Overview

Join an international group of researchers and practitioners with expertise in the areas of Law and Society, Digital Economy and Arbitration Law, and Criminal Justice. Our PhD research programme will allow you to explore your own interests in law, supported by the expertise of our staff. As a PhD research student here, you will be affiliated with the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion and you'll be supported to undertake research that makes an independent and original contribution to knowledge and to progress into your future career.

Here at the Faculty of Business and Law, the goal of our research is to develop a better understanding of the challenges arising from the role and application of law in the community, especially challenges around access to justice and inclusion. You’ll find staff with expertise in three broad areas: Law and Society, Digital Economy and Arbitration Law, and Criminal Justice.

Our Law and Society researchers have addressed a range of contemporary social issues in the areas of human rights and vulnerable communities, family law, Sharia law and the regulation of sports. This research ranges from the impact of Brexit on the welfare rights EU Roma migrants in the United Kingdom to parents’ rights over their children’s religious upbringing in the context of the government’s PREVENT strategy, and issues of family law and the legal regulation of intimate relationships.

Our Digital Economy and Arbitration Law researchers have engaged with the pressing legal and regulatory implications of developments in the areas of International Arbitration, as well as Information and Communication Technologies, including strategies for bridging the digital divide, the regulation of online behavioural advertising on Facebook and other social networking sites, copyright reform, sports law, and foundational questions relating to authority and authorisation in international investment dispute settlement.

Our Criminal Justice researchers have engaged with the global challenges of international counter-terrorism and, in particular, the prosecution of members of Islamic State for international crimes against the Yazidis. This research strand has also focused on issues of criminal procedure, such as the role of precedent in international criminal courts and tribunals and the impact of scientific evidence, such as DNA evidence, on the criminal trial. Many of the research projects undertaken by our researchers have strongly interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological design.

We’ll allocate you two supervisors suited to your area of research, with additional staff members available if necessary, and provide you with a rich and stimulating environment in which to conduct your research.

Careers

We’ll provide you with many opportunities for career development and training, in areas like writing up a paper for publication, placing an academic article, giving a conference paper, the doctoral writing style, updates on research methods and literature searches, internet training, editing skills for doctoral research, subsequent monograph publication and working with agents and publishers. You might also be able to take on teaching responsibilities or organise research events.