Janina is the Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security at the Blavatnik School of Government. She is a Fellow at Trinity College and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict (ELAC). Her research concerns the role of law and morality in international relations, specifically in war. She focuses on three strands of work.

First, Janina writes about the legal requirements for the conduct of military operations, speaking to debates on International Law on the use of force and International Humanitarian Law.

Second, she develops theories about how international law can be an instrument of morality in war, albeit an imperfect one. This work contributes to debates in just war theory and jurisprudence.

Third, Janina explains how moral and legal norms affect the reality of war. She investigates the capacity of law to constrain military decision-making, how norms shape public opinion and the attitudes of conflict-affected populations i.e. in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iraq.

In 2021, Janina won a Philip Leverhulme Prize for researchers "whose work has had international impact and whose future research career is exceptionally promising." She is using the prize to conduct research on decision-making in war. From 2024-2026, Janina is working on a three-year project entitled "Cumulative Civilian Harm: Addressing the Hidden Human Cost of the Law's Blind Spot", which is funded by a joint grant from the ESRC and the National Science Foundation.

In 2025-2026 she is also co-leading an expert process co-organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) regarding the concept of military objective under IHL.

Janina is frequently asked to speak in the media on laws and ethics of war. Please see her Media page for details.