Professor Mai Sato is Director of the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London (as of February 2025). A social scientist by training, Mai’s research focuses on enhancing the integrity of justice systems globally, with particular emphasis on the death penalty and the legitimacy of courts and police. In July 2024, the UN Human Rights Council appointed Mai as the fourth Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran since the mandate’s re-establishment.
Prior to joining Birkbeck, Mai was Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Monash University, Australia, where she served as the inaugural director of Eleos Justice (2020-2024), a specialist unit dedicated to anti-death penalty research, teaching and advocacy. She has also held academic posts at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University, the School of Law at the University of Reading, and the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford. Currently, she holds an adjunct professorship at the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia.
Mai holds a PhD from King's College London, where ICPR was formerly located. Her connection with ICPR dates back to the beginning of her academic career when she joined as a Research Fellow. She was also an intern at the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS), which later merged with ICPR.
Beyond her scholarly work, Mai is committed to advocacy. She co-founded the NGO CrimeInfo, which promotes the abolition of the death penalty in Japan, demonstrating her dedication to translating academic knowledge into meaningful social change.