SCHOOL OF LAW

Website Index

Research Centres

University Websites

Outlines of Research I

Ghalib Al-Bulooshi: Islamic Banking and Regulations, A Critical Analysis (University of Bahrain Scholarship)Ghalib Al-Bulooshi

Ghalib obtained his undergraduate degree in law from University of Bahrain in 2007 and a LLM in commercial law from the University of Glasgow in 2009. He began his research degree at the University of Bristol in October 2009.

His research concerns Islamic banking law. The resurgence of Islamic banking in the conventional international banking system is remarkable. However, for this resurgence to take place, Islamic banks had to have their structure and operations rendered similar to conventional banks in order to be recognized as financial institutions. Such a step has indeed enabled Islamic banks to work in parallel with conventional banks under conventional financial systems all over the world. However, Islamic banking has characteristics which conventional banking does not which special attention. 

In light of this, his research aims first to explain the main features of Islamic banking. Then, from a secular regulatory point of view, it discusses the major legal challenges and obstacles resulting from the common tools used by Islamic banks. Finally, he presents case studies drawn from UK and Bahrain banking practices.

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Irene Anthis: The Transformative Element of Occupation LawIrene Anthis

Irene obtained her LLB in 2005 from the University of Warwick and her LLM in 2006 from the University of Bristol. She started her PhD degree at the University of Bristol in the autumn of 2006. She has also teaches Law and State.

Irene is currently researching modern occupation law, in relation to the changes to the occupied territory which an occupying power may initiate. The interpretation and, most crucially, the application of the legal framework of occupation law has long been a controversial issue, since ‘occupation law’ is not a separate body of rules that apply exclusively in occupation. Although the backbone of the law is provided by the Hague Regulations and the fourth Geneva Convention, some other rules on the laws on war, international criminal law and human rights have traditionally overlapped with the laws on occupation. Irene’s research seeks to identify the various rules that apply in different instances of occupation, focusing on the circumstances under which an occupying power may embark on a transformative exercise of an occupied territory or state.

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Ardavan Arzandeh: Forum Non Conveniens: the Evolution of an Idea (University of Bristol Scholarship)

Ardavan Arzandeh began his PhD degree at the University of Bristol in the autumn of 2007. He completed his LLB in 2006 and his LLM in 2007 at the University of Bristol. He also teaches tort law, conflict of laws and banking law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Ardavan is currently studying the development of the forum non conveniens doctrine. The doctrine is one of the most well-established principles of private international law. It affords the court discretion to stay its proceedings, despite having valid jurisdiction, whenever it appears that the case before it may be more suitably litigated elsewhere. Although the majority of common law legal systems recognise the doctrine and, on the face of it at least, most of these jurisdictions have created clear sets of rules for its application, the conceptual and historical premises upon which these rules have emerged have been taken for granted. Ardavan’s research seeks to provide a clear account of the doctrine’s path of evolution and, in turn, contextualise the principle within the broader private international law jurisprudence.

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Katherine Ballinger: The fiduciary status of constructive trustees (School of Law Scholarship)Katherine Ballinger

Katherine graduated from the University of the West of England in Bristol in 2007 with a first class degree in law. She then completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in London in 2008. Katherine commenced her research with the University of Bristol in 2008. She also teaches in trusts at the University of Bristol.

The main aim of this research is to determine the fiduciary status of constructive trustees (trustees of a constructive trust). This is an issue that has received some cursory attention, but about which there has been little detailed analysis. This research aims to fill this lacuna by examining the law of fiduciaries and applying the relevant principles to the specific circumstances in which constructive trusts arise.

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Fiona Batt: The Restitution of Ancient Indigenous Human Remains and the Implications for Self-DeterminationNo photo available

Fiona graduated from the University of Plymouth in 2000. She obtained a LLM in Public International Law at the University Bristol in 2003 and a PGCE (PCE) at the University of Exeter in 2003.  She began her research at the University of Bristol in 2005.

Fiona examines the restitution of ancient indigenous human remains to indigenous communities by contextualising their restitution in different property paradyms and accessing which would be the most effective.   The property paradyms examined are a cultural property framework, a cultural heritage framework and an intellectual property framework.  A human rights framework is also examined as Fiona argues that the restitution of ancient human remains is linked to the right of self-determination  and in particular indigenous self-determination.

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Lindsey Bell: 'In God's hands: trial by ordeal in biblical law and its subsequent reception into the English legal tradition'No photo available

Lindsey obtained her undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Bristol in 2007 and began her research degree in October 2007.  She teaches Property Law at the University of Bristol.

