Public International Law videos - Nehal Bhuta

Edinburgh Law School’s Chair of Public International Law Nehal Bhuta delivers lecture at UCL

12 March 2019

Health, Medical Law and Ethics

Body

Edinburgh Law School has a long-standing tradition of teaching and research in the field of health, medical law and ethics. Our leading textbook, Mason and McCall-Smith’s Law and Medical Ethics, was the first of its kind when published in 1983. Today, the research area is one of the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and it is home to a vibrant community of scholars studying and researching in this dynamic field.

Vitruvian Man images by Astrid Jaekel

As well as core undergraduate courses, we have an international reputation for our LLM degrees offered both on-campus and by online learning. Our PhD community has particular strength, and many graduates are now leading academics in their own right. Continuing professional development options are also available to support practitioners in healthcare, law, and associated professions keep on top of this fast-moving area.

In research terms, much of our work is carried out under the auspices of the Mason Institute that was established in 2012 as a cross-College interdisciplinary research hub. The Mason Institute’s mission is to investigate the interface between medicine, life sciences, and the law as these disciplines impact on medical and bioethical developments on a national and global scale. Our research has been funded by Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, the European Commission, and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, among others. We pride ourselves on our strong sense of interdisciplinary team working, and an example is our Liminal Spaces project that has been looking at how to improve human health research regulation.

Sharon Cowan, Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies

Murray Earle, Senior Lecturer in Medical Law

Anne-Maree Farrell, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence

Agomoni Ganguli Mitra, Senior Lecturer in Bioethics and Global Health Ethics

Graeme Laurie, Professorial Fellow

Catriona McMillan, Lecturer in Medical Law

Gerard Porter, Senior Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics

Emily Postan, Chancellor's Fellow in Bioethics

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

Journal articles

Saying "I'm sorry" at the bedside: When and why should apologies following medical mishaps be protected from legal liability
Sim, S.W.; Porter, G. & Kumar, R.K.L. In: Medical Law Review. Vol.33, No.1, p. 1-22. 12.03.2025. View article

Finding consensus on trust in AI in health care: Recommendations from a panel of international experts
Starke, G.; Gille, F.; Termine, A.; Postan, E. et al. In: Journal of medical Internet research. Vol. 24, 19.02.2025, p. 1-18. View article

Mental health and capacity laws in Northern Ireland: Examining the position of children and young people
Farrell, A-M., Agnew, Elizabeth. & Hann, Patrick. In Medical Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, 27.10.2024 p.1-20. View article

A triad approach to best interests when responding to discharge demands from hospitalized patients lacking in mental capacity to decide on treatment
Lee, S.M.; Mohd Rais, N.C. & Porter, G. In Asian Bioethics Review, Vol. 16, No. 4, 23.10.2024. View article

The connection-friction axis in devolved health policy and law-making in the UK: A case study of organ donation
Reed-Berendt, Ruby; Farrell, Anne-Maree; Watkins, Matthew et al. In: Modern Law Review, 25.05.2024, p. 1-30. View article

Purpose definition as a crucial step for determining the legal basis under the GDPR: Implications for scientific research
Becker, Regina; Chokoshvili, Davit; Thorogood, Adrian et al. In: Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Vol. 11, No. 1, 01.02.2024, p. 1-30. View article

A qualitative interview study to determine barriers and facilitators of implementing automated decision support tools for genomic data access
Rahimzadeh, Vasiliki; Baek, Jinyoung; Lawson, Jonathan et al. In: BMC Medical Ethics, Vol. 25, No. 1, 51, 12.2024, p. 1-10. View article

Confidentiality, public interest, and the human right to science: When can confidential information be used for the benefit of the wider community? 
Dove, Edward S. In: Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Vol. 10, No. 1, lsad013, 14.06.2023, p. 1-53. View article

Promoting solidarity in contested political spaces and public health emergencies: Examining Covid-19 vaccination on the island of Ireland.
Ó Néill, Clayton ; Farrell, Anne-Maree; Donnelly, Mary et al. In: Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. AD1, 29.06.2023, p. 1-21. View article

Rethinking risk in adults’ engagement with sexual digital imagery
Power, Jennifer; Dowsett, Gary W.; Waling, Andrea et al. In: Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 07.07.2023, p. 1-24. View article

Achieving procedural parity in managing access to genomic and related health data: A global survey of data access committee (DAC) members
Lawson, Jonathan ; Rahimzadeh, Vasiliki; Baek, Jinyoung et al. In: Biopreservation and biobanking, 16.05.2023. View article

Rethinking the regulation of digital contraception under the medical devices regime
McMillan, C. In: Medical Law International, 11.02.2023. View article

Ethics governance in Scottish universities: How can we do better? A qualitative study
Dove, E.S. & Douglas, C. In: Research Ethics, 33, 12.01.2023, p. 1-33. View article

Books

Law and Legacy in Medical Jurisprudence : Essays in Honour of Graeme Laurie 
Dove, Edward S (Editor); Nic Shuibhne, Niamh (Editor). Cambridge University Press, 2022. 448 p. View book

Chapters

Gender, health and technology: The rise of femtech
McMillan, C. A Research Agenda for Gender and Health. Jasmine Gideon; Sarah Hawkes (Eds) Edward Elgar Publishing (Elgar Research Agendas), 2024, p. 87-106. View chapter

Farrell AM, ‘Care and the COVID-19 pandemic: ethical and legal issues’, Keynote, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN) Worksop on Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Values Governance and Accountability, Dublin, Ireland, 6 May 2022.

Farrell AM, Reed-Berendt R et al, ‘Legislating for organ donation in a devolved UK: values, rhetoric and policy transfer’, paper given at the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Annual Conference, York, 7 April 2022.

Ganguli-Mitra, A., Invited Panelist, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Webinar on the Ethical Implications of Antibody Testing and “Immunity Certification” (July 2020) View presentation

Ganguli-Mitra, A, Invited Speaker, ‘Ethics in Times of Pandemic: Revisiting Vulnerability’, Edinburgh Infectious Disease Coronavirus Workshop, 2020. View event 

Ganguli-Mitra, A, Invited Speaker, ‘Vulnerability and Responsive Pedagogy’, Race.Ed Launch Event on Collective and Creative Pedagogy (July, 2020) View event

McMillan, C., ‘Monitoring female fertility through femtech: how should law and regulation respond?’ Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference 2022, University of York.

