Viktoriia Hamaiunova is a Research Officer at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice at the Blavatnik School of Government. Viktoriia contributes to research papers, briefings, and policy-facing outputs on AI governance and human-rights-aligned approaches to technology in justice systems. Her work includes developing, curating, and analysing datasets on the use and regulation of AI; mapping jurisdictional and institutional approaches to technology-and-justice initiatives; and supporting the systematisation of human-rights jurisprudence for comparative and global repositories aimed at strengthening fair-trial and access-to-justice outcomes. She also contributes to workshops and dissemination activities that connect legal, technical, and policy communities.

She is a socio-legal researcher specialising in human rights and procedural justice, with a particular emphasis on the right to a fair trial, and in alternative dispute resolution —especially mediation. Her work examines how justice systems design procedural safeguards, how those safeguards operate in practice, and how they can be protected as legal institutions adopt digital tools and AI-supported decision-making. A central theme in Viktoriia’s research is the relationship between formal procedural rules and the practical conditions under which they function. She is interested in how organisational routines, professional norms, institutional incentives, and broader legal culture shape fairness, party autonomy, transparency, and meaningful access to justice.

Viktoriia combines doctrinal legal analysis and structured comparative research with empirical qualitative and quantitative methods, and she has substantial experience working in interdisciplinary research environments. Her empirical work includes designing and implementing semi-structured interviews with judicial and legal actors, qualitative data management and coding, and quantitative analysis of survey datasets using statistical software. She has contributed to mixed-methods research in higher education EDI practice and policy and to policy-facing work on technology security, translating complex legal standards into evidence-informed analytical frameworks.

Viktoriia has previously held research positions at the European Court of Human Rights and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, and has contributed to policy-facing and academic publications on mediation, human rights, and institutional reform. She is Co-Editor at Mediation Theory and Practice (Journal of the College of Mediators).

Viktoriia is completing a PhD in Law at Newcastle University. Her doctoral research analyses how the right to a fair trial is affected by the integration of mediation into civil justice. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has teaching and assessment experience in UK higher education across ADR, international law, and human rights.