Dr Smita Kheria elected as Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association
Mon 28 April 2025
Dr Smita Kheria, Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, has been elected as the Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA), and is the first woman of colour to hold the position since the association was established. She was elected during the SLSA’s annual conference which was hosted by the University of Liverpool’s School of Law and Justice in April 2025.
Speaking about the appointment, Dr Kheria said: “I am deeply honoured and privileged to have been elected to this role, and I sincerely appreciate the trust the members of the association have placed in me to assume this responsibility. The SLSA’s annual postgraduate conference was my introduction to socio-legal studies and the association has been my academic home since the days of my doctoral research. At the time, my subject of expertise, intellectual property law, had a negligible amount of socio-legal scholarship and limited research in a social context. The association’s supportive and inspiring conferences benefited me enormously, providing a forum to meet peers with similar interests in law’s interaction with society, which in turn shaped my work in developing and promoting socio-legal studies within intellectual property law.”
Dr Kheria has previously served on the SLSA board of trustees in varied roles such as the International Liaison Officer and the Scottish Representative, and since 2023 as the Vice-Chair. She hosted the association’s annual postgraduate conference at Edinburgh Law School in January 2020, and has for a number of years, co-convened the Intellectual Property stream at the SLSA Annual Conference.
Building on the achievements of the previous Chair, Professor John Harrington, Cardiff University, Dr Kheria’s focus will be on advancing inclusivity and collaboration - key pillars of the SLSA’s ethos. This will include strengthening on-going initiatives to ensure that the association extends organisational, policy, and academic links within and beyond law, and nurtures the diversity and dynamism of its scholarly community.
Dr Kheria’s work focuses on copyright and related rights, creative practices and new technologies, and socio-legal research and teaching in intellectual property law. Her empirical research evaluates the complexities of copyright in a ‘real world’ context, with a particular focus on the law’s role in an uncertain fast-moving social, technological, and economic landscape. She also contributes to cross-disciplinary teaching on the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s MSc in Creative Industries.
Formed in 1990, and registered as a charity in 2019, the SLSA aims to advance education and learning in the field of socio legal studies and to promote socio-legal research. As a learned society, it works to represent, support, and build the socio-legal community. Its activities include bringing socio-legal scholars together through conferences and events, celebrating excellence in the field through a range of annual prizes and competitions, and supporting the community through grants and funding schemes.
Learn more about Dr Kheria’s work
Dr Smita Kheria | Staff profile
Learn more about the SLSA