McMillan, C.., Invited Speaker, ‘Rights, duties and conflict handling among progenitors. How to harmonize the right to become a mother or a father and the right to not become. International jurisprudence.’ Universidad Diego Portales (June 2021) View event

McMillan, C., Invited Panellist, ‘Women EmpowerED Reproductive Rights Panel Discussion’, University of Edinburgh (March 2021) View event

Sorbie, A., Invited Speaker, ‘Candour and Healthcare’, Centre for Health, Law and Society Annual Symposium, the University of Bristol, 11 February 2021 (online) View event

Dove, ES (Co-Investigator) US National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Data Access Committee Review Standards (DACReS): Administrative supplement to the AnVIL Data Ecosystem.” Administrative Supplement for Research and Capacity Building Efforts Related to Bioethical Issues (Project Number 3U24HG010262-04S2). Amount: $112,763 USD. [PI's: Anthony Philippakis, Jonathan Lawson; 2021-22]

Dove, ES, ‘Ethics Review in Scottish Universities: How Can We Do Better?’ Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Research Incentive Grant [£11,435] (PI: ES Dove, 2020-21).

Dove ES, ‘UK-REACH: United Kingdom Research Study into Ethnicity and COVID-19 Outcomes in Healthcare Workers’, COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call, UKRI-NIHR.
[£2,128,823] (PI: Dr Manish Pareek; 2020-21) Project website

Coggon J, Dove ES, Farrell AM, Harrington, Murphy T, Tahzib F et al. COVID-19: Explaining the Legal & Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance [separately funded by the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Queen’s University Belfast]  Project website

Farrell AM, ‘When Borders Change: Public Health Trade and the Role of Law in the UK and Ireland’ Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Saltire Facilitation Network Funding Award (Ref: 1916) Principal Investigator: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); co-Investigator Prof Mary Donnelly (University College Cork) (2022-24 [£19,828.84] Project website

Farrell AM, ‘Legal Transplants and Policy Transfers: Legislating for Organ Donation in a Devolved UK’, British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant Award (SRG21/210296). Principal Investigator: Prof John Harrington (Cardiff); Co-Investigator: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh) (2021-22) [£9,971.00) Project website

Farrell AM, ‘A Public Health, Ethics and Law Research Network’, ESRC-IRC Research Networking Grant UK PI: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); Ireland PI: Prof Mary Donnelly (UCC), Co-Investigators: Prof Thérèse Murphy (QUB), Dr Clayton Ó Neill (QUB), Prof Deirdre Madden (UCC), Dr Mary Tumelty (UCC) (2021-22) [£15,889.00]

Farrell AM, The Technological Transformation of Sex: Improving Australia’s Response, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant [AUD$318,000; £163,000] (PI: Jennifer Power, Australian Research Centre for Sex Health and Society (ARCSHS) Co-Investigators: Prof Gary Dowsett, Prof Jayne Lucke, Dr Andrea Waling (La Trobe), Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); 2019-2022). Project website / Australian Project website

Farrell AM, A Research Network in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics on the island of Ireland, Wellcome Trust Small Grant in Humanities and Social Sciences [£12,360] (PI: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell; 2019-2021). Project website

Ganguli-Mitra, A, Vulnerability and Justice in Global Health Emergency Regulation: Developing Future Ethical Models, Wellcome Trust Seed Award [£70,642.00] (PI: Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, 2018-2020). Project website

McMillan C, ‘“Femtech” and the Process of Becoming a “Better” Woman: How Should Law and Regulation Respond to Health Technologies Targeted at Improving Women’s Health and Well-being?’, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021-2024) [£346,693] Project details

Porter, G. ‘Smart Regulation of Antibiotic Use in India: Understanding, Innovating and Improving Compliance’ Newton-Bhabha Fund project funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Government of India, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). UK PI Gerard Porter (Edinburgh); India PI Prof Anita Kotwani (University of Delhi) co-Investigators Dr Anjana Sankhil Lamkang (Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, New Delhi), Prof Javier Guitian (Royal Veterinary College, London) Dr Jyoti Joshi (Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, New Delhi), Prof Lucy Kimbell (University of the Arts London), Dr Meenakshi Gautham  (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Dr Nagendra R Hegde (National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad) [£633,956; share to UoE £: 417,788] (2018-2021). Project website 

Dove ES, Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) Colloquium, Wednesday 28 April 2021, View event

Dove ES, Mason Institute: Early Career Researcher Online Workshop: Developing a Career in Health Law and Bioethics, 19-20 April 2021 View event

Dove ES, Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) Annual Lecture and Training Workshop on Empirical Legal Research Methods and Methodologies, 16 October 2020 View event 

Farrell AM and Donnelly M, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN): Care and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Values, Governance and Accountability Research Workshop, 6 May 2022, Dublin, Ireland.

Farrell AM, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN): COVID-19 Vaccination: Ethics in Practice Webinar + Workshop, 16 June 2021 View event 

Media/Online

Shackleton N, Farrell AM, Power J, ‘A Third of Surveyed Australians say the Internet is Good for Their Sex Lives’ The Conversation 15 February 2022 View media

Parliamentary submissions

Postan E, Sorbie A, Ganguli-Mitra A, Chan S, Dove ES, Sethi N, McMillan C, Greenbrook J.  Submission from the Mason Institute for Medicine Life Sciences and the Law, School of Law, University of Edinburgh in response to UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee call for evidence on the human rights implications of the UK Government’s response to COVID-19.

Dove ES, Member, National Data Guardian’s Panel (2021 - )

Dove ES, Member, Stakeholder forum; WP4 Policy forum; WP5 Work package permanent advisory group, Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS) (Coordinated by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and co-funded by the Health Programme of the EU)

Dove ES, Member, Ethics Board, Intelligent Total Body Scanner for Early Detection of Melanoma (iToBoS) project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 965221)

Dove ES, Member, Editorial Board, European Journal of Health Law

Dove ES, Associate Editor, Research Ethics (academic journal published by SAGE)

Dove ES, Member, Stakeholder forum; WP4 Policy forum; WP5 Work package permanent advisory group, Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS) (Coordinated by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and co-funded by the Health Programme of the EU)

Dove ES, Member, Ethics Board, Intelligent Total Body Scanner for Early Detection of Melanoma (iToBoS) project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 965221)

Dove ES, Member, Advisory Board, STAMINA project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 883441)

Dove E.S., UK National Contact, European Association of Health Law (EAHL)

Dove E.S, Member, Biolaw Department, International Chair in Bioethics

Dove E.S, Member, Steering Group for the Scottish Guthrie Card Archive (Scottish Government);

