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Profile
Yijia Liu recently completed her PhD in Law at Queen Mary University of London under the supervision of Dr Hedi Viterbo and Professor Neve Gordon. Her doctoral research offers a critical re-examination of international child abduction law through archival, comparative, and genealogical methods. She will join Peking University as a Boya Postdoctoral Research Fellow in October 2026.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of child and family law, international law, and legal theory. Her work explores children's rights, family mobility, and how legal institutions shape childhood and family relationships across borders.
Yijia is the recipient of the Modern Law Review Helen Reece Scholarship (2025–2026). She holds an LLM in Public International Law from the University of Amsterdam and a Juris Master from Peking University.
Research
Publications
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Yijia Liu, ‘The Best Interests of the State: How Racialised Fear Steered the Hague Child Abduction Convention Away From Children’s Interests’ (2025) Social & Legal Studies (Online first) <https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639251384275>
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Yijia Liu, ‘Criminalisation as a Tool of Child Repatriation: A Critical Comparison of the Hague Child Abduction Convention and International Refugee Law’ (2026) International Journal of Children’s Rights (Online first) <https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-20262012>
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Yijia Liu, ‘Review of Childhood in Liberal Theories: Equality, Differences, and Children’s Rights by Nicolás Brando’ (2025) 37 Child and Family Law Quarterly 311.