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Law Research (UoA18)

Newcastle Law School traces its origins back to 1923. That's when law was first taught at what is now Newcastle University. Today, the School forms part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. We are 36 research-active scholars from 15 countries.

Newcastle Law School traces its origins back to 1923. That's when law was first taught at what is now Newcastle University.

Research active scholars

Today, the School forms part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. We are 36 research-active scholars from 15 countries. We're all based in the self-contained unit of Newcastle Law School. It benefits from its own:

  • in-house law library
  • bespoke research hub for staff and postgraduate research students

Overarching Law research theme

We work under the overarching research theme of Law, Innovation, and Society. We interrogate the role of law in regulating innovation as a societal and technological phenomenon. We look at innovation within law itself. We focus on new forms of regulation. We look at the ways legal institutions respond to innovation and shape societies.

Interrogating the role of innovation and law comes through six research groupings:

Impact on law, policy, and practice

The School’s Law research has extensive and significant impact. It has influenced law, policymakers, and practitioners in the areas of:

Funded research projects

Major funded Law research projects in the School include the:

Extensive collaborations

Researchers in the School collaborate extensively with colleagues:

  • elsewhere at Newcastle University
  • at other universities
  • through regional research groups, including the:
    • Northern Obligations Group
    • Northern Human Rights Network
    • North East Empirical Research Group

We work with partners in governments, NGOs, international organisations, and regulatory agencies. At Newcastle, this includes the NuCoREs on Data, Energy, Regulatory Science, and Cities. We also work with the Newcastle Forum for Human Rights and Social Justice.

Outside of Newcastle, partners and collaborators include:

  • the UN
  • the FCO
  • Defra
  • the Judicial College
  • local and national charities

In 2019, we launched the Environmental Justice Network Ireland. It brings together Irish and Northern Irish environmental organisations for the first time. They address the unique environmental challenges of the island of Ireland.

Inclusive research environment 

The School was awarded Athena Swan Bronze in 2019. Our Law research environment is supportive, inclusive, diverse, and collegial. We contribute to NUWomen and the BAME Network across the University. We foster inclusivity in our postgraduate research community.

Collegial support

Our commitment to mentoring and career development is clear. We offer a wide range of collegial support measures, including:

  • writing retreats
  • bespoke early- and mid-career mentoring arrangements
  • postgraduate research career advisory group

We ensure we are able to promote and mentor the researchers of tomorrow.

REF 2021 impact case studies

  • Mitigating Brexit's Impacts on Northern Ireland
  • Securing Votes for Prisoners
  • Influencing the Adoption of a Children's Rights Approach in Law and Practice

Find out more

For more information see the Newcastle Law School website.

 

Mitigating Brexit's Impacts on Northern Ireland

We study the effects of UK-wide constitutional change on Northern Ireland.

Ahead of the Brexit referendum, this team were amongst the first academics to highlight its problems.

They looked in detail at the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, and its effects on Northern Ireland.
focus on the dimension of the rights consequences to Brexit.

We helped to shape the outcomes of parliamentary committee reports on cross-border trade and Brexit. We provided the basis on which Ireland and Northern Ireland’s statutory human rights bodies have responded to the challenges of Brexit.

We informed major policy developments for human rights protections and the Common Travel Area.

Securing Votes for Prisoners

The issue of prisoner voting has come close to rupturing the UK’s place in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Colin Murray served as the only Specialist Adviser to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill. They concluded that short-term prisoners should be enfranchised.

The Committee’s support for this proposal illustrates the significance of Murray’s contribution. This meant the UK Government abandoned draft legislation which would have breached the ECHR.

The Scottish Government and a Welsh Assembly Committee have drawn upon Murray’s research. They reference this to help them justify their support for enfranchising thousands of prisoners.

Influencing the Adoption of a Children's Rights Approach in Law and Practice

There is a well-recognised disjuncture between children’s ‘rights on paper’ and the realisation of those rights in practice. Hollingsworth’s research has helped redress this problem.

It influenced the adoption of a children’s rights approach within law and practice in many jurisdictions. It influenced New Zealand’s Ministry for Children to introduce new legislative provisions.

They adopted an overt children’s rights approach.

The research is also:

  • shaping and delivering judicial training
  • changing judicial practice in many jurisdictions
  • influencing and informing the Judicial College in England and Wales
  • increasing judicial understanding in relation to children’s rights approaches to judgment