Dove E.S, Expert Consultant, Data Protection Unit, Council of Europe

Farrell AM, Expert Advisor, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (2022)

Farrell AM, Appointed Member, Biometrics and Forensic Ethics Group (BFEG), UK Home Office (2021 - ) View website 

Farrell AM, Expert Advisor, UK government-sponsored Infected Blood Inquiry View website 

Farrell AM, Co-Convenor, Law and Health Collaborative Research Network, United States Law and Society Association

Farrell AM, Member, Editorial Board, Medical Law Review (2021 - )

Ganguli-Mitra, A. Invited Member, German Network of Public Health (Competence Network Public Health Covid-19): Expert Group on COVID-19 and Ethics, View website

Ganguli-Mitra, A.  Advisory Board Member, Feminist Approaches to Bioethics

Ganguli-Mitra, A. Chair of the Board of Directors, Shakti Women’s Aid, Edinburgh

Ganguli-Mitra A, Member, Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland

Laurie GT, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bioethics Review

Laurie GT, Member of International COVID-19 Data Research Alliance Ethics Advisory Council

Laurie, GT, Member of AHRC COVID-19 Expert Peer Review Group

McMillan,C. Panel member, ‘Feminism Means Reproductive Justice’, University of Edinburgh Feminist Society, April 2022, University of Edinburgh.

McMillan, C., Convenor, Health and Medical Law Sub-Committee, Law Society of Scotland View website 

Sorbie A, Lay Advisor to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), June 2018 – present

Sorbie A, Member of RCSEd Patient Safety Committee, June 2018-present

Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society
The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) is a multidisciplinary research centre that builds on the University of Edinburgh’s unique history of leadership in social studies of science and medicine to scrutinise the complex social, cultural and technological landscape that characterises contemporary biomedicine and health care.
Visit the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society website

Empirical Legal Research Network
The Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) serves as a nexus for those interested in empirical research and the study of law in society.
Visit the ELRN website

Innogen Institute
The Innogen Institute is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the Open University that produces high quality research and supports the delivery of innovation that is profitable, safe and societally useful. We build, nationally and internationally, on fundamental and applied research in science, medicine, engineering and social science.
Visit the Innogen website

Mason Institute
The Mason Institute is an interdisciplinary research network investigating the interface between medicine, life science, and the law.
Visit the Mason Institute website

Usher Institute
The Usher Institute is a high-energy, interdisciplinary environment dedicated to improving health locally and globally through research, education, knowledge exchange and innovation.
Visit the Usher Institute website

Edinburgh Law School in the news

Prof Anne-Maree Farrell: Vaccine nationalism: Why a partisan approach to Covid jabs could damage trust in them (iNews, 4 December 2020)

Dr Arpan Mehta and Ms Annie Sorbie: BAME doctors face COVID 'double hit' as pandemic drives rise in complaints (GP Online, 24 November 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Coronavirus: UK only buying enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable (Sky News, 28 October 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: COVID-19: UK only buying enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable (Sky News YouTube channel; 28 October 2020)

Expert insights and commentaries

Prof Graeme Laurie: COVID-19: UK Government inaction raises serious human rights concerns (The Motley Coat, 18 November 2020)

Annie Sorbie: Webinar - Embedding the Professional Duty of Candour (Patient Safety Seminar Series, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 13 August 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: The need to unpack vulnerability in a pandemic (The BMJ Opinion, 3 July 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Webinar - Ethical implications of antibody testing and “immunity certification" (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 2 July 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Rebecca Richards, et al: Imagining Life with "Immunity Passports": Managing Risk During a Pandemic (Discover Society, 1 June 2020)

Prof Anne-Maree Farrell: Webinar - Managing the Dead and the Covid-19 Pandemic Ethics, Rights and Regulation (QUB School of Law, 6 May 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Ms Rebecca Richards, et al: What does it mean to be made vulnerable in the era of COVID-19? (The Lancet, 27 April 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Worse for Women? (Thinking Out Loud video series, University of Oxford, 17 April 2020)

Dr Catriona McMillan and Dr Victoria Sobolewska: DNACPRs and advance care planning in the COVID19 pandemic: key lessons (The Motley Coat, 16 April 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Alexis Paton: Anyone can get coronavirus – but how you fare depends a lot on who and where you are (The Independent, 8 April 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Social justice may be our greatest antidote (University of Edinburgh, 6 April 2020)

Prof Graeme Laurie: The COVID-19 pandemic: are law and human rights also prey to the virus? (Covid-19 Perspectives, 17 March 2020)

Appointments

Prof Graeme Laurie has been appointed to the Arts and Humanities Reseach Council (AHRC) Covid-19 expert peer review group.

Read more about the AHRC

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra has been invited to be a member of the Ethics Group of the German Pubilc Health Covid-19 Network.

Read the network's first public health ethics policy brief

Read more about the network

Research projects

A Public Health, Ethics and Law Research Network

Governmental responses to the legal, policy and ethical issues raised by the pandemic have varied within the four nations of the UK, and between the UK and Ireland. Despite COVID-19 not recognising geographical borders, longstanding North-South tensions have also contributed to different responses to managing the risks posed by the pandemic on the island of Ireland. Against this background, the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to re- think how we should understand the relationship between public health, ethics and law in the UK and Ireland, informed by a range of academic and public health practitioner perspectives.

Led by Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Prof Mary Donnelly (Professor of Law at University College Cork, Ireland), this joint ESRC/IRC-funded project will bring together these differing perspectives to gain a better understanding of this relationship and establish a new public health ethics and law research network (PEHL) in the UK and Ireland.

Read more about the project

Justice in Global Health Emergencies and Humanitarian Crises

Global Health Emergencies (GHEs) are crises that affect health, and that are, or should be, of international concern. These might include infectious outbreaks, humanitarian crises and disasters, conflicts, and forced displacements. GHEs are characterised by various forms of urgency and uncertainty, and are known to exacerbate existing inequalities, injustices and vulnerabilities in individuals and communities.

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra is the PI of a Wellcome Trust Seed Award Project entitled, ‘Vulnerability and justice in global health emergency regulation: developing future ethical models,’ which is currently working on several pieces on the subject of COVID-19.

Visit the project website

Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Covid-19 and Providing Professional and Public Guidance

Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Dr Edward Dove are working in collaboration with Prof John Coggon of the University of Bristol Law School, who has secured funding from the University of Bristol’s Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to track, analyse, and advise on developments in health policy and practice in light of Covid-19. The project is entitled “Covid-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional and Public Guidance”.

