Hellen joined Loughborough Law in September 2025 as a Lecturer in Law specialising in technology and society. She is a lawyer and socio-legal researcher with a background in social justice, human rights, and development.
Prior to joining Loughborough, Hellen was a Consultant and Researcher/Advisor on AI & Human Rights at Amnesty International where she advised on the regulation of data and AI, and led research in Denmark on the human rights impact of the Danish government’s use of fraud control algorithms to inform the distribution of social benefits.
Hellen’s research examines the political economy of data, AI, and digital technologies; exploitation and structural injustice in transnational law-making processes and social justice approaches to regulating data, AI, and digital technologies.
Technology & Human Rights, Privacy and Data Protection, Decolonising Data and AI Governance and Regulation, Governance and Regulation of Financial Technologies
- Special Issue Editor: ‘Data, Law and Decolonisation,’ (2024) Technology and Regulation Journal. (Edited with Siddharth de Souza and Linnet Taylor) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.71265/rvwfyt51
- Mukiri-Smith, H, Maryam, H, Nolan, D, (2024) ‘How We Did It: Amnesty International’s Investigation of Algorithms in Denmark’s Welfare System’ Global Investigative Journalism Network
- Mukiri-Smith, H, Mann L and Azmeh, (2023) ‘A DC State of Mind. A Review of the World Development Report 2021, Data for Better Lives,’ Development and Change. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12741
- Taylor, L, Mukiri-Smith, H, Petročnik, T, Savolainen, T, Martin, A, (2022), ‘(Re)making Data Markets: An Exploration of the Regulatory Challenges,’ Law, Innovation and Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2022.2113671
- Mukiri-Smith, H. & Leenes, R, ‘Beyond the “Brussel’s Effect"? Kenya’s Data Protection Act (DPA) 2019 and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018,’ (2021), European Data Protection Law Review. - DOI https://doi.org/10.21552/edpl/2021/4/7
- Taylor, L., & Mukiri-Smith, H, (2021) ‘Human rights, Technology and Poverty.’ In M. F. Davis, M. Kjaerum, & A. Lyons (Eds.) Research Handbook on Human Rights and Poverty (pp. 535-549), (Research Handbooks in Human Rights)