Esmaeil’s research interests include the History and Theory of International Law in both Arab and Western scholarship, including approaches to international humanitarian law, human rights law, international criminal law, and Transitional Justice.

Esmaeil has a strong interest in grassroots approaches to international law and regional narratives in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arab world. His research examines critical issues such as sovereignty, statehood, humanitarian intervention, and state responsibility. He is also interested in conflict resolution and did a series of courses on negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. His LLM dissertation was awarded the Best LLM dissertation at the University of East London where he did his LLM in Transitional Justice and Conflict.

This research tested critically the binding nature of R2P, with particular reference to Syria and Libya, asking “Is R2P an Obligation under international law, and if so, considering the inconsistent application of R2P in Libya and Syria, what is the future of R2P as a legal obligation for the international community?”. He has presented his research at various conferences and thematically dealt with related international legal issues.

These conferences include those at the University of Warwick, Kent University and at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana “6th Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference”. His “Sovereignty as Responsibility: Implications for Syria” paper was awarded the best external paper at the Kent Law School Graduate Conference where the theme was ‘revisiting the meaning of sovereignty’ 9-10 June 2022. Esmaeil's doctoral research is funded by the University of Warwick Doctoral College.