In her research, Lindsey uses semiotics to identify and analyse trial by ordeal narratives in the Old Testament and will use her research findings in a reception study of the tradition of trial by ordeal in English law.  In the medieval period, certain biblical narratives were used as pre-ordeal invocations and, although trial by ordeal is well-known and documented in the medieval European legal tradition, there has been little detailed analysis of what trial by ordeal means in the context of biblical law and consequently whether the identification of these texts as ordeal was accurate.

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Mireille Caruana: Privacy and ICTs in a Changing World: some differing EU approaches to uses of personal data in the criminal justice sector (Centre for IT & Law Scholarship)Mireille Caruana

Mireille studied law at the University of Malta, graduating with a Diploma of Notary Public in 2000 and Doctor of Laws (LLD) in 2002. She was called to the Bar in 2003. She subsequently obtained a MJur in European and Comparative Law from the University of Malta in 2004 and an LLM in Computer and Communications Law from Queen Mary, University of London in 2008. She began her research degree at the University of Bristol in October 2008.

Her thesis involves a comparative study of privacy concepts, practices and legislation within Europe, identifying different exemplars of the ‘Western’ conception of individual privacy rights. This is undertaken within the context of both constitutional and data protection law with a special focus on the use of personal data for the purposes of police and security forces. 

The study includes a comparative analysis of the different constitutional positions regarding privacy obtaining across the countries selected for case studies (CSCS): Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Malta and the UK. It traces the historical development and current status of different legislation regulating the use of personal data in the police and criminal justice sector in the CSCS. By doing so, the study  establishes the context of privacy and data protection law in the criminal justice sector across Europe using Recommendation R(87)15 of the Council of Europe addressing the use of personal data in the police sector (the data protection standard adopted by the Schengen Agreement) as the benchmark for developments in the area.

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Selim Ciger: Carrier’s Liability and its Ramifications Under the Rotterdam Rules (Turkish Ministry of Education Scholarship)Selim Ciger

Selim has a LLB from Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey (2010) and his LLM in Commercial Law from the University of Bristol (2011). He began his research at the University of Bristol in 2011.

His research focuses on the potential impact of the Rotterdam Rules on carrier’s liability. The Rotterdam Rules aim to solve various problems in the current legal framework regarding the carrier’s liability, multimodal aspects of liability and the liability regime of carrier’s subcontractors. However, whether they will be successful is yet to be seen and many have criticised the relevant provisions. Selim’s research is an examination and criticism of the regime proposed by the Rotterdam Rules.

Giacomo Ciriello: Unchaining the Value of Trees: Evaluating the Impact of Tree Aid's Northern Ghana Trade Programme on non-timber forest products' value chains and the livelihoods depending on them (ESRC Scholarship)No photo available

Giacomo has a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol (2010). He has also been employed by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Market and Public Organisation to establish a partnership with Bristol-based forestry development charity Tree Aid. This was funded by the ESRC Third-Sector Capacity Building Cluster.

In his research, Giacomo attempts to develop a detailed framework to evaluate the impacts of Tree Aid's Northern Ghana NTFP Trade Programme. The beneficiaries of the Programme are to be shea and honey producers in the rural north of Ghana. Tree Aid, together with its partners and its funders, hope that restructuring these products’ value chains - by improving access to market information and organisational capacity of primary producers - will increase the profitability of commercial NTFP activities. This, in turn, is expected to lead to increases in producers’ household income and greater incentives for the sustainable management of crucially important natural resources. The objective of this research will be to assess the contribution of Tree Aid’s interventions towards these goals. This will require an interdisciplinary approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods, in an attempt to test the hypotheses implied in the underlying programme theory and strategy.

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Fred Cram: Understanding the broader implications of integrated offender management (IOM) for front-line police officers, offenders, and criminal justice (ESRC Scholarship)

Fred has an LLB from the University of the West of England (2009) and an MSc in Socio-legal studies from the University of Bristol (2010). Fred is currently studying for a Ph.D. atFred Cram the University of Bristol. He also teaches Criminal Law at the University of Bristol.

Fred has a specialist interest in the growth of actuarial criminal justice approaches. The primary focus of his doctoral research is Bristol’s recently introduced ‘Integrated Offender Management’ scheme: IMPACT. The scheme adopts a multi-agency approach to risk-managing Bristol’s most dangerous and troubling offenders. Police officers have a pivotal role within the scheme; a role which requires them – and offenders - to challenge deep-rooted, values, views and perspectives. There are promising signs, however, that such schemes are proving successful, but as yet no quantitative independent research which confirms this. Taking an in-depth qualitative approach, therefore, the aim of Fred’s research is to explore the wider implications of integrated offender management (IOM) for front-line police officers, offenders, and criminal justice more broadly.

