Socio-Legal Studies

Anna Heenan

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Law School

Start date: September 2013

Research topic: The financial implications of shared parenting after divorce

Research supervisors: Professor Anne Barlow

Email: acsh201@exeter.ac.uk

Ben Hudson

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2013

Research topic: An IDP Right to Return? Challenges in Law and Practice

My research concerns the human rights protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Inspired by my time in Georgia working with non-governmental organisations and United Nations’ agencies, my research engages with the realisation of durable solutions to internal displacement, specifically a legal right to return in international law.

Research supervisors: Professor Sir Malcolm Evans, Dr Diego Acosta Arcarazo

Professional memberships/Positions held: Teacher (LLB Law & State, Introduction to Medical Law & IFP Law), Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, University of Bristol Faculty Senate Representative

Email: ben.hudson@bristol.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ben_hudson7

Christopher Gray

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: The Privilege against Self-Incrimination in Criminal Justice in the United Kingdom and The Gambia – Human Rights Law and Convergence

I will be researching the protection offered by the right to fair trial to the privilege against self-incrimination in juvenile criminal justice. By focusing on the United Kingdom and The Gambia as case studies, domestic rules on admission of evidence will be considered in the context of human rights standards both internationally and in their respective regions. As well incorporating empirical research on how these standards are realised, this research will focus on the implications of the findings in light of the ‘convergence thesis’, and focus specifically on the role of human rights law in this.

Research supervisors: Professor Rachel Murray, Dr Jennifer Collins

Professional memberships/Positions held: SWDTP Student Rep; Human Rights Implementation Centre at the University of Bristol

Email: cg15586@bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cfgray/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cf_gray

Donna Crowe-Urbaniak

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, Law School

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: Vulnerability, autonomy, power, and resilience: a socio-legal examination of the issues faced by military wives post-LASPO.

My research aims to explore the experiences of women previously married to serving members of the Armed Forces by exploring issues of vulnerability, resilience, power, and autonomy, and examine ways in which current family law practices adequately meets the needs of this group.

Research supervisors: Professor Liz Trinder, Professor Anne Barlow

Email: dlc218@exeter.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonnaCroweUrb

Edward Burtonshaw-Gunn

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: A multi-case study of housing models in Bristol, UK: Commercial Housing, Housing Associations, and Community Land Trusts.

Ed is a PhD researcher and Land Law tutor in the Law School. His research is on the housing crisis with specific interest in house building in Bristol, UK. He is particularly interested in planning law, policy, and practice to explain how housing production is shaped in Bristol. For his doctoral research, he spent three months at Bristol City Council – the local planning authority responsible for establishing local planning policies in line with national policies, and for determining planning applications within Bristol. He tweets at @BurtonshawGunn. 

Research supervisors: Professor Antonia Layard, Dr Janine Sargoni

Professional memberships/Positions held: SWDTP Student representative Law School PGR Student Representative Socio-Legal Studies Associations (SLSA) Postgraduate Member Professional memberships/Positions held: Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) Socio-Legal Studies Associations (SLSA) Postgraduate Member

Email: e.burtonshaw-gunn@bristol.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurtonshawGunn

Hannah Perry

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: Emotional readiness to negotiate in family law proceedings

Emotional readiness to negotiate has been recognised as an important factor in parties’ ability to settle without using contested litigation. I am researching the emotional support given by solicitors to their clients to find out what non-legal support is currently available, and also what sorts of emotional support clients find helpful.

Research supervisors: Dr Emma Hitchings, Professor Morag McDermont

Professional memberships/Positions held: Practising family solicitor

Email: hp15566@bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahperry/

Website/Blog: https://www.harbourfamilylaw.co.uk/our-team/hannah-perry-ba-msc/

Helen Thomas

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC +3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: Mobilising Marginalised Women’s Dissenting Voices:  Co-Producing New Possibilities

Research supervisors: Professor Morag McDermont , Dr Therese O'Toole

Email: h.thomas@bristol.ac.uk

Janet Keliher

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC +3)
University of Exeter, Law School

Start date: September 2013

Research topic: A Socio-Legal Analysis of the Relationship between Legal Responsibility & Culture in Criminal Law

Research supervisors: Dr Stephen Skinner

Email: jk338@exeter.ac.uk

Lara Farrell

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2017

Research topic: Modern Slavery; A Community Research Perspective

I am currently undertaking the MSc Socio-Legal Studies and will be commencing PhD research in September 2018. My research will focus on modern slavery in the UK and the current difficulties in defining and measuring it, and will consider the merits of community research as a means of addressing this issue.

Research supervisors: Devyani Prabhat

Email: lf17685@bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lara-farrell-978452a1

Louise Austin

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: Judging Informed Consent

My PhD is titled ‘Judging Informed Consent’ and focuses on the interaction between ethics, law and regulation of informed consent to medical treatment.  In particular, it looks at ethical conceptions of autonomy and the extent to which they feature in legal and regulatory decisions on consent.

