Jeanise Dalli is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Law and Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree, a Diploma in Notarial Studies, and a Doctorate in Law (LL.D), all from the University of Malta. While still a law student, Dalli worked with two different law firms based in Malta, practising civil and criminal litigation as well as refugee law. In 2016, she was admitted to the bar in Malta. She also lectures in and co-ordinates two courses, 'Refugee Law and Policy Issues' and 'Refugee Law and Society', in the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta.

Before joining the Max Planck Institute, Dalli's LL.D research project involved an analysis of the specific legal provision prohibiting 'female genital mutilation', which was introduced into the Criminal Code of Malta in 2014. The study highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the Maltese criminal regulatory model for addressing so-called 'cultural' female genital modifications in the light of criminal law models in other jurisdictions in Europe and outside of Europe, namely in Italy, the UK, France, Canada, and the US. Her current doctoral research project, provisionally titled Regulating Genital Modifications in Malta and the UK: Understanding the Interplay between Law and Culture within Culturally Diverse Societies, builds upon findings from her former study and focuses on the regulation of controversial types of genital modification performed on or undergone by men and women in Malta and the UK.