Eamonn Rea

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) Candidate

LL.B Tutor in Criminal Law (2022-)

LL.B Tutor in Legal Methods (2025-)

Student Research Network Committee member (2024-)

Previous positions:

Lex Connect: All-Ireland Law PhD Conference, Treasurer and member of Steering Committee (2024)

QUB Research Assistant (2023-2024)

Irish Association of Law Teachers member (2021)

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Degree of Barrister-at-Law (2020)

PgDip Professional Legal Studies, QUB (2020)

Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), QUB (2017)

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Alongside my research interests, I was involved in legal practice since 2018, being Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2020. I stepped back from practice in 2024 to complete my doctoral studies.

During that time in practice, I was involved in criminal defence work, criminal appeals to the country court and the Court of Appeal, and judicial review matters. 

My present doctoral research concerns the relationship between emotion and morality, and their combined effect and influence on criminalisation decisions.

My particular interest relates to the revival of legal moralism theory in modern criminalisation debates, and in particular the use of moral discourse to guide current criminal policies.

My current research relates to a wider interest in criminalisation theory and criminal law philosophy, moral emotions, and moral philosophy.

Awards and Scholarships:

Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland PhD Scholarship (2023-2025)

Emily Montgomery Travel Scholarship (2025)

European Union Law Prize (2015)

Publications:

Rea, E, What happened in there? Confessions, credibility and automatic exclusion: the case of Artt and confession admissibility (2022) 73(1) NILQ 1

Presented Papers:

Law and…something? Conceiving a framework for disgust’s relationship to criminal law ('Law And' Conference Dublin, 2025)

A Choice between the Rule of Law and Populist Legal Moralism: Explaining the rule of law crisis through the use of criminalisation theory (SLSA Liverpool, 2025)

A Phantom Legal Moralism: Theorising Moral-Disgust's Relationship to Criminalisation (QUB Seminar Lecture Series, 2025)

Back from the Dead: Re-thinking Disgust’s Suitability as a Criminalisation Guide (Lex-Connect: All-Ireland Law PhD Conference, 2024)

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Return of Intolerance, Indignation, and Disgust (QUB School of Law Conference, 2024)

Phantom of the Courtroom: The Emotion of Disgust (Irish Association of Law Teachers Conference, 2021)

Memberships:

Lex Connect All-Ireland PhD Law Conference 

Irish Association of Law Teachers

Associate of Trinity College London (ATCL)