New Publications
- Yvonne McDermott Rees
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
A couple of new papers can be found on our Publications page.
TRUE PI Yvonne McDermott, PhD candidate Anne Hausknecht, and former TRUE postdoctoral research associate Dr Alice Liefgreen recently published a paper ‘New Evidence, New Challenges: ICC Judges’ Perspectives on User-Generated-Evidence and Judging in an Age of Artificial Intelligence’ in Oñati Socio-Legal Series. This research explores how International Criminal Court (ICC) judges perceive user-generated evidence, based on an extensive dataset of interviews. While judges appreciate that UGE provides real-time visual accounts that can reduce the need for witness testimony, they see the sheer volume of data and potential source bias as potential hurdles. Although artificial intelligence and deepfakes introduce new risks of manipulation, interviewed judges generally believe that existing legal frameworks are robust enough to address these concerns. The study highlights a critical need for the Court to invest in specialised digital infrastructure and technical training to maintain pace with rapid technological shifts.
Yvonne and Anne’s chapter, ‘Judge and Jury Perceptions of Open Source Evidence’, has been accepted for publication in the second edition of Digital Witness (Oxford University Press, 2026). In this piece, Yvonne and Anne present some top-level insights from the TRUE project, which will be further expanded upon in future publications. They explore some similarities and differences between lay and professional factfinders in their approaches to open source evidence.
Yvonne, together with Konstantina Stavrou, a Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights in Vienna and PhD candidate at the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna, has written a chapter called ‘Digital Evidence’ for the second edition of The Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law. This chapter examines the evolving role of digital evidence within international criminal law, tracing its history from the Nuremberg trials to modern ICC proceedings.
New publication announcements always carry a quiet excitement because behind every title listed is someone who spent months or years turning an idea into something real enough to hold. The range of topics in a single publication list also shows how diverse the creative and academic landscape continues to be even when mainstream attention only highlights a fraction of it. We recently helped hire children's book writers in usa for a publishing project and seeing their names appear in a publication list for the first time was a proud moment for everyone involved. There is no substitute for the feeling of seeing finished work officially out in the world.