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Accessibility

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We are committed to providing online information and services accessible to all. Our website can easily be adjusted to suit your particular needs.

Accessibility statement

The University’s website accessibility statement is part of guidance that addresses equality of access to University information and services.

Accessibility statement: Our commitment to accessibility

Customising our site

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.

Customising our site

A-Z list of higher education terms

This glossary includes common abbreviations and acronyms used across our website.

A-Z list of higher education terms

Report an accessibility problem

We continue to make further improvements and enhancements to the accessibility of our website, based on feedback from our users.

Please let us know if you encounter any problems, or if you find any of our features particularly useful, at communications@law-school.ed.ac.uk

If you need any help in reporting your difficulty with the website, please read the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guide 'Contacting Organisations about Inaccessible Websites'.

Contacting organisations about inaccessible websites

Internet Explorer

We are aware that our website has some issues rendering correctly on the Internet Explorer browser, which may adversely affect users who use Internet Explorer with their accessibility tools and software. We are working to remedy this and appreciate your patience in this matter. Please see our section "Customising our Site" for some workarounds, and please report any issues you're having to us.

Requesting web content in alternative formats

Please note that if you require any content, or web related resources such as media, documents or downloads, in an alternative format, please contact the Law School's communications team at communications@law-school.ed.ac.uk

Information Services and Accessibility

Information Services (IS) has further information on accessibility including assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users.

Assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our reception has an audio induction loop.

If you are a BSL user you can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Sign Language interpreting service.

Contact our reception, details on our "Contact Us" page.

Privacy and cookies

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The School of Law is committed to protecting your privacy and keeping you informed of how your information is used. We will only record your personal details in the manner and for the purposes set out in this privacy statement. Data will be kept secure from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.  We will not sell, rent, trade or otherwise knowingly share or provide your personal information to any third party, except insofar as legally obliged to do so or as specified below.

What information do we collect?

Information we collect may include: 

  • In response to or as part of any contact with the School via electronic means we may request your contact information; such as your name, organisation, postal address, telephone, date of birth and email address
  • Your responses to surveys which we ask you to complete for research purposes
  • Information required for research subject participation, although this may be subject to a separate consent process or privacy notice
  • Third party datasets containing de-identified information that is required for research purposes but for which it is not possible to seek individual consent
  • How you use our websites, unless you have opted out of cookie consent
  • Any other information you post, email or otherwise send to us 

How do we use this information?

The School will process the personal data of academics, researchers, students, graduates, visitors, staff and other stakeholders in order to deliver and improve the opportunities and services we provide in a personalised manner, to ensure each individual receives relevant information and to meet our statutory, contractual and legitimate business requirements in the most efficient and effective way. We also use information for legitimate research purposes, in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.  A human decision maker will always be involved before any decision is reached in relation to you.

Information about you will only be used: 

  • If you have provided us with your consent
  • If processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take the steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract
  • If it is in the legitimate interest of the School to process information about you as you are part of the University of Edinburgh community. In order to stay in touch with you and keep you informed of our events, news and services
  • If it is in the legitimate interest of the School to process information collected as part of a research project, where ethical and legal issues have been given every consideration and where appropriate approvals have been given for the research.
  • For Human Resource recruitment and selection purposes
  • To facilitate online bookings for our events we use a third party service ePay and their privacy policy is viewable here

 With your consent we may:

  • Keep you up to date via electronic, postal and telephone communications with news, events, activities, programmes, services, funding and progress of interest to you with regards to the School
  • Process information about you to administer your conference attendance at the School. After which we may send you presentations, surveys and request feedback
  • Send you University and School marketing information

To meet our contractual obligations to you we will:

  • Process contracts for research agreements, funding award applications, placements, licensing agreements and research programme activity
  • Track financial information for reporting
  • Monitor University of Edinburgh staff and student entries into training, awards, programmes and competitions
  • Process recipients of grants, funding and awards won for audit purposes
  • Capture external, past and current researcher and academic publications and research outcomes

 On the basis of our legitimate business interests to you we will: 

  • Supply you with the products, services and information that you request from us and to allow us to respond to your enquiry accordingly
  • Analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our websites, documentation, teaching and research, room bookings, events and to ensure continuous improvement of all of our services
  • Inform stakeholders of opportunities that may be of interest to them
  • Monitor the progress of the School and its stakeholders and inform them of appropriate opportunities and services
  • Assist stakeholders in visa application processes
  • Notify you about changes to our services
  • Send you University and School information if you are a professional contact

Cookies and Website Privacy

For more information on our use of cookies and details of how the University of Edinburgh is committed to preserving your privacy, please visit the University of Edinburgh Privacy and cookie Policy information webpages.

