Student Focus
Bernardo Carvalho de Mello
Bernardo is a fourth-year PhD candidate at Newcastle Law School, where his doctoral research focuses on developing a taxonomy of discrimination within international human rights law.
Bernardo served as a Teaching Assistant for the Law and Gender module at Newcastle Law School for the 2024/2025 year and has been teaching Portuguese since 2023 through the University Wide Language Programme. Since September 2024, he has co-convened the Constitutional and Governance Research Group. His recent work includes serving as Research Assistant to Dr Nikki Godden-Rasul and Dr Lucia Kula on the Research Handbook on Gender, Violence and Law, and participating in the ‘You and Your Law School: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Newcastle Law School’ DEI project examining Newcastle Law School's institutional equity, diversity and inclusivity practices. He has also been the DEI officer for the PGR society at the University since 2023.
His research applies intersectional frameworks to reconceptualise discrimination law, examining how regional human rights courts address complex, multi-layered harms. Through publications and blog posts, Bernardo explores decoloniality, Latin American studies, intersectionality, and legal taxonomies. Central to his scholarship is challenging Eurocentric legal paradigms while advocating for DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusivity) alternatives in research and practice. He is a lawyer admitted to the Bar Association of Brazil.
