Law research

Find out about our law research.

Student research

If you’re interested in taking a research degree with us, you can choose from an MPhil or PhD Law.

Our current research students engage in a diverse range of topics that reflect the expertise within our department. These include studies on corporate accountability and human rights, access to justice in digital environments, environmental justice and climate litigation, international human rights law, and the role of technology in legal processes. Our supervisory teams are primarily drawn from Law staff, but for interdisciplinary research proposals, we can provide expert supervision from across the university.

Research clusters

The Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion (CAJI) encompasses five research clusters:

• Access to Environmental Justice (including ecological and species justice)
• Alternative Dispute Resolution and Contemporary Redress Mechanisms (including courts)
• Digital Justice and Access to Justice in Online Environments
• Access to Justice in Crime and Criminal Justice
• Exclusion, Marginalisation, and Human Rights

Research interests

Full details of our research interests and research council work can be found on individual staff profile pages, but we particularly welcome applications for research study in:

• World Trade Law; international contracts; international commercial law (including international commercial arbitration and international trade); illicit trade in antiquities
• Public international law, including human rights, international criminal law and adjudication; international law in domestic courts
• Comparative law; European Union Law.
• Digital Economy; E-commerce and internet law; privacy and technology; information law; communications law; intellectual property law; the Open Society
• Bankruptcy, consumer debt and borrowing  
• Property rights, land use, land tenure and livelihoods, indigenous rights; town planning and enforcement (including squatting and forced eviction, third world planning and land management)
• Regulation of natural resources including forest ownership and sustainability; cultural heritage law; biodiversity and nature conservation law.
• Criminal law and justice; comparative criminal procedure; EU criminal law; evidence law (including forensic science evidence
• Sports law
• Family law and policy (including family mediation)
• Employment law
• Legal education; professional skills for lawyers
• Legal and professional ethics (including medical law and ethics)
• Legal history and legal geography (including the legal history of colonial urban development; landscape history and the law)

Research events

Find a list of forthcoming events from CAJI here.