Olga Makin LL.B

Profile

Olga is a qualified solicitor in Australia and recent Bachelor of Laws (Honours) graduate from the University of Technology Sydney, where she particularly enjoyed studying Public International Law and Gender and the Law.

During her degree, Olga had the opportunity to study and intern in three different countries, Indonesia, Germany and Austria. The experience that stood out the most was when in 2023 she was awarded the New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant by the Australian government to study at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia and complete an internship in Jakarta. While interning at a human rights organisation in Jakarta, she was exposed to how fatwas are used to discourage women from joining terrorist groups in Indonesia, sparking her interest in counterterrorism and its intersection with gender.

This interest inspired her Honours thesis, which examined how gendered narratives influence legal responses to repatriating women affiliated with ISIS across six jurisdictions. She presented her findings at the University of Sydney’s Inspiring Legal Research conference 2024.

Olga’s professional experience includes working as a researcher for judicial officers, working in private legal practice and holding various roles at NGOs.

Olga's research interests include understanding the intersection of terrorism and gender, and analysing issues such as repatriation, sexual violence and human trafficking from a feminsit viewpoint. 

Olga is excited to build upon existing research interests and discover emerging issues in international law and counterterrorism as an intern at the T.M.C Asser Institute.