Staff Profile
Dr Elliot Winter
Senior Lecturer / Employability Director
- Telephone: 0191 208 8718
- Personal Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliotwinter/
- Address: Newcastle Law School
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HE
Overview
Elliot is a legal academic specialising in international armed conflict and global security law. He has informed UK Government and United Nations policy, presented expert verbal/written evidence to the UK Parliament and provided legal training for the armed forces. Elliot's research has been widely published in, and he frequently peer reviews for, leading journals. He has been asked by mainstream media to comment on developments in AI. Elliot has taught bachelor's, master's and doctoral candidates in the UK and US. He holds Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and now mentors and assesses colleagues' applications. Before entering academia, Elliot qualified as a lawyer and made court appearances for the UK and Scottish Governments. He is a British citizen and Australian permanent resident.
Previous Positions
Visiting Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh
Research and Teaching Associate, University of Glasgow
Solicitor and Notary Public, Harper Macleod LLP
Researcher, Harper Macleod LLP
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy, Newcastle University
Master of Laws, Glasgow University
Diploma in Legal Practice, Glasgow Graduate School of Law
Bachelor of Laws, Glasgow University
Accreditations
Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Solicitor, Law Society of Scotland
Policy Impact
Elliot's principal research focus is the interface of artificial intelligence and warfare. His work has informed UK Government and United Nations policy formation and his model on ‘observation, recognition and judgement’ was adopted in a UK working paper to the UN committee on autonomous weapons. Elliot has given expert verbal/written evidence to the UK Parliament, specifically the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Weapons Systems, and his work was quoted in the final report of that Committee. He has also provided legal training for personnel in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Elliot has been quoted by The Guardian newspaper on the integration of AI into warfare.
Publications
Elliot has written for highly distinguished journals including the Journal of Conflict and Security Law (Oxford), International and Comparative Law Quarterly (Cambridge) and the Military Law and Law of War Review (Elgar). He disseminates his research at conferences and via guest lectures in the UK and internationally. See the 'Publications' tab for full details.
Peer Reviewer Appointments
Elliot is a peer reviewer for the International Review of the Red Cross (Cambridge), Journal of Conflict and Security Law (Oxford), the American Journal of Legal History (Oxford), the Israel Law Review (Cambridge) and AI and Ethics (Springer). He has also carried out book reviews for Cambridge and Routledge.
External Relationships
Elliot has relationships with parliament, government and the military. He is a member of the Advisory Board and an Academic Mentor for the Jurist Digital Scholars Programme. Elliot also has relationships with key non-governmental organisations including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research and the Conflict and Environment Observatory. He is a member of the invitation-only RAINCLOUD defence network.
Postgraduate Supervision
Elliot is available to supervise Ph.D and research-based LL.M students who have an interest in international law; especially where their projects focus on international armed conflict, military technologies or global security matters (e.g. cyber, environmental or space security). Please contact him directly with research proposals in the first instance. Current supervisees: Frances Nwadike, Hani Alotaibi, Aybuke Tezel and Feyza Gul Keskin.
Subjects
Elliot teaches international armed conflict, global security and general public international law on the bachelor's and master's programmes. He creates curricula, delivers lectures and seminars, sets and marks exam papers and provides academic and pastoral support to students from undergraduates to Ph.D candidates. In the past, Elliot has taught world trade law, private international law, contract law, tort law, corporate law and criminal law.
External Teaching and Training
Elliot has taught international armed conflict law at Pittsburgh University and remains affiliated with that institution. He has provided legal training for personnel in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE Mentor and Assessor
Elliot holds Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE. He is also a mentor and assessor for academic colleagues applying for both Fellowship and Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
Leadership and Citizenship
Elliot has supported scholarship through extensive leadership and citizenship roles. His roles have included (chronologically with most recent first):
- Associate Director of Education (Employability)
- Deputy Chair of the Board of Examiners
- Strategic Lead for Employability
- Director of Career Placements
- Senior Tutor
- Faculty Executive Board Member
- Faculty Education Committee Member
- School Executive Committee Member
- Deputy Director of Excellence in Learning and Teaching
- Degree Programme Director (Undergraduate)
- Chair of the Board of Studies (Undergraduate)
- School Education Committee Member
- Directors of Excellence in Learning and Teaching Forum Member
- Student Staff Committee Member
- Deputy Degree Programme Director (Undergraduate)
- Examinations Scrutiny Committee Member
- Student Exchange Programme Panel Member
- Postgraduate Marketing Co-ordinator
- Athena Swan Steering Group Member
Awards and Nominations
- The Education Awards 2020, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Student Employability
- The Education Awards 2020, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Personal Support
- The Education Awards 2019, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
- Teaching Excellence Awards 2018, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
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Articles
- Winter E. The Nurturing North. Modern Law Magazine 2024, 71, 10-11.
