Sheila Varadan is an Assistant Professor of Children’s Rights and Global Health in a joint appointment with the Department of Health and Child Law and the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL). Sheila is also part of the Leiden University Network for Health in Africa (LUNHA), an interdisciplinary research hub focusing on global health, based at the ASCL.

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Sheila lectures in the Advanced LLM on International Children’s Rights Law and coordinates the Privatissimum course in the Advanced LLM on European International Human Rights Law. Sheila also lectures in the Master of African Studies at the African Studies Centre Leiden.

Sheila Varadan is currently leading three research projects on global health and human rights. Her research explores the human rights implications of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on children and other vulnerable groups with a focus on Africa. In 2023, Sheila joined a global interdisciplinary working group on AMR, led by the University of Oxford (and funded by a £1.5 million grant from the British Academy) to explore a ‘Just Transition for AMR: An equitable and sustainable future with antimicrobial resistance’. Sheila is currently the project lead for Leiden University in IMPRIMA, an African-European research consortium (funded by the EU Horizons EDCTP-3, 2023 - 2027) working to mitigate the spread of antimalarial drug resistance in Africa. In 2024, Sheila received the Leiden starterbuerzen with Dr Katrien Klep to supervise a PhD project exploring a right to access to medicine for children, in the context of preventing and treating drug-resistant infections in Africa.

Sheila’s research in children’s rights focuses on the evolving capacities of the child and the role of parents and family in children’s exercise of rights under international law. In 2022, she successfully defended her PhD on Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: parental guidance and the evolving capacities of the child at Leiden University. Her work on the principle of evolving capacities has been cited widely, including by the European Court of Human Rights. Sheila co-authored the chapter on Article 5 with Professor John Tobin in the Oxford International Law Commentary on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Prior to doctoral studies, Sheila worked as a human rights lawyer for 15 years in Southeast Asia. She led projects on access to justice, rule of law and violence against women and children, working with civil society organizations, grassroots organizations and UN agencies. Sheila practiced briefly as a commercial and criminal lawyer in Ontario Canada after qualifying as a barrister/solicitor in 2004.

Studies

• PhD in Law (Leiden University, 2022)
• Master of Laws (Distinction, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, 2008)
• Juris Doctor (Distinction, McGill University, Canada, 2004)
• Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction, McGill University, Canada, 2004)
• (Hons) Bachelor of Arts (Distinction, University of Guelph, Canada, 2000)