Research

See also:

• Areas of Academic Expertise
• Current PhD student profiles
• Visiting scholars and research students
• MPhil/PhD
• MA by Research

The breadth, depth and excellence of research activity in the School of Law earned us a highest possible rating of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2001), placing us among the top eight law schools in the UK.

We consolidated our 2001 position in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) as being ranked seventh in England, based on 60 per cent of our research activity classed as world-leading (4* the highest score possible) or internationally excellent (3*). The independent assessment of research quality takes into account the quality of research outputs, research environment and esteem indicators.

We adopt a wide spectrum of approaches to legal research, including doctrinal, theoretical, applied, comparative, historical, sociological, empirical and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Members of the School are actively involved in public affairs in the UK, European institutions and international bodies, and have leading roles in legal scholarship.  Many major conferences, workshops and seminars have been organised by members of the School. See ournews and events pages for more information.

Research Projects:

Several major externally-funded projects are currently under way in the School, for example:

Centre for the study of incentives in health

Wellcome Trust - Professor Richard Ashcroft (with Professor Theresa Marteau, KCL, and Dr Adam Oliver, LSE) has been awarded £850 000. The five-year project (2009-2014) is a study of the ethical, economic and psychological dimensions of the use of personal financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviour for improving personal and public health. The project includes a PhD studentship and a two year postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Law. There will also be a series of seminars and international conferences. 

Read about the MA Medical Law and Ethics

Implications of Human Rights on Copyright Law

Westfield Trust - Dr Guido Westkamp has been awarded a £12,000 grant in order to carry out research on the interaction between copyright, technology and human rights. The two-year project (2007-2009) will assess the implications of digital copyright and the use of technology on issues such as communication guarantees. The aim is to produce a set of workable differentiations from a comparative perspective.

The selection process of the international judiciary

AHRC - a three-year project by Professor Kate Malleson and Professor Philippe Sands (UCL) on the selection process of the international judiciary. The project will identify the criteria and procedures by which judges are nominated and elected to the international courts.

Fair Trade Movement, Common Legal Support and Social Implications

AHRC: a three-year project by Professor Janet Dine and Professor Brigitte Granville - 'Fair Trade Movement, Common Legal Support and Social Implications.' The object of the research is to determine the welfare benefits of the Fair Trade labelling systems, to investigate the legal framework within which they operate and determine whether improvements can be made to legal or technological support for Fair Trade. 

www.qmul-fairtradeproject.org

Patenting Lives

AHRC: 'Patenting Lives: The implications of change' (Professor Johanna Gibson, Reader in Intellectual Property Law) Patenting Lives is a research project originally funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This project has gathered together interdisciplinary experts to consider intellectual property protections and restrictions on life forms, and particularly the impact on developing and least developed countries. The patenting of life forms raises many critical questions, not only with respect to ethical and moral concerns, but also cultural, social, and economic development.

www.patentinglives.org

EC Funding: DG Internal Policies

European Commission: 'EC Funding: DG internal policies' Professor Takis Tridimas, Barrister (Middle Temple,) Sir John Lubbock Professor of Banking Law European Parliament Committee of Inquiry into the Equitable Life Affair on the implementation of EU insurance law in the UK, Spain, Germany and Ireland. Written evidence submitted to the Committee in the form of two reports: T. Tridimas, G. Gari, C. Gerner-Beuerle & J.A. Gutierrez: Report on the transposition of EU Life Insurance Directives in the UK, Spain Germany and Ireland (pp. 286) and T. Tridimas, G. Gari, C. Gerner-Beuerle & J.A. GutierrezReport on the Adequacy of Remedies available to Policyholders in the ELAS Affair (pp. 109). Oral evidence submitted on 5 October 2006.

Legal Regulation of Internet Shopping

Moats Tye Consulting Ltd: 'Legal Regulation of Internet Shopping' (Chris Reed, Professor of Electronic Commerce Law) 

Attitudes of Major International Corporations Towards International Arbitration

PriceWaterhouseCoopers: 'Attitudes of Major International Corporations Towards International Arbitration' (Professor Loukas Mistelis, Clive M Schmitthoff Professor of Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration) This two-year project was the largest ever empirical survey amongst major international corporations (mostly listed in Fortune 500) about their choices and preferences towards international dispute settlement. The findings have been received with major interest (www.pwc.com/arbitrationstudy [new window]) and a new survey is to start from 1 September 2007.

IPR and Multilateral Institutions

ESRC: IPR and Multilateral Institutions (Dr Duncan Matthews, Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law) The IP-NGOs project identified patterns in recent NGO activity on issues relating to intellectual property and the following multilateral institutions: the World Trade Organisation (WTO); the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO); the World Health Organisation (WHO); the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD-COP); and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

www.ipngos.org [new window]

The role of family members in medical decision-making

Nuffield Career Development Fellowship Award. Dr Roy Gilbar, who received his PhD from Queen Mary, has been awarded a Nuffield Career Development Fellowship worth £161,000 over three years. The research project involves investigating the role of family members in medical decision-making.

Virtually every major area of law is covered by the specialist interestsof academic staff in the School, all of whom are willing to supervise postgraduate research within their areas of expertise.  For more information on becoming part of our thriving community of over 300 research students, look at our pages on the MPhil/PhD and MA by Research programmes.