Socio-legal news

Welcome to the news section of the SLSA website. This area is divided into the following categories:

Events
Publications
Research and funding
Vacancies
Online resources
Networks
Consultations, inquiries and surveys
Other announcements

If you would like an item added to the news section, please contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

New for week ending 31 July 2020

Vacancies

British Academy Mid-career Fellowships: call for applications

Applications are invited for the BA Mid-career Fellowships. The fellowships are designed both to support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals and to promote public understanding and engagement with humanities and social sciences. See website for details. Closing date: 16 September 2020.

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships Outline Stage 2020–2021

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship is a three-year award made to an annual cohort of outstanding early career researchers in the humanities or social sciences. See website for further details. Closing date: 14 October 2020.

Assistant or associate professor, School of Law, University of Warwick

Applications are invited for this full-time, permanent position. Please see website for details. Closing date: 23 August 2020.

Modern Law Review: Covid response MLR fellowships

In response to the effect that Covid is having on opportunities for early career scholars, the MLR is making available a fund to support research through MLR fellowships. The fellowships provide funding for early career scholars of up to £10,000 as well as the option of mentoring support from an MLR editorial committee member. See website for details and eligibility criteria. Closing date: 11 September 2020.

AHRC Appointment to Advisory Board 2020/2021: call for expressions of interest

The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is seeking expressions of interest from suitably experienced individuals to join its Advisory Board in September 2020 or September 2021. See website for details. Closing date: 28 August 2020.

AHRC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Engagement fellowships pilot

The AHRC is pleased to launch a new pilot call for fellowships aimed at arts and humanities researchers whose work is both of outstanding quality and has a significant equality, diversity and inclusion dimension. See website for details. Closing date: 10 September 2020.

University of California Irvine, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship in Criminology, Law and Society

Applications are invited for the above fellowship. See website for details. Closing date: 1 November 2020.

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Online resources

Doing Ethnography Remotely: Stanford Centre for Global Ethnography – six video interviews with researchers

In this video series, the Center's co-directors Sharika Thiranagama (Anthropology) and Sylvia Yanagisako (Anthropology) interview six ethnographers who have conducted research remotely. See website for details.

IEL Collective: call for contriutions to IEL Pop-up Collection

The IEL (international economic law) Collective invites contributions for its online pop-up collection of artefacts (objects or images). Please see website for details.

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Networks

Pracademia Network: new network for UK and international pracademics

The new Pracademia Network aims to:

inform the development of training programmes
encourage and share best practice and
facilitate internal/external collaborations

for the benefit of a much wider group of local, national and international stakeholders; including academics, students, Higher Education Institutions, and other organisations. The network has been set up with the help of Advance HE following research at Sheffield Hallam University around former/current practitioners who now lecture/research in HE. See the website for further details.

Network: New AHRC humanities-led network will put social justice at the heart of AI research

The Ada Lovelace Institute and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have today launched JUST AI, a network of researchers and practitioners, led by Dr Alison Powell from LSE, that will establish a multidisciplinary research base around ‘just AI’ – AI that is ethical, works for the common good and is effectively governed and regulated. The humanities-led network will build on research in AI ethics, orienting it around practical issues of social justice, distribution, governance and design, and seek to inform the development of policy and practice. See website for full details.

European Reproductive Justice network: call for interest

This is a call to anyone interested in being part of a European Reproductive Justice network. The aim of the network is to share knowledge of law, society and culture across Europe in relation to reproductive justice. The network recognises reproductive justice as a core element of human rights, particularly, but not exclusively for women. As such, the focus is upon, but is not limited to:

ability and means to become pregnant
ability and means to prevent pregnancy
support around and for decision to remain pregnant
support around and for decision to discontinue a pregnancy
obstetric healthcare
gynaecological healthcare
obstetric violence
economic and social support for parents or those wishing to become parents

This is an interdisciplinary network for academics, professionals and activists. If you are interested in being part of the network then please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Invitation to Join the Global Research Network

Expressions of interest are invited for SLSA members to the Global Research Network, a meeting place for doctoral and early career scholars in law and the humanities.

