Dr Pils’ research interests lie in the areas of human rights, comparative constitutional law, law and development, legal philosophy and the law in China. Her work has addressed the role and situation of Chinese human rights lawyers, property law and land and eviction rights, criminal justice, access to justice and conceptions of justice in China. Her publications on these topics have drawn on her fieldwork in China.  They have appeared in academic publications as well as in the popular press. 

She has supervised PhD students working on various aspects of human rights and access to justice, in China and more widely. 

Teaching

Undergraduate 

• Public Law

Postgraduate 

• Human Rights in International & Transnational Perspectives
• Law & Society in China

Eva Pils studied law, philosophy and sinology in Heidelberg, London and Beijing. She qualified as a lawyer in Germany and holds a PhD in law from University College London. Before joining The Dickson Poon School of Law in September 2014 she was an associate professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, where she co-founded the Centre for Rights and Justice. 

She has previously also taught at Cornell University Law School and at University College London, and held visiting positions at New York University Law School, Cornell Law School, the London School of Economics Law Department, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and at Columbia Law School. 

Eva is an affiliated researcher at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute of NYU Law School, an external member of the CUHK Centre for Social Innovation Studies, an external fellow of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and a legal action committee member of theGlobal Legal Action Network. She is also an affiliated member of the Lau China Institute, the Transnational Law Institute and the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law at King’s.