Working with colleagues across the UK’s four nations, and alongside an international advisory group, the project will track and systematise the early run of legislative and policy responses to Covid-19 in health policy and practice contexts; develop explanatory materials and analysis of existing and emerging (including latent) points of law, regulation, and policy (including professional ethical guidance); critically assess the consistency of policy and practice with the UK’s ethical framework for pandemic planning; fundamentally assess the consistency of these materials with basic commitments to the rule of law and human rights; and contribute to processes of reflexive governance for and of health professionals (i.e. through advice on developing policy and practice).

Policy Brief: COVID-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance

Visit the project website

UK-REACH: Understanding Covid-19 outcomes for ethnic minority healthcare workers

Jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the University of Leicester-led UK-REACH study (UK Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers) will work with more than 30,000 clinical and non-clinical members of staff to assess their risk of COVID-19, based on the analysis of two million healthcare records.

Led by Dr Manish Pareek, Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, the UK-REACH study will follow a group of healthcare workers from BAME backgrounds for a period of 12 months to see what changes occur in their physical and mental health, how they have changed their professional and social behaviours in response to COVID-19, and how risky their jobs are. The study will also include non-clinical staff integral to the day to day running of healthcare institutions, including cleaners, kitchen staff and porters.

As part of the project, Dr Edward Dove will lead the research strand seeking to understand and address legal, ethical and acceptability issues around data protection, privacy and information governance associated with the linkage of health workers’ registration data and healthcare data.

Visit the UK-REACH project website

Research outputs

Journal articles

Laurie, G.T. Bidding farewell to 2020: what lessons have we learned and what can bioethics continue to teach us?. ABR 12, 375–378 (2020). View article

Mehta, A. R., Szakmany, T., & Sorbie, A. (2020). The medicolegal landscape through the lens of COVID-19: time for reform. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. View article

Frowde, R., Dove, E.S. & Laurie, G.T. Fail to Prepare and you Prepare to Fail: the Human Rights Consequences of the UK Government’s Inaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic. ABR (2020). View article

AM Farrell and P Hann, 'Mental health and capacity laws in Northern Ireland and the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining powers, procedures and protections under emergency legislation.' International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 71 (2020) 101602. View article

Ganguli-Mitra A, Young I, Engelmann L et al. Segmenting communities as public health strategy: a view from the social sciences and humanities [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2020, 5:104. View article

Reports and briefing notes

Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Dr Edward Dove, et al: COVID-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance (Faculty of Public Health, July 2020)

Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, et al: COVID-19 antibody testing and ‘immunity certification’ (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 18 June 2020)

Consultation responses

The Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law provided a response to UK Parliament’s Human Rights (Joint Committee) call for evidence on the human rights implications of the UK Government’s response to COVID-19.

View the Mason Institute response

 

Research areas

Impact and engagement

LLM in International Economic Law

The LLM in International Economic Law is designed to provide you with an advanced knowledge and understanding of the international institutions, rules and principles which underpin the contemporary international economic order.

The LLM is suitable not only for students who seek to pursue a legal career in this area, but also those whose interests are intellectual or policy-oriented. The programme will provide you with a sound technical knowledge, and also equip you to think critically about the most pressing legal and policy issues arising from the globalisation of the world economy.

Academic staff leading and teaching on the LLM in International Economic Law provide an overview of the programme, its place on the world today, their areas of research and expertise as well as the career destinations for graduates of the LLM.

Why study International Economic Law?

During your studies you will be introduced to one of the most significant bodies of rules and institutions involved in constructing and shaping the contemporary international economic order, its boundaries, its relationships with other orders, and its effects.

International economic law is significant not only because it has played a central role facilitating the integration of world markets, but also because it is part of what determines how the gains, risks and losses from integration are distributed, from economic profit to environmental degradation.

International economic law helps to bring developing countries into the global economy – and also to set the terms on which they compete with more established economies. You will learn about why this body of law attracts such strength of both praise and criticism, and why controversies around globalisation, trade, investment and development seem right now to fill the daily newspapers.

Professionally, a sound knowledge of international economic law is increasingly valued by law firms, looking for those with the expertise to provide both technical and strategic advice to international clients with export-oriented businesses, or businesses in more than one country. Those who choose to practice in the specialised areas of trade and investment law will find them both vibrant, interesting and rewarding fields.

Beyond, expertise in the international rules governing the global economy is also valued in careers in the private sector and policy making, at the national and international levels. , where an understanding of international economic law is central to developing effective responses to contemporary business and public challenges

This programme is designed to provide graduates with a range of employment opportunities including:

  • legal practice
  • government legal service
  • legal advisor to non-governmental organisations and private companies
  • international civil servants
  • specialised researchers in academic and think-tank institutions
  • independent consultants

Three pillars: trade, investment and development

The wide range of courses available will enable you to tailor the programme to your areas of professional and personal interest. You will take foundational courses in at least two of the three pillars: international trade law; international investment law, and international development. You will also have the opportunity to select additional subjects from a range of other specialised courses, varying from year to year, and covering topics such as:

  • law and development
  • investor state dispute settlement
  • economic integration and energy policy
  • current issues in public international law and the environment

You will also be able to choose from the specialised courses in others areas of public international law as part of your LLM in International Economic Law.

Across these courses, the goal is to provide you with both a theoretical and practical understanding of the core branches of international economic law, including their underpinning institutional and policy frameworks, as well as a deep knowledge of the contemporary challenges facing this dynamic field. You will develop the critical skills required for independent analysis of international economic legal and policy issues, and of its interactions with other areas of international law. You will also acquire the academic skills required to analyse the activities of international governmental and non-governmental organisations and private actors in the field of international economic law.

Caroline, LLM in International Economic Law, 2019
The LLM was not only an academically thought-provoking course, but was contemporary and relevant. There was never a dull moment. I credit it for giving me a competitive advantage in my career, and for inspiring me to explore issues of International Law I didn't know about before.
Caroline
LLM in International Economic Law, 2019

Edinburgh Law School is Scotland’s leading legal research institution, and is host to a large, vibrant and research-active community in international law. We take a research-led approach to teaching and academic staff teaching on our programmes are all experts in their field and involved in cutting-edge research.

Find out more about our research in international law

 

The established Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law hosts workshops, conferences, and guest speakers, throughout the year. Students are actively encouraged to attend these events, and to take advantage of the many opportunities for engagement with leading professionals and intellectuals that they provide.

A number of the courses on the programme also provide opportunities for interaction with outside experts as guest seminar leaders, which in the past have included a number from the World Trade Organization, the European Commission, investment arbitrators, international law firms and global universities.

