Professor Olga Martin-Ortega Law Degree (Spain), LLM, PhD

Professor Martin-Ortega’s main research areas are in the field of Public International Law. In particular she researches on business and human rights, sustainable public procurement, post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice and international criminal law. In the area of business and human rights her research has considered the roles and responsibilities of multinational corporations, with regards to the protection and respect of human rights and the tools available in International law to hold them to account when they participate in human rights violations. She has worked extensively on human rights in global supply chains, with specific focus on the electronics industry and on the development of transparency and human rights due diligence standards. Her latest research focuses on the roles and responsibilities of public buyers with regards to human rights in public supply chains. In the context of this work she advices public buyers, local authorities, governmental bodies and international organisations.

Professor Martin-Ortega’s research has also included work on post-conflict reconstruction and justice after mass atrocities committed during armed conflicts. She has focused on the relationship between peacebuilding, the rule of law and transitional justice. In particular she has led a project considering the role of hybrid tribunals in prosecuting war crimes after conflict and their contribution to the rebuilding of the rule of law funded by the British Academy.  She has also participated in projects on peacebuilding and transitional justice, with special emphasis on Africa (funded by British Academy Large Grant; US Institute for Peace; EU VII Framework Project Collaborative Grant), and conducted research on impunity and memory in Spain (funded by Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation and Catalan Government). She is currently working with Professor Steven Haines on training military personnel on the protection of education during conflict and dissemination of the Safe Schools Declaration.

Current key funded projects

DATUM- Small Data Mining- Co-Principal Investigator, Innovate UK (£228,900)

DATUM is a research and development project of a collaborative multi-player locative game experience for Shopping Centres. The game aims to promote ethical consumption by supporting the re-opening of sustainable commerce through audio and augmented reality (AR). It explores and engages players in mindful consumption behaviours through small data mining activities following prompts on their mobile devise. The focus of the game is encouraging ethical consumer behaviour through nudging the consumer part of corporate human rights due diligence and technology as a tool to modify behavioural patterns.

DATUM is created and produced by ZU-UK, body\>data\>space and University of Greenwich (BHRE, LETS Lab and CLEI – Co-creating Liveness in Embodied Immersion).

SAPIENS -Sustainability and Procurement in International, European, and National Systems- Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network (ITN) (2021-2025 (€3.9 million). 

The objective of SAPIENS is to foster interdisciplinary research into the evolving use of public procurement to address the social and environmental challenges of the 21st century. It aims to create a significantly increased European knowledge base and research capacity on the law, the economics and the business sciences of sustainable public procurement, thus helping Europe in addressing social and environmental challenges. At the heart of the project are 15 PhD projects on various multidisciplinary aspects of Sustainable Public Procurement linked to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).