Keertana Venkatesh, Assistant Professor of Law and Affiliated Faculty, IBA-CLE Professorial Chair on Continuing Legal Education, is headed to University College London (UCL) to pursue a PhD in Law, starting in October 2026. She has been awarded the UCL Research Excellence Scholarship for the duration of her doctoral studies.

About the Scholarship

UCL’s prestigious Research Excellence Scholarship (UCL-RES) aims to attract outstanding scholars to undertake doctoral research at UCL. Each year, 40 exceptional applicants are selected from across UCL’s four broad disciplinary themes: Medicine, Health and Life Sciences; Physical Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics; Social Sciences; and Arts and Humanities. Selection is based on academic merit, research potential, the suitability of the proposed project for available supervision, and disciplinary need.

Area of Study

Keertana’s doctoral research will examine the application of constitutional rights against private parties whose actions interfere with the exercise of public law rights, analysing the conceptual basis and normative justifications of such derivative rights. Using theories of rights that adopt analytical and justificatory approaches, her doctoral work seeks to uncover the theoretical distinction between vertical and horizontal constitutional rights, and explore a compelling justification for the recognition of constitutional horizontality. The project will integrate research in legal philosophy and constitutional law, with the aim of identifying the stakes in rights-based litigation and evaluating competing considerations in constitutional rights adjudication.

Between March and May 2025, Keertana offered an elective at NLSIU titled A Philosophical Investigation of Rights, which employed philosophical methods to understand entitlements conferred by statutes and cases across public and private law. Speaking to us, Keertana said, “Teaching the Jurisprudence-I and II courses at NLSIU has enabled me to develop a deep appreciation for legal theory. I am grateful for the discussions I have had with my students and teaching cohorts, which have encouraged me to think carefully about the possibilities of employing theoretical methods to clarify legal doctrine.”

Keertana will pursue her PhD under the supervision of Professor Kevin Toh at UCL.