I joined the School of Law in 2007 having previously been an ESRC postdoctoral fellow associated with the project "Regulatory Regime Change in World Financial Markets" (RES-156-25-0033). My research focuses on ideas of accountability and on moral language in both corporate governance and public administration.

I hold a PhD in Politics from the University of Reading; an MA in Political Theory from University College Dublin and a BA(mod) in Economics and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin. My PhD studies focused on ideas of allegiance to the state. This work carried over to my longstanding interest in how moral ideas infuse institutional life.

My current research interests focus on moral language in business and human rights, law and technology and public and private governance. I am interested and welcome PhD proposals on how normative claims are made within public and private governance and how such claims are brought to bear both on the internal governance of firms and on the regulatory structures within which they operate.

I am especially interested in how ideas of accountability play out in corporate discourses and in how the study of such discourses can benefit from quantitative and computational techniques. I aim to develop more constructivist approaches to understanding corporate normativity and its interactions with and invocations of law.

LLM Law and Technology Coordinator, 2021-

I am coordinator of the LLM in Law and Technology, an innovative programme that addresses both Law's role in regulating new technologies and the impact that computational methods and processes have on the practice of law. I am very happy to answer any queries you might have about the programme.

Current Teaching

• Regulating innovation
• Computational Methods and Skills
• Data, Privacy and the Law

Past Teaching

• Company Law and Corporate Governance
• Governing the Firm
• Business and Human Rights
• Approaches to Legal Research

Ongoing Primary PGR Supervisions (with funding source)

• Rachael Goss (PhD, Belfast City Council): Ethical and Legal Dimensions of Belfast's Smart City Framework
• Nathaniel McGrory (PhD, NINE): Trading as 'Voice': how ought market actions be understood as investor stewardship within the UK corporate governance regime?
• Samantha Hopkins (PhD, DfE): How do acknowledgement and denial in corporate reporting operate as devices in constructing corporate attitudes towards their own conduct?
• Shania Kirk (PhD, Linas): Programming equality safeguards in AI as part of corporate human rights due diligence

Completed Primary PGR Supervisions

• Zahra'a Al Andaleeb (PhD): How Corporate Governance Shapes and Manages Relationships Between the State, State-Owned Enterprises, and the Latter's Constituencies
• Madeline Kanuka (JD): Prescription bias, US law, & anti-epilepsy drugs

Athena Swan

I am a member of the School of Law's Athena Swan committee. The School received a bronze Athena Swan award in October 2018.