Francesca Espey Awarded Mary Gates Research Scholarship:
Francesca Espey, a double major in International Studies (JSIS) and Law, Societies & Justice (LSJ), has been awarded a 2025 Mary Gates Research Scholarship in support of her research on disability-based violence and international human rights law.
Mary Gates Research Scholarships are competitive awards designed to enhance the educational experiences of University of Washington undergraduates engaged in faculty-mentored research. The $5,000 scholarship is distributed in two $2,500 installments over two quarters, allowing students to dedicate sustained time and attention to their research with reduced financial burden.
For Francesca, the scholarship represents both recognition and opportunity.
Researching Disability-Based Violence in International Law:
Francesca’s project examines how international and regional human rights mechanisms address violence against persons with disabilities. Her research seeks to clarify a critical gap in global disability legal frameworks: where disability-based violence is widely acknowledged, however, it is not consistently defined or protected against in international law.
Her interest in the topic began during a study abroad program in Peru, where she worked directly with women with disabilities in Lima, interviewing participants and documenting their experiences with rights violations. That work, combined with later experiences in Rome, led her to explore how legal systems respond, or fail to respond, to violence targeting disabled individuals.
Through faculty-mentored research, Francesca and a team of undergraduate researchers analyzed United Nations documents, Universal Periodic Review materials, and European human rights court cases to trace how disability-based violence is discussed across jurisdictions. The project asks a pressing question: if disability-based violence is well documented, why does a comprehensive international legal framework remain underdeveloped?
Francesca’s work also draws comparative insight from gender-based violence frameworks, examining how legal recognition shapes protection and reform.
The Impact of Mary Gates Funding:
Receiving the Mary Gates Research Scholarship allows Francesca to devote significant time to her project. The funding reduces the need for outside employment, enabling her to focus more fully on data collection, legal analysis, and preparing her work for presentation.
She describes the research process as both demanding and rewarding. Much of the work involved extensive document review and search tracking across international sources, an intensive undertaking that required sustained attention. Completing that phase, she notes, was especially meaningful.
Francesca will present her research at the Law & Society Association’s annual meeting and at an upcoming conference in Vienna in 2026, bringing LSJ scholarship into global academic conversations
An Interdisciplinary Foundation in LSJ and JSIS:
Francesca’s research reflects the interdisciplinary strengths of the Law, Societies & Justice department, which offers students a dynamic and engaged liberal arts education focused on law, rights, and justice. LSJ coursework emphasizes the politics of rights, the meaning of justice, and the complex role legal institutions play in structuring social life, themes that are central to her project.
The department’s global perspective and attention to inequality have shaped how Francesca approaches her work. LSJ scholarship often views power “from the bottom up,” examining how law affects less powerful groups and how those groups challenge dominant systems. Her research on disability-based violence embodies that approach.
As a double major in LSJ and JSIS, Francesca brings together international policy analysis and socio-legal theory. She hopes to pursue law school and potentially work in public defense or international human rights, bridging global legal structures with tangible impacts on vulnerable communities.
Advice for Future Researchers:
Francesca encourages LSJ students interested in research to take opportunities even when they feel intimidated.
“Take any opportunity that comes your way,” she advises. “Even if you feel behind, pushing yourself is how you grow.”
She also emphasizes building relationships with faculty through office hours, research programs, and study abroad experiences that helped shape her academic path and ultimately led her to apply for the Mary Gates Scholarship.
Her story reflects the kind of engaged, globally minded scholarship that defines LSJ: rigorous research, interdisciplinary thinking, and a commitment to examining how law shapes inequality and justice in practice.