Visit the Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law website

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in International Economic Law please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

This programme can be taken full-time over one year, or part-time over two years subject to visa restrictions.  It offers a wide range of subjects on economic law and commercial law with an international perspective, enabling you to tailor the LLM to meet your specific interests.

The programme consists of 180 credits, comprising taught courses worth 120 credits (60 credits per semester) and a 10,000 word dissertation worth 60 credits. 

View 2026-27 programme information for the LLM in International Economic Law

Courses offered in the 2026-27 academic year can be found below. 

With the exception of the compulsory courses, and depending on demand, space on specific courses may be limited.

You must take these courses:

  • WTO and International Trade Law 1 (20 credits)

    The aim of the course is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the multilateral trading system. The course will cover the institutional and the substantive law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which since its establishment in 1995 has played a central role in, among other things, promoting the two underlying principles of non-discrimination and trade liberalisation. After analysing theoretical and practical arguments for and against free trade and the role of institutions in international trade, the course will then focus on the institutional structure and decision-making process of the WTO, including its unique system of the settlement of trade disputes. Students will then explore the key legal disciplines relating to international trade in goods (GATT) and services (GATS), particularly the principle of non-discrimination and market-access rules. In addition, the course will address the central issue of technical barriers to trade.

  • International Investment Law (20 credits)

    This course will give an introduction to the major themes and issues of international investment law. The focus of study is the rules contained in the network of more than 3000 bilateral and multilateral treaties on investment protection, as well as the growing number of decisions by arbitral tribunals in this field. Students will analyse the substantive principles of investment law, such as most-favoured nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, and the rules relating to expropriation. They will also study mechanisms for dispute settlement in the context of investment disputes, particularly investor-state arbitration. Throughout the course, students will consider the extent to which international investment law draws an appropriate balance between investment protection on the one hand and the ability of states to regulate on key public policy issues on the other hand. Students will also look at the challenges of developing a coherent regime of investment rules.

Core courses

You must select between 20 and 40 credits from the following courses:

  • International Investment Arbitration: Theory and Practice (20 credits)

    The aim of this course is to further develop students' knowledge of international investment law, and improve both their written and oral advocacy skills in investment arbitration. In so doing, students will have the opportunity to substantiate some of the most important stages of investor-state arbitration proceedings and present written and oral submissions. This practical component of the course will be accompanied by theoretical discussion and analysis of current debates surrounding the reform of investor state dispute settlement.
    The course will develop around a mock investor-state dispute, which will be argued by students, as claimants and respondents. To this end students will work in groups in and outside the classroom (this aspect is akin to a preparation for a moot court competition). Students will be expected to read primary and secondary materials and apply these to the specific facts of the mock case.

  • Law and Development (20 credits)

    What, if anything, is development, and what role does law play in its theories and practices?

    To answer these questions, the course will consider the history and evolution of some of the major economic theories of development; their translation into diverse political and social policies; and the traces and legacies they have left behind in today's development thinking. It will also consider the ideas about law embedded in these theories and the way they have been put into practice. In particular, the course will explore the role of law and institutions in the creation of markets and the allocation of capital and power.
     
  • WTO and International Trade Law 2 (20 credits)
    This course focusses on more specialised - but highly significant - issues of WTO law such as subsidies, trade remedies and anti-dumping. It will also cover the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the principle of special and differential treatment of developing countries. 

Optional courses

You must select between 20 and 60 credits from the following courses:

  • Fundamental Issues in International Law (two-semester course, 40 credits)

    This is a course aimed at introducing students to fundamental debates about the nature of international law and the international legal order today, and its relationship to states, markets, conflict, justice and human rights. The course is historical, conceptual, theoretical and legal. It introduces students to key ideas and arguments about where the international legal order is coming from and where it is going, what its building blocks are, and how those components are changing. A theme uniting the course is the extent to which the international legal order is shifting from a classical jus inter gentes to something else: a law of global governance, a global administrative law, a law of rights and regulation, or some combination.

  • Energy Transition and the International Economic Legal Order: Governance, Challenges and Innovations (20 credits)
    The global energy transition is not just a technological or social challenge; it is deeply embedded in international legal frameworks governing trade, investment, and finance. This course examines how international economic law (as well as, to an extent, international environmental law) shapes decarbonisation efforts, from treaty-making and dispute resolution to regulatory innovations in energy markets. Students will explore legal mechanisms for attracting renewable energy investment, phasing out fossil fuels, managing critical materials, and aligning international economic law rules with climate objectives¿gaining insight into the governance challenges at the heart of the energy transition.
     
  • New Perspectives on International Law and the Environment (20 credits)
    International law and governance mechanisms have not managed to avert the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. This course will introduce students to diverse alternative perspectives that have been proposed to remedy some of these systemic failings, and critically reflect on their potential and limitations.
     
  • International Political Economy (20 credits)
    This option introduces the main schools of thinking about International Political Economy by focusing upon the patterns of evolution in the global political economy since the Second World War. The course considers the main theoretical approaches to understanding IPE, before considering the subject areas of trade, transnational corporations, international finance, development, globalisation and regionalisation. It is designed for students with no prior experience of the subject or of economics.
     
  • Rethinking International Law (20 credits)
    This courses examines international law as a historical and political project through which different arrangements of global power are advanced and contested. The course will introduce you to diverse critical and alternative perspectives that reflect on international law's role and limitations in advancing global justice.
     
  • Issues in Law and Sustainable Development (20 credits)
    What, if anything, is sustainable development and what role does law play in its theories and practices?
    Building on the introductory course on Law and Development, this course turns to the way economic theories and legal ideas emerge in "sustainable development", one of the key modern battlegrounds over the nature and direction of development practice. The course will explore law and sustainable development from a range of perspectives, such as environmental sustainability, security, and the rule of law.
     
  • Making International Law (20 credits)
    This course explores the complex and subtle art of international law-making, focusing on the Law of Treaties. Attention will be given to the variable actors and multilateral processes that monitor, add to and adjudicate questions of international law. You will compare approaches across different types of international law and consider how variances feed into debates about fragmentation and enforcement. The class will complement the wider range of issues covered in Fundamental Issues in International Law.
     
  • The Law of International Trade (20 credits)
    This course examines the legal aspects of international trade in a broad context. The legal framework of the course is English law as well as the relevant international conventions and standard terms typically used in this field. The course examines international sale of goods which are transported by sea. It investigates the trade terms used in international sale contracts (in the context of English common law and Incoterms in particular) and analyses the resulting obligations of the parties regarding payment methods (with emphasis on letters of credit and bills of exchange), transportation of the goods (focusing on bills of lading and waybills) and marine cargo insurance in the manner in which these relate to one another.

