Megan McCloskey is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Law and Graduate Student Lecturer in the Law, Societies and Justice Department. Her research and advocacy are focused on assessing the effectiveness of international human rights law and development policy in recognizing and advancing the rights of women and girls with disabilities. With Stephen Meyers, Megan co-authored the leading global study on the prevention of and responses to gender-based violence against young people with disabilities and realization of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. (UNFPA, 2018) Megan is also a co-author of a 2018 research study (not publicly available) for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Catalina Devandas. The study served as a baseline assessment to inform a new system-wide action plan and accountability framework to promote disability inclusion within UN agencies, programs and funds system.

Megan practiced law for more than 10 years in Seattle before founding an NGO to provide research and advocacy support to women’s rights and anti-discrimination advocates worldwide.
She has written and presented on a variety of topics relating to the protection of women’s rights, including access to justice and legal responses to domestic violence in Viet Nam and the impact of women’s political leadership on development in Rwanda.

Megan holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan School of Law, an LL.M. in Sustainable International Development Law from the University of Washington Law School, and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.