How long will we keep your personal data? 

Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and, in some cases, so we can comply with our legitimate and contractual obligations.

In the case of subscribed services such as mailing lists we will hold the personal data you provided us for 1 year.  After this period, we will send communication to you querying whether you wish to remain on our mailing list.  Alternatively, you can opt out of the mailing list at any time.

At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning.

In the case of datasets used for research purposes, we will hold the data for the shortest necessary period, the details of which will be set out in the Data Privacy and Impact Assessment.

Storage and transmission of your information

Once we have received your information, we employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to the website or via email. Any transmission is at your own risk.

Research datasets are subject to strict security protocols and all necessary procedures are put in place to maintain confidentiality and subject safety.

Passwords and credentials

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of the website or information systems and services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Online Transactions

All payment transactions will be encrypted.  Areas of the site that process online transactions make use of – and transfer data to – third-party software and service providers.  All third-party software and service providers that we use are compliant with the relevant Payment Card Industry standards.

Information disclosure

Authorised personnel within the School will be able to access the information you provide to us. Unless required to do so by law, we will not share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent. To comply with statutory requirements, we are required to share your personal information with external agencies, particularly for the purposes of detection or prevention of crime or fraud. We may also disclose your personal information to the University of Edinburgh or any other subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh, for the purposes disclosed in this privacy statement. 

Who we share data with

Information that you share with us may be processed by the following 3rd Parties, you will be informed if this applies to your data: 

  • Other departments and services within the University of Edinburgh
  • On certain programmes of study we will share information with other participating academic institutions
  • Key Travel for the purposes of making travel and accommodation arrangements
  • Our international payments provider Santander for non-staff transfers
  • Co-hosts of events and conferences
  • Research funding bodies

This privacy notice is continued at: Continued Privacy Notice

Additional privacy statements

The University maintains several other privacy statements that are specific to services delivered. 

Access, update, unsubscribe or have your information deleted

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information held by us in our records. If you would like a copy of this information, please contact us using the details below. We want to make sure that your information is accurate and up to date. You may also ask us to correct or remove any information you think is inaccurate. 

The School will provide you with a copy of all information maintained about you upon written request to: 

Data Protection Officer
School of Law
University of Edinburgh
Old College, South Bridge,
Edinburgh EH8 9YL
Scotland, UK 

Or by email to law@ed.ac.uk.

We will correct any inaccuracies in such information as soon as practicable after being notified in writing. Any user may also require that this information be removed from our records by writing, emailing or unsubscribing. 

Unsubscribing 

If you change your mind about being contacted in the future by any of these means you can opt out from further communications at any point by contacting us directly at communications@law-school.ed.ac.uk or at the address above, alternatively unsubscribe via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of email communications you receive from us. 

Changes to the privacy policy

We  keep this privacy policy under regular review and may amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on the website.

Terms and conditions

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This website www.law.ed.ac.uk (the “Site”) is provided by The Edinburgh Law School ("the School"). Use of the Site is governed by these terms and conditions (together with the documents referred to on it) (“Terms and Conditions”).

Please read them now. By using the Site you indicate that you accept the Terms and Conditions and that you agree to abide by them. If you are not willing to accept these Terms and Conditions you may not use the Site.

Access

Access to the Site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on the Site without notice.

From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Site, or the entire Site, to users who have registered with us.

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

Disclaimer

The Site and its contents are for general information only and are provided “as is”. We make no warranties, representations or undertakings about:

  • any of the content of the Site (including, without limitation, any as to the quality, accuracy, completeness or fitness for any particular purpose of such content); or
  • any content of any other third party website referred to or accessed by hypertext link through the Site.

We make no guarantees that the Site is free from so called computer viruses. It is strongly recommended that you check for such viruses before downloading it or its contents.