Papers/publications:

F. Cram, “Scouring the shires? The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Frontline Policing” (2010) SLSA Annual Conference, University of Cambridge

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William Dean: The Transition from the House of Lords to the Supreme Court William Dean

William studied law at Magdalene College, Cambridge and graduated in 2009. He won the R. W. M. Dias Cup in the Magdalene College Advocacy Competition in 2007 and served successively as the Treasurer and Senior Committee Member of the Cambridge Union Society. William was also the President of the Cambridge University Gray's Inn Association from 2007 to 2009.

William’s project aims to look at the change, under Part III of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, from the House of Lords as the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom to a new Supreme Court. It considers the transition from a number of angles, including membership, court practice and judgments, with the objective of forming a view on the extent of the change, whether it was justified and what effect it may have for the future development of the law.

The study looks in particular at the issues of membership of the Court and its practices, including the style of its judgments. Comparisons will be drawn with the work and the set-up of the old judicial House of Lords to determine whether the move to the Supreme Court has been taken as an opportunity to make changes to the way the Law Lords operate. Any evident alterations will be assessed, with emphasis placed upon the direction of the Court's activities.

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Ben-Jacob Diewitz: The European Union, mixed agreements and UNCLOSBen-Jacob Diewitz

Ben-Jacob obtained a LLB in European, International and Comparative Law at the University of Sheffield in 2004 and an LLM from University College. London in 2005. He then completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 2006. Ben-Jacob was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, before he commenced his research degree at the University of Bristol.

Ben-Jacob's research focuses on EU External Relations and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. His research explores how the EU and its organs operate in matters relating to the Convention. He examined the negotiations which led to UNCLOS and the way the Community acted during these negotiations. His research also analyses the Community Declaration of Competence regarding the Convention. Moreover specific areas covered by UNCLOS in which the Community has different levels of competence are explored. Throughout the research key elements such as competence issues, the respective roles of different Community organs and other factors are investigated to see how they influence the Community's external actions in this area.

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Sofia Galani: State policy against hostage-taking actions in the context of human right protections.No photo available

Sofia Galani has degree in Law from the National University of Athens (2010) and a masters degree in Public Law (2011) from the University of Bristol. She began her PhD at the University of Bristol in 2011. Since 2011, she has also been assisting at the research conducted by the Human Rights Implementation Centre of the University of Bristol.

Sofia is currently studying the policy of States against hostage-taking actions in the context of the protection of hostages’ human rights. A focal part of her research will focus on how and why States treat terrorism and piracy hostage-taking differently. The main aim of her research is to examine how hostages, whose most crucial human rights (right to life, freedom from torture, right to liberty, freedom from unlawful detention), can be protected effectively.

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Clair Gammage: The Implications of the SADC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement on Regional Integration in Southern Africa  (ESRC scholarship)Clair Gammage

Clair received her LLB in 2006 and LLM (International Law) in 2007 from the University of Nottingham.   She was awarded an Economic Social Research Council’s ‘1+3’ scholarship to study international economic law at the University of Bristol. She completed the MSc in Socio-Legal Studies in 2009.

The research involves doctrinal analysis of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated between the European Union and regional groupings of Southern African countries within the complex legal framework of the World Trade Organisation. The primary objective of the thesis is to explore the impact of the SADC-EU EPA on regional integration in Southern Africa from legal, economic and political economy perspectives.  In particular, the thesis will analyse the effect of the EPA on cohesion between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). In addition, her research examines the impact of reciprocity in trade and the effects of this trade regime on economic development for Southern African countries. Empirical study with trade groups in Europe and Southern Africa will complement the interdisciplinary doctrinal aspect of the thesis.  

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Zoe Godolphin: The World Bank, Education and Human Rights: Reforming the AgendaZoe Godolphin

Zoe has an LLB in Law (2002) and a LLM in International Law (2003) from the University of Bristol She is currently studying for a Ph.D. in Law at the University of Bristol. Zoe teaches international law of trade and aid, property law and environmental law at the University of Bristol.

Zoe’s research explores the linkages between the activities of the World Bank Group and international human rights frameworks, looking specifically at the conceptions of political neutrality advanced by the Bank. The international right to education is the particular focus of Zoe’s research because it is a multiplier right and because studying the nature and extent of the World Bank Group’s roles in defending the right to education can provide useful insight into the Bank's conceptions of development and growth.  This is significant for the direction and scope of public international law.

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