Ishmael is a Doctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Portsmouth, looking at the influence of small states in the making of international humanitarian law relating to lethal autonomous weapons systems. His research follows the current debates within the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (UNCCW) on the regulation of emerging technologies in the form of autonomous weapons systems, with an interest in how the doctrines of equality and inclusion are applied with regards to small state participation. 

In trying to understand the dynamics of in/exclusion and in/equality in the making of international law, Ishmael's research engages Foucauldian genealogical analytical tools, problematising small state participation in international humanitarian law and its related practices, particularly how this evolved over time to inform current practice in international law-making. Through analysis of legal documents from the 1864, 1906, 1929, 1949, and 1977 Geneva Conventions, and various other important protocols and conventions at international level, and through interviews with diplomats and experts involved in the debates in the UNCCW, Ishmael's research gives a rich understanding of the details of how international law is developed, with a focus on the doctrine of equality. 

Ishmael has worked in the international civil society sector, with the Ashinaga Africa Initiative in Uganda, Chatteris Educational Foundation in Hong Kong, and Virtual Planet Africa in Zimbabwe. He is also a member of the Stop Killer Robots Campaign and the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect.