Anna Bruce is a legal scholar specialising in international human rights law, with particular expertise in equality and non-discrimination, disability rights, gender equality and the evolution of rights. Her research combines conceptual and normative analysis with empirical investigation of the conditions required for effective implementation of human rights at national and local levels.
Research Focus
Bruce examines how conceptions of humanity and human diversity, as well as the architecture of international human rights law, shape the evolution of rights through interpretation and the negotiation of new conventions. She contributed to the negotiations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and continues to analyse how the Convention both upholds the universality of human rights and responds to disability as a historically neglected dimension of human diversity.
Building on her CRPD research, she explores the evolution of equality and non-discrimination in international law, including how disability, gender, age, and migration intersect to produce distinct patterns of exclusion—and corresponding legal responses.
Bruce’s research also addresses the international, national and local infrastructure responsible for implementing and monitoring international human rights norms. Her work focuses both on clarifying actionable state obligations and on identifying and overcoming systemic barriers within legislative, executive, and judicial institutions.
Engagement and Outreach
Bruce collaborates with Swedish public authorities, civil society organisations, municipalities, and international institutions such as the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. At the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI), she leads the Institute’s work within FRANET, conducting national research and analysis for the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on developments concerning fundamental rights in Sweden.
Through these engagements, she translates normative and theoretical insights into tools, methodologies, policy guidance, public outreach and capacity development initiatives aimed at strengthening the realisation of human rights in Sweden and in RWI’s partner countries.
Teaching
Bruce teaches at Lund University at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, and supervises PhD candidates, in human rights, equality law, disability law, and research methodology. Her teaching integrates research-based insights with applied methods, supporting students in bridging theory and practice.
Through collaboration with civil society organisations in the Lund Disability Human Rights Clinic (Människorättspraktik) at the Faculty of Law, she supports students in working together with professional lawyers on real cases argued before the Swedish Supreme Court and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Her pedagogical approach emphasises critical reflection, ethical awareness, and the ability to translate legal norms into concrete legal argumentation and institutional strategies.
Current Projects
Current projects include a monograph for Brill on the evolution of international human rights law through the conceptual development of equality, disability diversity, and rights/obligations, as well as an entry on the CRPD in the Elgar Encyclopaedia of Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law.