In Honor of Françoise Hampson – A Remembrance

Editors’ note: This post introduces a series to honor Françoise Hampson, who passed away on April 18, 2025. The posts recognize Professor Hampson’s work and the significant contribution her scholarship made to our understanding of international law.

Professor Françoise Hampson was a brilliant scholar and an inspiration to everyone who knew her. Her lifelong mission was to advance an understanding of the law of armed conflict that remained both credible to military practitioners while uncompromising in its commitment to protecting civilians from the horrors of war and safeguarding human rights.

This balance may sound straightforward as it is supposedly embedded in the core purpose of international humanitarian law (IHL), but, in practice, many of us scholars and practitioners end up a little too planted on one side or the other. Some prioritise operational feasibility over humanitarian concerns, while others advocatefor interpretations that can seem disconnected from battlefield realities. Françoise navigated between these positions with remarkable skill, earning respect from both militaries and non-governmental organisations without compromising her principles.

Her scholarship demonstrated that rigorous legal analysis could simultaneously serve humanitarian goals and provide practical guidance to those making life-and-death decisions in armed conflict. She understood that credible law requires not just moral clarity but operational viability, and that the most effective protection for civilians comes from rules that militaries will actually follow.

This blog series honours her memory by inviting scholars and practitioners to engage with the areas in which she worked, offering their own perspectives on the challenges she spent her career addressing. The posts reflect both the breadth of her interests and her conviction that meaningful progress in our field requires crossing traditional divides.

Her lasting impact professionally is evident in the posts that follow, and on behalf of her friends and family I would like to thank the team at Articles of War for initiating and hosting this series. Given that the other posts will provide plenty of evidence as to her professional lasting impact, I would like to take this opportunity to instead share some personal reflections of who she was as a person. The following is a slightly shortened version of the eulogy I delivered at her funeral.

About Françoise

Everyone always describes Françoise as one of the most brilliant people they ever met, and I will say something about that, but I don’t think that it was her most important attribute, and it certainly wasn’t the main reason we all loved her.

Conversations with her tended to be an exhilarating affair. Once Françoise would get started on a subject, she would proceed at a dizzying breakneck speed, like a Japanese bullet train with a driver on amphetamines. She had an inhuman ability to just keep going and switch tracks without ever needing to stop for a breath, and you’d just be wishing that you had a pen and paper to take notes because there’s no way you’ll ever remember all the remarkable things she’s saying.

And those conversations could go on for hours, because Françoise had a very interesting relationship with time. When busy, she could disappear for days, or even weeks/months, but when she was around, she made up for it by giving you hours of attention. My record conversation in her office was seven hours but I’m aware of at least two people that have been in there for nine hours and I’ve heard rumours of an overnight. And she was equally generous with her time to anyone. It could be a colleague, but it could also be a random student that stopped by to ask for directions and emerged two hours later.

While she often did much of the talking, Françoise was a wonderful listener. She was compassionate and thoughtful and took the time to really understand what was going on with you, asking astute questions, and knowing how to probe sensitively but surgically, to gather all the information she needed to give the most insightful and caring guidance you could ever want.

Notably, I have never met anyone with such a strong inverse correlation between brilliance and ego. She had no desire, time, or patience for honours or pomp. At the retirement conference we held for her at Essex, her main emotion seemed to be embarrassment that we made such a fuss over her.

Françoise’s care for her friends often manifested in thoughtful gifts. One of my favourite presents from her included the moment when she retired from the University and I hesitantly took over her teaching. She went out of her way travelling out of town (she wasn’t good at online shopping) to track down an Olympic approved athletics baton, which she handed over while mimicking the movement of a relay runner in a race.

Her joyful side was apparent to everyone who engaged with her, and her professional connections were never just about work. She carried a spirit of fun wherever she went. As studious as she may have been on the substance, she was always ready to pop the balloon of seriousness, including by distributing to her friends specially made t-shirts with wry jokes about IHL.

Her courage was there for all to see in many ways. As a woman, making her way through the field of the law of armed conflict so heavily dominated by men and in particular military men, she was fearless, and an inspirational role model to so many in this field globally. Everything she did was done with gusto that made us want to follow her anywhere, and she had a profound impact on many people. So yes, she was uniquely brilliant. But while we were in awe of her mind, we were in love with her soul. Above everything else, I think what we remember most is her passion, her kindness, her integrity, and her courage. We will forever deeply miss her.

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Noam Lubell is Professor of International Law of Armed Conflict and former Head of the University of Essex Law School.

The views expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense. 

Articles of War is a forum for professionals to share opinions and cultivate ideas. Articles of War does not screen articles to fit a particular editorial agenda, nor endorse or advocate material that is published. Authorship does not indicate affiliation with Articles of War, the Lieber Institute, or the United States Military Academy West Point.

Photo credit: United Nations, Violaine Martin