Research students
We've asked our current doctoral researchers to share a little bit about their projects, so you can get a taste of what we cover within the School of Law at Birmingham City University!
Oleksandra Vytiaganets
Centre Affiliation(s): Centre for Law, Science and Policy.
Supervisory Team: Dr Haydn Davies, Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner
Title of PhD Research Project: International Investment Law and the Effect on ‘Public Health Sovereignty’ in Nation States.
Summary of PhD Research Project: The proliferation of international investment agreements (“IIAs”) has resulted in states having to observe legally binding responsibilities before foreign investors. While states commonly see IIAs as attractive tools to bring foreign direct investment, many of such Agreements may impact the public health policy in states by enabling private investors to challenge perceived unfavourable state regulation at arbitration tribunals. Therefore, to promote and facilitate FDI, states-parties to such agreements have compromised their sovereign right to conduct public health policy. My PhD project seeks to explore the relationship between the right and obligation of the sovereign state to promote the public interest in public health regulations and private right of international investors accorded by international investment agreements.
Dr Amelia Shooter (completed 2019)
Centre Affiliation(s): Centre for Law, Science and Policy and Centre for American Legal Studies.
Supervisory Team: Dr Haydn Davies, Dr Sarah Cooper, Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner
Title of PhD Research Project: 100 Years of the National Research Council: A Critical Examination of US Judicial Deference to “Agency Science”
Summary of PhD Research Project: Amelia’s research centres on the impact of the National Research Council over the last twenty-five years. The study focuses on the way that judges have made use of six reports of the National Academy of Sciences when making admissibility and interpretation decisions on the forensic sciences. The six reports were published between 1992 and 2009, and each examines the scientific reliability and validity underpinning forensic science evidence. Techniques discussed by the NAS include fingerprint evidence, DNA, lie detector technology, and bullet identification. This study examines appellate judicial decisions that make reference to at least one of these six reports, and explores the extent to which judges engage with the underpinning science contained in the reports. Judicial engagement will be captured on a “spectrum of deference” in the hope of providing an insight into judicial understanding of the forensic sciences.
Minh Thy Van Pham
Centre Affiliation(s): Centre for Law, Science, and Policy and Centre for American Legal Studies
Supervisory Team: Dr. Ewan Kirk, Dr. Anne Richardson-Oakes, Alec Morris
Title of PhD Research Project: Do copyright laws of the United Kingdom and the United States effectively protect the authors of fanfiction?
Summary of PhD Research Project: The relationship between fanfiction (“user creativity” in general) and copyright law has always been controversial, but this tension has deepened in recent years with the advent of Web 2.0 and expansion of copyright law. Fanfiction rarely has been treated as a derivative work, which is protected under the copyright law. To better understand this situation, my research presents comprehensive aspects of legal problems created by fanfiction, the relationship between creative reuse in fan media, and the United States and the United Kingdom’s copyright regulations. It explains how fanfiction became a global trend and a subject of copyright infringement claims, and whether a reformed copyright law, as well as other informal practices, can protect fanfiction.
Rose Tempowski
Centre Affiliation: Centre for Law, Science and Policy
Supervisory Team: Dr. Sarah Cooper, Jill Molloy, Professor Maxine Lintern & Professor Lissa Griffin
Title of PhD Research Project: An Examination of Judicial Engagement with ‘Juvenile Brain Science’ In US Courts
Description of PhD Research Project: Developments in the field of juvenile brain science have demonstrated that the immaturity of the adolescent brain can affect the decision-making process. Effectively weighing risk, thinking ahead, controlling impulses and being able to deal with peer pressure are all affected by areas of the brain which can continue to mature into adulthood. These scientific developments are relevant to the treatment of juveniles within the criminal justice system. During the last two decades, the US Supreme Court has repeatedly confronted the constitutionality of juvenile criminal sentences. In 2005, the death penalty was prohibited for those under 18 in a decision which made reference to developing juvenile brain science. In 2010, juvenile life without parole sentences were ruled unconstitutional for non-homicide offences and in 2012, mandatory life without parole sentences were prohibited for homicides. This project will analyse how courts across the US have engaged with brain science when dealing with juvenile offenders.
Laura Smillie
Centre Affiliation(s): Centre for Law, Science & Policy, Centre for American Legal Studies.
Supervisory Team: Dr Sarah L. Cooper and Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner.
Title of PhD Research Project: An examination of judicial decision-making in vaccine harm cases in the United States.
Summary of PhD Research Project: In the United States if you have been injured by a vaccine, you can seek legal compensatory relief from two separate mechanisms: the federally controlled National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), or through the tort of products liability. My project aims to categorise the factors that underpin the judiciary’s approach to vaccine harm claims, both in the NVICP and through state law products liability actions. To develop this typology, I will complete a systematic case-law review of vaccine harm claims from both mechanisms of legal relief. This case-law review will enable me to identify patterns in judicial legal strategies and decision-making, and ultimately inform judges, lawyers, and litigants about vaccine-harm claims.
Sally Phillips
Centre Affiliation(s): Centre for Law, Science & Policy, Centre for American Legal Studies.
Supervisory Team: Dr Sarah L. Cooper, Dr. Haydn Davies, Jill Molloy, and Professor Lissa Griffin.
Title of PhD Research Project: An examination of judicial decision-making in Shaken Baby Syndrome Cases
Summary of PhD Research Project: Sally’s research focuses on the intersection of science and law, particularly in cases concerning Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma. Coming from a background in Criminology and Forensic Studies with a firm foundation in the natural sciences, she has a great interest in the use of science in criminal prosecutions and the judicial response to this complex juncture of disciplines. Her thesis aims to collate and operationalise the ways in which SBS science is challenged and responded to in criminal courts in the US. Her model should not only provide insight into the way SBS science is dealt with in courts, but also act as a practical tool for advocates.