SLSA

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The Socio-Legal Studies Association was formed in 1990 in the UK. It grew out of the Socio-Legal Group which for some years had provided an annual forum for socio-legal scholars to meet and disseminate their work. However, it was felt that there was a need for a more permanent organisational structure which would help to keep scholars in touch with each other, providing regular channels of communication and promoting and supporting the work of socio-legal academics.

               

Over the years the SLSA has grown and developed. The annual conference is hosted each year by a different UK university. It has been to all four corners of the UK, visiting institutions in major cities — for instance, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool – and smaller urban settings –Aberystwyth, Stirling, Keele.

               

The SLSA aims 'to advance education and learning and in particular to advance research, teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field of socio-legal studies.' It achieves these aims primarily through meetings, conferences, and seminars; through research grants and prizes; through publications; through liaison with policy-makers and research funders; and through supporting students.

 

The SLSA is run by volunteers who sit on its Executive Committee. Meetings are usually held in London although they occasionally move around the country. Executive Committee members are always happy to be contacted about the SLSA's activities.

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You can view the SLSA blog here.

 

 

Steering Group

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Devyani Prabhat (co-lead, University of Bristol), who researches British citizenship, children’s rights, and the practice of nationality laws, and who has recently been working on a project exploring the processes of gaining, holding and losing of citizenship and the role of nationality law practice for long term residents or British citizens.

 

Janine Sargoni (co-lead, University of Bristol), whose work encompasses understanding how authority might be justly exercised in the absence of democratic legitimacy, in the context of scientific research.

 

Katie Cruz (University of Bristol), who works on feminist, Marxist and post-structural approaches to the law.

 

Sheelagh McGuiness (University of Bristol), whose research is on the fields of health law, law and reproduction, and law and gender. She has published across these areas in law, ethics, and health care journals.

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Naomi Creutzfeldt, (University of Westminster),  whose research interests include ombudsmen and procedural justice, dispute resolution, EU law and regulation and media and political communication across cultures.

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Peter Dunne (University of Bristol), whose work focuses broadly on human rights, family law and comparative law, with a particular interest in gender, sexuality and law.

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Louise Austin (University of Bristol), who is undertaking a PhD looking at understandings of informed consent across medical ethics, medical law and medical professional regulation.

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Louise Hatherall (University of Bristol), who is undertaking a PhD looking at the impact of granting patents for genetic inventions on innovation, competition and human health.

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Jess Mant (University of Leeds) who is undertaking a PhD looking at family law and structural vulnerability in light of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

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David Cowan (University of Bristol), who researches primarily (although not exclusively) socio-legal, and focuses on social theory and the housing system(s). His more recent work engages with modern histories of housing policy.

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Lois Bibbings (University of Bristol), whose expertise is in Law, Gender and History. She has written about violence, sexuality, medical law and ethics ('conscience', 'care', care and older people, abortion, gender) and the body as well as widening participation policy.

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Christopher Gray (University of Bristol), MSc Socio-legal Studies candidate.

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