an undergraduate degree in law from Gujarat National Law University, India and is qualified to practice law in India. 

Sameer was a Graduate Research Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, and the Blog Lead for Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR) where he previously served as the Chief Editor and Student Chairperson. He was Co-chairperson of Oxford Pro Bono Publico (OPBP) for 2020-21. In 2019, Sameer worked as a Research Assistant at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC), in the course of which, he authored a report on increasing accountability for crimes against children in armed conflicts. He also assisted Federica D’Alessandra, Executive Director of the Programme on International Peace and Security with research for her book on the intellectual contributions of Benjamin Ferencz in international criminal justice.

Sameer was also associated with the EURO-EXPERT Project, led by Prof Livia Holden at Oxford's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Paris Nanterre University. As a Research Assistant on the project, he worked on the use of cultural expertise in decision-making in and out of courts in Europe. He now works as a Consultant for the Project coordinating research on India. 

Sameer’s research interests include public international law, international humanitarian law, constitutional law, human rights, counterinsurgency policies and Kashmir studies.

Beyond his academic pursuits, Sameer takes keen interest in improving access to education and professional opportunities for individuals from marginalised communities. To this end, he founded Project EduAccess, a non-profit initiative with operations in South Asia. He tweets @sameeric.