Network members support one another by, for example, arranging visits to their university to speak, sharing useful information about the newest developments in the field, and participating in regular webinars on key topics of interest (publication strategies, career planning, etc). There are PhD and early career writing groups that meet monthly. There is a members’ forum that includes tips and resources, job and fellowship opportunities, and conference calls and publication opportunities. We are also establishing a Think Tank (with programmes in various field of law), and inviting established scholars to act as mentors.

Please contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. via email if you have any questions or fill in the sign-up form online, where you will find more information.

The Legal Cultures of the Subsoil Database – new database launched by the Institute of Latin American Studies

The Legal Cultures of the Subsoil Database compiles legal actions and documentation (artefacts) devised in the context of mining conflicts. It has resulted from an ESRC-funded anthropological project led by ILAS lecturer, Dr Ainhoa Montoya, that explored how legal languages, instruments and institutions are employed by different actors within the field of environmental politics, specifically in the context of mining conflicts. It currently contains information on six mining projects in Central America, with plans to expand to other Latin American regions in the future.

To learn more about the database and the wider 'Legal Cultures of the Subsoil' project please consult the following blog contributions:

The database will continue to be developed and expanded during 2020, as part of a British Academy–GCRF sponsored project, ‘The Juridification of Resource Conflicts: Legal Cultures, Moralities and Environmental Politics in Central America’. A Spanish-language version will be available by the end of 2020. If you have any questions or comments about the database or the wider research projects, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The IEL Collective: launch of a new international economic law initiative

The IEL Collective was launched on Thursday 23 May 2019. It is an initiative started by research centres based at seven law schools around the UK and we are hoping to include more partners from around the world shortly. The IEL Collective provides a space for critical reflection on the complex interactions in the growing field of international economic law and exploring how epistemological and methodological diversity in the discipline can contribute towards the development of a more holistic landscape of scholarship on law and the governance of the global economy. The Collective aims to stimulate conversations about plurality, representation and, criticality, in researching, teaching and practising international economic law and spark new conversations about the future of the discipline. Visit the website for more information

Current partners include: Cardiff Law and Global Justice, University of Cardiff; Centre for Critical International Law, University of Kent; Centre for Law, Regulation and Governance of the Global Economy, University of Warwick; Human Rights Centre, University of Essex; Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham; Liverpool Economic Governance Unit, University of Liverpool; School of Law, University of Bristol; Social Critiques of Law, University of Kent.

To receive more information and get involved, please sign up here.

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Consultations, inquiries and surveys

Sentencing Council: consultation on new guidelines for sentencing individuals and organisations for the unauthorised use of a trade mark

The Sentencing Council has launched a consultation on new guidelines for sentencing individuals and organisations for the unauthorised use of a trade mark. See Press Notice for further details.Closing date: 30 September 2020.

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Other announcements

CSLS Gets moving for the Oxford Food Bank: call for support

From 1–8 August staff and students at the Centre for Socio-legal Studies are going to be running/walking/hiking/cycling/swimming to raise money for the Oxford Food Bank (Registered Charity Number 1131738). This is being done in an effort to help those who live in close proximity to Oxford University and do not enjoy the privileges staff and students enjoy. Please see website for details.

Impact of Covid-19:Perceptions of wellbeing among Law teachers

Caroline Strevens, Head of Portsmouth Law School and Chair of the Association of Law Teachers, is conducting research into wellbeing among law teachers, particularly in the light of the current Covid-19 crisis. Please see invitation to particiapte and follow the link to complete the survey.

Survey about the student experience of studying during the Covid-19 pandemic: invitation to participate

Dr Doug Morrison, Dr Jessica Guth and Mr James Shipton (all Leeds Beckett University) are looking for students in UK Law Schools (at all levels, UG, PGT and PGR) to take part in a survey about the student experience of studying during the Covid-19 pandemic. They would be grateful if colleagues could circulate the survey to their students and/or recent graduates. The survey is open until 4 October 2020 and can be accessed here.

Survey on Gendered Understandings of Human Rights : call for human rights law academics to participate

Human rights law academics are invited to participate in an SLS-funded research project by filling out a short survey on gendered understandings of human rights and how this influences the human rights law syllabus. Please visity the survey page to complete the survey.