My main research interests are the legal and societal responses to child pornography, the sexual grooming of children and child sexual exploitation more broadly, health care/medical law and bioethics (particularly assisted dying), related aspects of criminal law, law and literature, the impact of criminal law on bioethics and health care practice and exploitation in the doctor-patient relationship.
I am happy to supervise research degrees on the subjects of assisted dying, end of life and other aspects of medical law and bioethics, legal and social issues surrounding child pornography/sexual grooming and child sexual exploitation and other areas related to my research interests.
With Alisdair Gillespie, I have been successful in a bid for funding from the Modern Law Review for a seminar entitled Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Offences, Offenders and Victims, to be held in summer 2013.
I have been awarded research funding from the AHRC and the British Academy.
I was co-investigator on The Impact of the Criminal Process on Health Care Ethics and Practice, an AHRC funded research project (2008-2011) which provided a comprehensive analysis of the role of the criminal justice system in regulating health care practice and ethics in the UK.
I was involved in the ESRC funded Isis project (Lancaster University, Middlesex University and Swansea University), which developed an ethics-centred monitoring framework and tools for supporting law enforcement agencies in policing online social networks for the purpose of protecting children. For more information, see http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/isis/
2012-13:
Undergraduate: Law 330 Crime and Criminal Justice (course convenor, lecturer and seminar leader), Law343 Health Care Law and Ethics (joint course convenor with Sara Fovargue, lecturer and seminar leader) and Law 350 Gender and the Law (lecturer and seminar leader). Postgraduate: Programme Director of the LLM/MA in Bioethics and Medical Law. See further http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/law/prospective/postgrad/llmbiomed.htm
Convenor of and seminar leader for LLM/MA modules - LLM101 Foundations of Medical Law, LLM102 Life and Death and LLM103, Law and the Body
I am Editor in Chief for the Medical Law Review journal. Visit the journal's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MedicalLawReview to find out more.
I have been a Peer Review Assessor for the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the NHS Research for Patient Benefit Programme and the Wellcome Trust.
I have refereed a number of pieces for the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Medical Law Review, the Modern Law Review, Script-Ed, Clinical Ethics, Medical Law International,Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice and the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture.
I have reviewed books and book proposals for Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Person-Longman, Routledge-Cavendish and Sweet and Maxwell.
I am External Examiner at the University of Essex and External Assessor at the University of East Anglia.
Dr Alexandra Mullock, End-Of-Life Law and Assisted Dying in the 21st Century: Time for Cautious Revolution? (degree awarded 2012, University of Manchester).
Dr Noraiza Abdul Rahman, Facing Up to In Vitro Fertilisation Treatment in Malaysia: Questions of Why and How Treatment Should be Regulated within the Framework of Malaysian Cultural and Religious Values (degree awarded 2012, Lancaster University, School of Law).
Dr Judith Robertson, An Exploration of the Effects of Litigation on the Midwife and Her Practice (degree awarded 2010, University of Manchester).
I have been Professor of Law since April 2012. Prior to this, I was Senior Lecturer in Law between September 2007-March 2012. Previously, I was Lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester (2004-2007), and Lecturer in Law at the University of Central Lancashire (2000-2003).
Internal Responsibilities
I am the Director of the REF14 for the Law School.
Recent Conference/Seminar Presentations
Voices Carry? The Voice of Bioethics in the Courtroom and Voice of Law in Bioethics at the European Association of Centres for Medical Ethics annual conference, 21st September 2012. Plenary speaker.
End of Life Care: Withdrawal of Treatment and Assisted Dying - the Legal Position at the Lancaster University and Hospital ‘End of Life’ Seminar, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, 18th June 2012.
The Harms of Child Pornography: the Legal Approach in England and Wales at the 14th International WSV Symposium on Victimology, The Hague, The Netherlands, 23rd May 2012.
Media Availability
Available in principle in matters relating to my expertise.