You will have the option to take between 0 and 40 credits of the following courses from different subject areas offered by the Law School, depending on availability and with the express permission of the Programme Director.

  • International Private Law: Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments (20 credits)
  • International Commercial Arbitration (20 credits)
  • Comparative Property Law (20 credits)
  • Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (20 credits)
  • Advanced Comparative Constitutional Law (20 credits)
  • Software and the law (20 credits)
  • Advanced Legal Reasoning (20 credits)
  • International Intellectual Property Law (20 credits)
  • Intellectual Property and Development (20 credits)
  • Corporate Finance and Law (20 credits)
  • Fundamentals of EU Competition Law 1 (20 credits)
  • Fundamentals of EU Competition Law 2 (20 credits)
  • Sustainable Finance and the Law (20 credits)
  • Hardware and the Law: intellectual property, safety, sustainability and sovereignty for tech devices (20 credits)
     

Having successfully completed 120 credit points of courses within the LLM, you will be ready to move onto a single piece of independent and in-depth research. The 10,000 word dissertation allows you to focus on a preferred topic from within the field of international economic law, normally based on a subject you have studied in one of your courses during the programme.

You are supported with your independent research in several ways:

  • During semester 2 (Jan – March) you are provided with targeted opportunities to develop research and writing skills necessary for the successful completion of a larger research project.
  • You receive advice on formulating an appropriate research topic and feedback on developing a specific research question.
  • You are assigned an academic supervisor who will provide you with support and guidance while you undertake your research. You will have three meetings with your supervisor (in the period April – June, following the end of taught courses) in which avenues of research are discussed; a structure for the dissertation is developed; and feedback is provided on a sample of the dissertation. The dissertation is submitted in August.

This independent research project is a challenging but rewarding endeavour, allowing you to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the relevant literature and an ability to engage critically with a range of sources, drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed during your studies. You are encouraged to show originality and evidence of independent thinking. Indeed, the outcome of the project – your dissertation – may provide a useful platform for the next stage of your career.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances or lack of demand for particular courses, we may not be able to run all courses as advertised come the start of the academic year.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in International Economic Law please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

Page update: Courses for the 2026-27 year were published on the 16th April 2026. 

Staff teaching on the core courses of the LLM in International Economic Law for 2026-27 are experts in their field and are actively involved in cutting-edge research in the fields of international and economic law.

Dr Ana Maria Daza Vargas - Programme Director 2026-27

Dr Ana María Daza Vargas joined the Law School as a teaching fellow in 2013. Ana María’s research interests cover International Investment Law, International Law, Water Law and Water Management, WTO Law and Economic Regulation. Ana María has been and continuous to be an independent consultant for AACNI International Law Firm. She is also the editor of the online newsletter Arbitration Watch.

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Deval joined Edinburgh Law School in 2020 as Lecturer in International Economic Law. He previously held research positions at Harvard Law School and the Graduate Institute, Geneva; and taught on international law and development at the Graduate Institute, Harvard, Manchester, SOAS, and Universidad de los Andes. Deval also has a decade of experience working for the World Bank on rule of law and governance in Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Uganda; as well as advising the UN on rule of law issues. Trained in history and French literature (M.A., Oxford), and law and social theory (LL.M. and S.J.D., Harvard Law School), he is a member of the Bar of England and Wales.

His current research spans law and development, expertise, (de)colonial patterns of knowledge and authority, and theories of the state in the Global South. His ongoing projects focus on the administrative structures of social welfare provision in the South; the effects of decentralization on mining governance in the South; the nature and function of legal expertise in development projects; and the politics of social scientific comparative methods as they are applied in Southern contexts.

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Agata Daszko joined the Law School as an Early Career Fellow in International Economic Law in August 2024. Prior to joining the Law School, she was a Research Fellow att the University of Göttingen, where she is also completing her PhD thesis on the environmental impact assessments in international investment law and arbitration. Her research interest lie in investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS), interlinkages between international investment law and public international law, and investment arbitration under State contracts. She has previously held visiting researcher positions at the University of Bologna (March-April 2023) and Kyoto University (March-May 2024). 

In addition to her current role, Agata also serves as the Academic Assistant at the Society of International Economic Law. She is also the Assistant General Editor of the Commentaries on World Trade Law (Brill), Editor-in-Chief of the EFILA Blog, and has previously worked as a consultant at the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate and an international arbitration clerk at Arnold & Porter. 

Agata holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University and a BA in Law with German and German Law (qualifying law degree) from the University of Nottingham.

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Professor Filippo Fontanelli joined the Law School in 2015. Before joining the School he lectured law at the School of Law of the University of Surrey (2012-2014), where he taught public international law, law of the World Trade Organisation, EU law I and II, international law of foreign investment protection and international law of human rights protection.

He is a member of the Centre for Judicial Cooperation of the European University Institute of Fiesole (Italy) and routinely provides training sessions to judges and practitioners on matters of EU law and human rights protection in Europe.  He is also admitted to the bar in Italy (Rome).

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Professor Andrew Lang joined the University of Edinburgh in 2017 as Chair in Public International Law and Global Governance. He was formerly Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, where he taught from 2006-2017.

His current research thematically focusses on a number of themes around global economic governance, including the relationship between law and expert knowledge, theoretical international law and economics, and sociological approaches to the study of international economic law. He is co-authoring a commentary on the WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, and has ongoing projects relating to the treatment of subsidies in WTO law, the WTO implications of Brexit, and the SPS agreement.

Find out more

The staff teaching on this programme are subject to change for the 2026-27 academic year. Staff listed as on sabbatical will not be available to teach for the duration of their sabbatical.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in International Economic Law please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

Page update: Academic staff for the 2026-27 year were published on the 25th June 2026. 

Traces of Law

Traces of Law Symposium

8 March 2019
Radical Thot poster

Dr Gemma Flynn takes to Glasgow Comedy Festival with Feminist comedy show

7 March 2019
Gabrielle Marceau

Prof Gabrielle Marceau speaks at inaugural discussion group on International Dispute Settlements

6 March 2019

Postgraduate Taught on Campus

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Students at Old College

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Anim pariatur cliche reprehenderit, enim eiusmod high life accusamus terry richardson ad squid. 3 wolf moon officia aute, non cupidatat skateboard dolor brunch. Food truck quinoa nesciunt laborum eiusmod. Brunch 3 wolf moon tempor, sunt aliqua put a bird on it squid single-origin coffee nulla assumenda shoreditch et. Nihil anim keffiyeh helvetica, craft beer labore wes anderson cred nesciunt sapiente ea proident. Ad vegan excepteur butcher vice lomo. Leggings occaecat craft beer farm-to-table, raw denim aesthetic synth nesciunt you probably haven't heard of them accusamus labore sustainable VHS.

LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

The LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice is designed for those who wish to pursue a career in criminal law, criminal justice, policy work, or academic research.

Students studying

A cutting-edge and intellectually demanding programme, the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice will equip you with an advanced knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and theories underpinning criminal law and criminal justice and how they operate in practice. The programme covers the following core areas:

  • Current issues in criminal law and criminal justice;
  • Fundamental principles of substantive and procedural criminal law;
  • Criminalization;
  • International, transnational, and European criminal law;
  • Sexual offending;
  • Global crime and insecurity;
  • Sentencing and the penal process; and
  • Different approaches to understanding criminal law and criminal justice, including doctrinal, comparative, theoretical, critical, and socio-legal methods

The programme is suitable for those who have studied law or a related subject at undergraduate level and wish to develop a specialist understanding of criminal law and criminal justice.

This programme offers rigorous preparation for students considering further work in the fields of criminal law and criminal justice. Examples include: 

  • Academic research
  • Legal practice
  • Government departments
  • Criminal justice agencies
  • Voluntary organisations 
  • International organisations including the United Nations

Edinburgh Law School, we have an expertise base that encompasses a diverse range of approaches to criminal law and criminal justice. Academics teaching on the LLM degree in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice are active researchers in the field and are also involved in policy development and law reform at a national, European, and international level. Their research informs their approach to teaching, ensuring that students benefit from the latest insights and developments in the field. 

 

By joining this LLM programme, you will become part of a thriving academic community. We run a Crime, Justice and Society seminar series during the academic year, at which guest speakers (some of whom feature on the reading lists of the criminal law and criminal justice courses) present their latest research. Students are also welcome to join related seminars within the School, including those in legal theory, public law, international law, and empirical legal studies.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

This programme can be studied full-time over one year, or part-time over two years subject to visa restrictions. The degree and expectations for both modes of study are equally rigorous. 

Edinburgh Law School offers a wide portfolio of courses in criminal law and criminal justice. On taught courses, your studies will be led by members of the Law School academic community. You will be expected to prepare in advance by reading the required materials and reflecting on the issues to be discussed. Courses are examined primarily by means of an assessed essay or other written work. For the dissertation, you will be allocated a supervisor from whom you can expect guidance and support, but its primary purpose is to develop your skills in independent research design and analysis.

The programme consists of 180 credits, comprising taught courses worth 120 credits (60 credits per semester) and a 10,000 word dissertation worth 60 credits. Full programme details for the 2026-27 academic year are available on the University Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study website.

View 2026-27 programme information for the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

Courses offered in the 2026-27 academic year can be found below. 

With the exception of compulsory courses, depending on demand, space on specific courses may be limited.

You must take these courses:

  • General Principles of Criminal Law (20 credits, must be taken in Semester 1)

    This course examines the general principles of the substantive criminal law. It focuses in particular on three areas of criminal law doctrine. First, it examines criminal conduct: the kinds of action, omission and harmful results for which one may be held criminally responsible. Second, it examines criminal culpability: intentional and unintentional forms of fault, and the possibility of criminal liability without fault. And third, it examines criminal defences: justifying and excusing factors that defeat criminal liability. Throughout, the course also considers the application of these principles to problematic cases, and to particular areas of the law (such as the law of homicide).
    In examining these issues, the course does not adopt the perspective of any single jurisdiction. Rather, it adopts a more general approach: examining issues that arise across different legal systems and traditions, and across different areas of the criminal law. To shed light on these issues, the course also introduces students to insights from comparative and theoretical criminal law scholarship.

  • Current Issues in Criminal Law (20 credits, must be taken in Semester 2)

    This course examines current issues, debates and trends in criminal law. It introduces you to important developments in criminal law and the criminal process; to the controversies and debates surrounding these developments; and to the broader changes that they represent in the criminal justice field. The course begins by exploring questions of criminalisation: the changing scope of the criminal law, and debates over what conduct should and should not be made criminal. It then turns to examine developments in the law relating to criminal procedure and evidence; and finally to sentencing and other consequences of criminal conviction. The precise content of the course will change year on year, in response to new developments. However, at least some topics from each of these areas will be covered in any given academic year.

You must select between 40 and 80 credits of the following courses:

  • Criminal Justice and Penal Process (20 credits)

    This course aims to provide students with critical insight of the institutions of criminal justice and to introduce some of the relevant policy frameworks, dilemmas and debates. The jurisdictions of Scotland and England and Wales will serve as the primary model for discussions, but an international, comparative approach is considered throughout. The course also has the aim of providing opportunities for students to practice the research skills necessary to explore and critically assess academic and policy research which informs current criminal justice approaches. Students will have the opportunity to observe criminal courts in action and to carry out their own observations on criminal justice processes. By the end of this course students should be able to describe the conceptual functioning of criminal justice and penal institutions; critically analyse these institutions and explain the rationale of key developments in policy and practice.

  • Global Crime and Insecurity (20 credits)

    The focus of the course is the definition, explanation and interpretation of global forms of crime, insecurity and injustice. This is tackled in a structure which examines issues of categorisation and definition first, before exploring a range of contexts in which crime and criminality may be researched, then examining particular forms of crime and finishing with questions of measurement and interpretation.
    The course focus is on policy and legal responses to international and global forms of crime, insecurity and injustice. This is tackled in a structure which examines issues a range of different policing, judicial and regulatory frameworks, with attention paid in each of these sessions to the underlying logic of the approach. Following this, various mechanisms through and contexts in which criminal justice policy might spread are examined. The course finishes with a case study of money laundering, but depending on the availability of staff, this could be replaced with any substantive crime issue which allows students the opportunity to draw together a number of the issues raised in earlier sessions.

  • International Criminal Law (20 credits)

    This course focuses on the study of selected foundational aspects of international and transnational criminal law and international co-operation in the administration of justice.
    The course will be taught through seminars, which include introductions to key topics of relevance to international criminal law and general discussion, including on particular case studies. The seminars will thus cover aspects such as the sources of international criminal law, the structure of international crimes (in particular actus reus, mens rea and justifications), but also specific crime categories (in particular, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes).