Links

Links to third party websites are for your convenience only. Such websites are operated and controlled by third parties and their inclusion does not imply any endorsement or approval by the School of the materials on such websites.

Liability

The School accepts no liability for any claims, penalties, loss or expenses arising from: any reliance placed on the content of the Site; the use or inability to use the Site; the downloading of any materials from the Site; or any unauthorised access to or alteration to the Site. This clause shall not exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by the negligence of the School.

Copyright

The content of the Site (including, but not limited to all text and artwork) is protected by copyright. The copyright is owned by the School or is otherwise licensed from a third party for use by the School.

You may view or download any part of the Site for private purposes, but you are not permitted, without our permission, to:

  • store the Site, or any part of the Site, for any other purpose;
  • print copies of the Site, or any part of the Site, for any other purpose;
  • reproduce, copy or transmit the Site, or any part of the Site, in any way, for any other purpose or in any other medium.

All other rights which are not specifically granted are reserved.

Privacy notice

On visiting the School website we sometimes need to collect information about you. How we use this information is explained in our privacy notice.

Privacy notice

Publishing through the Site

If you wish to publish through the Site, please be aware that other terms and conditions in addition to the Terms and Conditions may apply to such publications.

Uploading material to the Site

Other than personally identifiable information, which is covered under our Privacy Policy, any material you transmit or post to the Site shall be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, subject to any other terms and conditions relating to publishing through the Site which are agreed with the School. We shall have no obligations with respect to such material and we shall have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any material posted or uploaded by you to the Site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

You are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from the Site any material:

  • that is threatening, defamatory, obscene, indecent, seditious, offensive, pornographic, abusive, liable to incite racial hatred, discriminatory, menacing, scandalous, inflammatory, blasphemous, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy or which may cause annoyance or inconvenience; or
  • for which you have not obtained all necessary licences and/or approvals; or
  • which constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise be contrary to the law of or infringe the rights of any third party, in the UK or any other country in the world; or
  • which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data).

You may not misuse the Site (including, without limitation, by hacking).

We have the right to remove any material or posting you make on the Site if, in our opinion, such material does not comply with the provisions set out above or for any other reason whatsoever. In addition, we shall fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or locate anyone posting any material in breach of the provisions set out above.

Changes

The School reserves the right to amend or replace the Terms and Conditions at any time. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on the Site.

Jurisdiction

The Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Scotland and any disputes that may arise will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

Dr Annie Sorbie

Senior Lecturer in Law (Health, Medical Law and Ethics)

Director of Knowledge Exchange and Impact; Head of Subject Area: Health, Medical Law and Ethics

LLB, Dip Law, PhD

Office hours:

Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3633

Email: asorbie@ed.ac.uk

View my publications

Annie Sorbie is a Senior Lecturer in Health, Medical Law and Ethics at Edinburgh Law School, with a research and teaching portfolio. Prior to her career in academia, she had over 14 years’ experience in legal practice in the health, social care and regulatory sector (September 2001 – December 2015, Partner from 2009), with a speciality in professional regulation.  She has extensive experience of providing strategic advice on matters of health regulatory practice and policy.

 Dr Sorbie’s research interrogates two key and related areas, namely health research regulation, with a focus on the role of the public interest, and the regulation of individual health and social care professionals. She has been called upon to provide independent expert advice to a range of public and third sector bodies, including recently the Infected Blood Inquiry (on the duties of candour), and the Scottish Government (on unlocking the value of public sector data for public benefit).

Recent funded projects include:

  • Witness to harm, holding to account: Improving patient, family and colleague witnesses’ experiences of Fitness to Practise proceedings (Funder: NIHR)

This interdisciplinary project has studied the experiences of witnesses who give evidence in professional conduct hearings about care provided by health and social care professionals. Dr Sorbie led a work package which explored how the legal and policy frameworks of the statutory regulators of social work and social care professionals in the UK approach the question of whether a witness at a Fitness to Practise hearing should be considered as ‘vulnerable’, and the steps that may be taken in response.  These findings have been co-produced and disseminated in various ways, including at a recent presentation at CLEAR (Council for Enforcement, Licensure and Regulatory) in Baltimore, US, (September 2024) and a forthcoming journal article.