- Winter E. Lessons from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: The Plight of Diaspora Fighters in Levées en Masse. International Humanitarian Law 2024, 15(2), 347–382.
- Winter E. Stop Ecocide International’s Blueprint for Ecocide is Compromised by Anthropocentrism: A New Architect Must be Found. Israel Law Review 2023, 57(1), 175-209.
- Winter E. The Compatibility of Autonomous Weapons with the Principles of International Humanitarian Law. Journal of Conflict and Security Law 2022, 27(1), 1-20.
- Winter E. The Geographical Reach of International Humanitarian Law in Transnational Armed Conflict. Nordic Journal of International Law 2021, 90(3), 292-304.
- Winter E. The Accountability of Software Developers for War Crimes Involving Autonomous Weapons: The Role of the Joint Criminal Enterprise Doctrine. University of Pittsburgh Law Review 2021, 83(1), 51-86.
- Winter E. The Compatibility of the Use of Autonomous Weapons with the Principle of Precaution in the Law of Armed Conflict. The Military Law and the Law of War Review 2020, 58(2), 240-273.
- Winter E. The Compatibility of Autonomous Weapons with the Principle of Distinction in the Law of Armed Conflict. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 2020, 69(4), 845-876.
- Winter E. Pillars not Principles: The Status of Humanity and Military Necessity in the Law of Armed Conflict. Journal of Conflict and Security Law 2020, 25(1), 1-31.
- Winter E. Autonomous Weapons in Humanitarian Law: Understanding the Technology, Its Compliance with the Principle of Proportionality and the Role of Utilitarianism. Groningen Journal of International Law 2018, 6(1), 183-202.
- Winter ET. Measuring the Extent of the European Union in the Context of Civil Jurisdiction and Judgment Enforcement. The Juridical Review 2010, 1(3), 163-180.
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Online Publications
- Winter E. International Humanitarian Law on Mass Uprisings: Why Non-Resident Citizens Should Be Free To Defend Their Homelands. Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2024. Available at: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2024/10/international-humanitarian-law-on-mass-uprisings-why-non-resident-citizens-should-be-free-to-defend-their-homelands/.
- Winter E. Chagos Archipelago Deal: Why the Proposed UK-Mauritius Handover Would Be a Strategic Blow to Western Security. Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2024. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/yhp4z849.
- Winter E. Chagos Archipelago Deal: Why the Proposed UK-Mauritius Handover is Not Required by International Law. Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2024. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/swytzwbw.
- Winter E. Egyptian Water Security and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Why Ethiopia has the Upper Hand. Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2023. Available at: https://bit.ly/40vykXo.
- Winter E. The Russian Siege of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Ukraine: An International Humanitarian Law Perspective. Pennsylvania, USA: Published on JURIST. Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2022. Available at: https://www.jurist.org/features/2022/04/28/the-russian-siege-of-the-azovstal-steel-plant-in-ukraine-an-international-humanitarian-law-perspective/.
- Winter E. The Role of the Environmental War Crime in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Pittsburgh, PA, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2022. Available at: https://bit.ly/3veSOWM.
- Winter E. Energy Imperialism: How the Law of the Sea Facilitated Russia's Weaponisation of Natural Gas. Pittsburgh, PA, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2022. Available at: https://bit.ly/3QVPQxL.
- Winter E. Cyber Warfare and Levées en Masse in International Humanitarian Law: New Wine into Old Wineskins. Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2022. Available at: https://www.jurist.org/features/2022/07/22/cyber-warfare-and-levees-en-masse-in-international-humanitarian-law-new-wine-into-old-wineskins/.
- Winter E. The EU-UK Trade Agreement: Initial Impressions of the Dispute Settlement Provisions. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2021. Available at: https://bit.ly/3osYYwv.
- Winter E. The Death of Qasem Soleimani and the Law of Armed Conflict. Pittsburgh: JURIST Legal News & Research Services, Inc, 2020. Available at: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/01/winter-Qasem-Soleimani/.
- Winter E. Facial Recognition Technology and the Death of an Iranian Nuclear Scientist: An International Humanitarian Law Perspective. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA: Jurist Legal News & Commentary, 2020. Available at: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/12/elliot-winter-iran-facial-recognition-ihl/.
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Report
- Winter E. Written Evidence Submitted to the House of Lords Select Committee on AI in Weapon Systems: The Compatibility of Autonomous Weapons with International Humanitarian Law. Westminster, London: House of Lords, 2023.