Aisling Parkes is a Senior Lecturer in Law with specialist expertise in international children's rights, child law and Sports Law. She joined UCC School of Law in 2008. Aisling was appointed Special Rapporteur on Child Protection in 2026 by the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley. Aisling's work is multidisciplinary in nature as, in addition to her research and teaching in law, she maintains a strong interest in Applied Psychology, having recently completed a BA in Applied Psychology. She is a UCC law graduate, (BCL 2000; LLM 2001; PhD 2006; PGCTL 2009, PG Dip TL 2010, MATLHE 2011, MA in Applied Psychology (Coaching Psychology) 2015; BA in Applied Psychology 2020). Aisling is currently co-director and founder of the Sports Law Clinic at UCC. She is also the Disability Liaison Representative for the School, a role which together with that of Student Wellbeing Officer, she was awarded the UCC Frank McGrath Perpetual Award for Equality and Welfare in 2016. She was also the Evening BCL Programme Director until 2017. Aisling was awarded the UCC President's Award for Teaching Excellence in October 2014. Aisling's research interests lie in the areas of international children's rights, child development and psychology and in particular, the right of children to be heard (Article 12 CRC) and the rights of children with a parent in prison. Her research also engages with critical areas of child law (including child care proceedings in the district court and adoption), as well as international disability law and sports law. Aisling's publications and conference papers are of a national and international nature. Her book Children and International Human Rights Law: The Right of the Child to be Heard, was published by Routledge-Cavendish in 2013. 

In her daily work as an academic, Aisling enjoys researching and teaching in Children’s Rights, Child Law, International Disability Law, Sports Law and alternative dispute resolution processes from a children’s rights perspective (Mediation). She is also a member of a number of School of Law and College Committees as well as University Committees. At School level, Aisling is currently Chair of the Undergraduate committee, is Director of the BCL Pathways programme as well as Acting Director of the new LLM (ADR), a programme which she successfully led through the University approval process. At University level, she is a member of UCC Campus Watch Committee as well as the Lecturer Promotions and Establishment Board. Outside of UCC, Aisling is the Chief Examiner for a LLM course ‘International Rights of the Child’ run by University College London.  She has also served as the Chief internal examiner for the Final Examination – Part 1 - Law of Property for the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland since 2009.

Aisling’s book - Children and International Human Rights Law: The Right of the Child to be Heard was published by Routledge-Cavendish back in 2013 and focusses on the legal implementation internationally of the voice of the child including the right to freedom of expression. Aisling has also co-edited a book with Dr. Fiona Donson entitled: Parental Imprisonment and Children’s Rights (London: Routledge, 2021). In the past, Aisling was actively involved in the design and delivery of a training course on Article 12 UNCRC and listening to children to legal professionals and members of the judiciary across Europe. She is a founding member and co-director of the newly established Sports Law Clinic at the School of Law, UCC and she has been a member of the Child Law clinic.

At international level, Aisling participated in the Day of General Discussion hosted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva in 2006, the recommendations of which formed the basis for the General Comment on Article 12 CRC. She has also been involved with a number of research projects which have explored the extent to which Article 12 (the voice of the child) has been implemented in practice in Ireland. For example, she was part of a multi-disciplinary team which published peer-reviewed research for the Irish Department of Children and Youth Affairs which explored the extent to which Article 12 has been implemented in Irish homes, schools and communities (2015) https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstream/handle/10468/6826/20150617ExperienceParticipation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Aisling has also engaged in research as part of the Child Care Proceedings Research Group, UCC on the extent to which children are heard in child care proceedings in Ireland which has been published in a number of internationally peer reviewed journals including the Child and Family Law Quarterly, International Journal of Law Policy And The Family, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law(https://www.ucc.ie/en/appsoc/resconf/res/childcareproceedingsinthedistrictcourt2012-2019/).

Her publication record also includes international peer reviewed articles on other child law and children’s rights issues such as the rights of children with a parent in prison in well renowned legal and academic journals - Child Care in Practice, the Child and Family Law Quarterly, the UK Probation Journal and the Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution. Aisling also contributes to national journals such as the Irish Journal of Family Law and the Irish Law Times. Aisling actively contributes to media and public debate through newspaper articles, radio interviews as well as through regularly delivering papers at national and international conferences. She completed a research internship with UNICEF at the Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy in 2003.

Project: IRC 2012-13 - Seen and not heard? The lived realities of children and young people’s participation in Ireland in their homes, schools and communities ( )
Funding Body: Irish Research Council
Start/End Dates: 01-JAN-13 / 31-DEC-14 Award: €50,000.00 Project: Exploratory workshop - bringing together key experts on the rights of children with a parent in prison. ( R16243)
Funding Body: Irish Research Council
Start/End Dates: 01-MAR-15 / 30-NOV-15 Award: €4,960.00 Project: IRC"New Foundations Award 2014 Sports Law Clinic"Dr A Parkes [X] ( R16242)
Funding Body: Irish Research Council
Start/End Dates: 01-MAR-15 / 30-NOV-15 Award: €4,390.00 Project: IRC New Foundation Award 2014 The Rights of Children of Incarcerated Parents. ( R15567)
Funding Body: Irish Research Council
Start/End Dates: 15-MAR-14 / 15-DEC-14 Award: €5,452.00 Project: Adoption. ( R15583)
Funding Body: Irish Research Council
Start/End Dates: 15-MAR-14 / 30-NOV-14 Award: €6,000.00 Project: A research study to explore the experiences of victims/survivors of domestic violence and abuse, including Children, in custody and access proceedings in the Irish Family Law system. ( R22455)
Funding Body: Irish Funded Research
Start/End Dates: 15-JUN-24 / 12-NOV-24 Award: €3,000.00 Project: Department of Justice Tender for Research examining the operation of the in camera rule in the context of family law proceedings ( R22257)
Funding Body: Dept of Justice & Equality
Start/End Dates: 11-APR-24 / 30-MAY-25 Award: €38,683.00 Project: The Lived experience of Intercountry Adoption in Ireland for Children and their adoptive families: an exploratory study ( R22763)
Funding Body: Irish Funded Research
Start/End Dates: 29-OCT-24 / 10-JUN-25 Award: €8,529.00 Project: Silence in the courtroom, silence in the street? An exploratory study of women's experiences of the Irish family law system in parental separation and divorce ( )
Funding Body:
Start/End Dates: 01-APR-21 / 29-DEC-22 Award: €5,000.00 Project: Research report on guidance on contact time for infants and young children in separated families, ( )
Funding Body: Other: Not Listed
Start/End Dates: 15-DEC-21 / 15-DEC-22 Award: €30,000.00 Project: A research study to explore the experiences of victims/survivors of domestic violence and abuse, including Children, in custody and access proceedings in the Irish Family Law system. ( )
Funding Body: Other: Not Listed
Start/End Dates: 01-JUN-23 / 30-DEC-24 Award: €100,000.00