Research supervisors: Dr Oliver Quick, Professor Richard Huxtable

Professional memberships/Positions held: Associate Teacher, Medical Law Member of Institute of Medical Ethics Postgraduate Committee SWDTP student representative

Email: louise.austin@bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/louise-austin-75bb8329

Twitter: https://twitter.com/louise_austin12

Louise Hatherall

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2015

Research topic: Genetic Patents in Intellectual Property Law

My research interests centre on IP Law and the way it is applied to biotechnological and genetic patents. There is an argument that Patent Law is currently being used as a ‘sword rather than a shield’ enabling companies and inventors to stifle and prevent access to inventions. This has resulted in stagnating innovation impacting both patients access to such innovations, along with increasing litigation time and cost. This research aims to address this balance and consider the impact of granting these patents on innovative research, access to inventions, the aggressive litigation tactics currently employed and considers the future for IP Law.

Research supervisors: Andrew Charlesworth

Professional memberships/Positions held: SLSA Student Conference 2017 Committee Chair

Email: lh15390.2015@my.bristol.ac.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwitTooLou

Maria Wright

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: International child protection cases in practice

Courts and Local Authorities in England and Wales are increasingly dealing with child protection cases with an international element. Issues will come in to play about the assessment of potential carers abroad, international co-operation between Local Authorities and the appropriate legal outcome for children. Tensions have arisen particularly in circumstances where children with international familial connections have been adopted in this country. My research seeks to examine how Courts and Local Authorities are working with children in international child protection cases, what challenges they face and how their practices could be modified to work more effectively in an international context.

Research supervisors: Professor Judith Masson, Dr Emma Hitchings

Email: mw3140@my.bristol.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-wright-08184422/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mw_sofia

Mollie Gascoigne

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Start date: October 2018

Research topic: How can we accommodate increasing gender diversity into the binary world of law? Time to challenge the Gender Recognition Act 2004 with better understandings of transgender identities

Whilst the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) was an important step for many queer people at the time, this legislation is beginning to show its age. My research will be combining the binary world of law with the fluid world of identity to hopefully provide useful insight into the various legal, political, moral, and ethical dilemmas flowing from queer legal personhood underlying the GRA. I envisage that my research will also draw upon Foucauldian analysis to consider the context of the GRA and any future reform proposed by the Government, namely legal liberalism.

Research supervisors: Dr Stephen Skinner, Dr Charlotte Bishop

Email: mg440@exeter.ac.uk

Polly Lord

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Law School

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: Employment law in farms

My research examines how core employment law rights apply on farms. Through conducting interviews with farmers, their understanding of wages, working time, holidays, sickness and parental leave to health and safety rules, is discussed. In doing so, the way that farmers manage these rights – both practically and conceptually – reveals important insights into the laws themselves.

Research supervisors: Professor Liz Trinder, Professor Matt Lobley

Professional memberships/Positions held: Co-Ordinator World of Work Network

Email: pl325@exeter.ac.uk

Richard Costidell

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2014

Research topic: The Prosecution of Crimes of Torture in the African Charter System as a Human Right: Towards obligation?

In this research I will be conducting an investigation into the importance of realising the obligation to prosecute crimes of torture through the African Charter System. I will show that, although certain elements of the obligation to prosecute crimes of torture are currently found within Africa, the obligation to prosecute is not as clearly grounded as it should be. In doing so I will aim to show the significance of further developing the obligation to prosecute crimes of torture regionally as a human right and its importance for ensuring the prosecution of such crimes throughout the region.

Research supervisors: Professor Rachel Murray, Professor Sir Malcolm Evans

Email: rc12423@my.bristol.ac.uk

Tania Barton

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, Law

Start date: September 2016

Research topic: Considering the position of the dementia patient in commercial transactions

My research aims to look at what challenges are faced by people with dementia in their dealings with commercial counterparts, and what advice and help is available to them. I am also interested in exploring how, if at all, commercial counterparts take these challenges into account in their commercial interactions with people with dementia. Part of that means looking at the dementia guidelines that a number of businesses have signed up to, to examine if these are effective in ensuring that these interactions are conducted in line with agreed rules.

Research supervisors: Dr Severine Saintier, Dr Iain Lang

Email: tb369@exeter.ac.uk

Thomas Tooth

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Bristol, Law School

Start date: September 2011

Research topic: Who cares about defence witnesses? Witness care and adversarial justice

Research supervisors: Professor Richard Young , Professor Morag McDermont

Email: tt8480@bristol.ac.uk

Zoe Cunningham

PhD Researcher in Socio-Legal Studies (ESRC 1+3)
University of Exeter, School of Law

Start date: September 2012

Research topic: Religious and constitutional law in England.

Research supervisors: Professor Anthony Musson

Email: zc243@exeter.ac.uk