  • Towards Self-Governance in Ukraine (Funder: Edinburgh Global) (Funder: Edinburgh Global)

Despite the ongoing brutal war, the government of Ukraine is moving ahead with transformational health sector reforms aimed at ensuring the right to health. For example, an NHS-like financing structure has been introduced (called the NHS Ukraine, or ‘NHSU’). However, the surrounding institutional architecture requires further enrichment and reinforcement. In collaboration with co-PIs at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and University of Edinburgh, Dr Sorbie has co-led this interdisciplinary, international project which is aimed at exploring the legal, ethical, and public administration implications of the current Ukrainian legislative agenda in relation to the introduction of a regime for the self-governance of healthcare professions. 

On 24th November 2024 Dr Sorbie will Chair the Professional Health and Social Care Regulatory Event 2024, which is jointly run by the Scottish Government and statutory regulators of health and social care.  This year the theme is ‘The Role of Regulation in the Workforce of the Future. 

Dr Sorbie is a Deputy Director of the Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, and co-leads its policy portfolio. She is also currently the Director of KEI within the Law School, and the head of the Health, Medical Law and Ethics Subject Area. From 2018 – 2024 she served on the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Patient Safety Group as a lay adviser.  In 2024 she has been appointed by the BMA’s Council to their Medical Ethics Committee.

Professor Richard Sparks

Emeritus Professor of Criminology

BA, MPhil, PhD (Cantab)

Email: r.sparks@ed.ac.uk

View my publications

Richard Sparks is Emeritus Professor of Criminology at the University of Edinburgh.

From 2014-17 he was Head of the School of Law. He was from 2006-16 a founding Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research

He is a member of the editorial boards of several journals including Punishment & Society, of which he was editor-in-chief 2000-2004.

He is author/co-author of Television and the Drama of Crime (Open University Press, 1992), Prisons and the Problem of Order (with Tony Bottoms and Will Hay, OUP, 1996), Crime and Social Change in Middle England (with Evi Girling and Ian Loader, Routledge, 2000) and Public Criminology? (with Ian Loader, Routledge, 2010).

Richard has also edited a number of books. The most recent of these are: Democratic Theory and Mass Incarceration (with Albert Dzur and Ian Loader) (Oxford, 2016); four volumes on Punishment (with Richard Jones) in Routledge's Critical Concepts in Criminology series (2015); The SAGE Handbook of Punishment & Society (with Jonathan Simon) (SAGE, 2012); Travels of the Criminal Question (with Dario Melossi and Máximo Sozzo) (Hart, 2011) and Escape Routes: Contemporary Perspectives on Life After Punishment (with Farrall, Hough and Maruna), Routledge, 2010.

In 2019 KU Leuven awarded Richard an honorary doctorate, and held a conference on 'Criminology and Democratic Politics'. Find out more about the event and watch Richard's lecture on the KU Leuven website.

Here is a recent webinar on 100 Years of the Howard Journal: lessons for contemporary penal policy, with a short contribution by Richard

Research Interests

Richard's main research interests lie in the relationships between penal policies and democratic politics; the sociology of punishment (especially imprisonment); public responses to crime and punishment; and the uses, abuses and non-uses of criminological knowledge in shaping public policy on crime and punishment.

Current Research Interests

Richard's recent work principally concerns the relationships between policies, discourses and practices of crime control and punishment and democratic politics. This extends earlier joint work with Ian Loader in their book Public Criminology? (Routledge, 2010) which focused on the place of criminology in debates on the public roles of the social sciences.See publication here.

Loader and Sparks, with Evi Girling (PI), Ben Bradford, Gosia Polanska and Ryan Casey, are part of a team working on an ESRC-funded research project on people's experiences of security in everyday life, based on fieldwork in a town in Northern England. The project revisits sites of earlier work in light of the changes that have taken place there in the intervening quarter century. Visit the project website

Richard is a co-convener with Maximo Sozzo (UNL, Argentina) of an International Research Collaborative of the Law and Society Association on International and Comparative Perspectives on Punishment and Society, Between the global North and South.

Sparks and Sozzo recently established an online workshop on similar themes. We hold monthly meetings with speakers from around the world - all welcome!: Visit the workshop website for further information.

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