  • Police and Policing (20 credits)

    The Police and Policing course is designed to equip you with a broad, yet advanced, understanding of police organisations and key contemporary issues in policing, security and police research. The first half of the course gives some focus to understanding the 'police' organisation itself (public constabularies). The second half of the course examines 'policing' more broadly defined, with some particular focus on the expanded importance of the commercial sector and on global and transnational dimensions of contemporary policing.

  • Responding to Global Crime and Insecurity (20 credits)

    The focus of the course is on legal, political and policy responses to international and transnational forms of crime, insecurity and injustice. The course is delivered in two sections focusing first on transnational forms of organised crime and secondly on atrocity crime (broadly, those defined by international criminal law). A final session looks for contrasts and connections between these two parts.

  • Sentencing: International Perspectives (20 credits)

    'Sentencing' is a high-profile court process whereby punishment is imposed on a convicted offender by a judicial authority. This course explores the law, philosophy, and wider implications of this most complex and contested practice of criminal justice. It is international and comparative in approach, inviting students to appraise and critique diverse approaches to sentencing on the global stage.

  • Sexual Offending and the Law (20 credits)

    This course will examine contemporary approaches to the law of sexual offences in comparative perspective. Topics to be covered will include the definition of rape, the age of consent, the proper extent of criminalisation of consensual sexual conduct, evidential issues in the proof of sexual offences. The closing seminars of the course will bring these issues together by examining how law reform bodies in a variety of different jurisdictions have addressed the challenges they pose. 

  • The State of Criminal Justice: Law, Politics and Policy (20 credits)

    Criminal justice systems are often criticised for being in a poor state, and we regularly disagree about law, politics and policy in this area. How, then, should we use expert knowledge and research evidence about criminal justice to inform law, politics and policy? And what role should be played by 'the people', 'public opinion' and so-called 'experts by experience'? These are the central questions addressed in this course, and they will guide us through many controversial contemporary issues in the jurisdictions of the UK and beyond.

  • European and Transnational Criminal Law (20 credits) 

    This course will provide students with foundational knowledge of European and Transnational Criminal Law. They will engage in discussion on primary and secondary sources, and work on developing different skills related to legal analysis. The conceptual discussion will go hand in hand with close consideration of the practice in this field. Therefore, students will be exposed to different approaches and address the main course themes from a theoretical, and hands-on, points of view.

You will have the option to take between 0 and 40 credits of the following courses from different subject areas offered by the Law School, depending on availability and with the express permission of the Programme Director.

  • Advanced Legal Reasoning (20 credits)
  • Advanced Criminological Research in Practice (20 credits)
  • Criminological Research Methods (20 credits)
  • Cybercrime and Cyber Security (20 credits)
  • EU Immigration and Asylum Law (20 credits)
  • Human Rights, Democracy and Courts in Turbulent times (20 credits)
  • Mental Health Law (20 credits)
  • Reasoning Using Civilian Authority (20 credits)
  • Surveillance and Security (20 credits)
  • Theoretical Criminology (20 credits)
  • Visual Criminology (20 credits)

Having successfully completed 120 credit points of courses within the LLM, you will be ready to move onto a single piece of independent and in-depth research. The 10,000 word dissertation allows you to focus on a preferred topic from within the field of criminal law, normally based on a subject you have studied in one of your courses during the programme.

You are supported with your independent research in several ways:

  • During semester 2 (Jan – March) you are provided with targeted opportunities to develop research and writing skills necessary for the successful completion of a larger research project.
  • You receive advice on formulating an appropriate research topic and feedback on developing a specific research question.
  • You are assigned an academic supervisor who will provide you with support and guidance while you undertake your research. You will have three meetings with your supervisor (in the period April – June, following the end of taught courses) in which avenues of research are discussed; a structure for the dissertation is developed; and feedback is provided on a sample of the dissertation. The dissertation is submitted in August.

This independent research project is a challenging but rewarding endeavour, allowing you to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the relevant literature and an ability to engage critically with a range of sources, drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed during your studies. You are encouraged to show originality and evidence of independent thinking. Indeed, the outcome of the project – your dissertation – may provide a useful platform for the next stage of your career.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances or lack of demand for particular courses, we may not be able to run all courses as advertised come the start of the academic year.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

Page update: Courses for the 2026-27 year were published on the 16th April 2026. 

Staff teaching on the core courses of the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice for 2026-27 are experts in criminal law and criminal justice and often engage in research-led teaching.

Staff teaching on the programme will include:

Dr Gabrielle Watson - Programme Director 2026-27

Gabrielle Watson is Chancellor’s Fellow at Edinburgh Law School and a specialist in criminal law and justice. She is the author of the award-winning Respect and Criminal Justice (OUP 2020) and member of the Criminal Courts Rules Council (Scotland), having been appointed by the Lord Justice General in 2024. Gabrielle was formerly based at the University of Oxford as Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (2017-19) and Shaw Foundation Fellow in Law (2019-23). She has also held Visiting Fellowships at the University of Cambridge (2019, 2021) and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (2023).

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Dr Cornford joined Edinburgh Law School in 2012 as Lecturer in Criminal Law and his main areas of research are criminal law and legal theory. His research to date has mostly focused on criminalisation, its justification and limits.

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Chloë 's main research interests are criminal law, legal theory, legal history, and the relationship between these areas. She is particularly interested in intellectual and cultural legal history, focussing on the ways that prevailing ideas have shaped the law's development and continue to inform our contemporary assumptions. Her research also focuses on law and gender and law and religion.

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Dominic Aitken joined Edinburgh Law School in 2025 as a Lecturer in Criminal Law and Evidence, having previously worked at the Universities of Strathclyde (2022–25), Bath (2020–22) and Roehampton (2018–20).

Dominic’s teaching and research interests range across criminal law and evidence, criminological theory, the sociology of punishment, and the history and politics of criminal justice institutions. He has published work on prison suicide investigations in England and Wales (Punishment & Society) and on staff in UK immigration removal centres (The British Journal of Criminology). He is currently writing a book about expertise in criminal justice, which examines the role of experts in the creation of law, the operation of law, and the implementation of law.

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Grant Barclay will be joining Edinburgh Law School as Lecturer in Criminal Law in September 2026. 

The staff teaching on this programme are subject to change for 2026-27 academic year.  

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice please don't hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

Page update: Academic staff for the 2026-27 year were published on the 12th June 2026. 

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