Outlines of Research III
Holly Powley: The transition from the Financial Services Authority to a “twin peaks” regulator: a critical analysis of the reforms in relation to banking regulation (Graduate Teaching Assistantship)
Holly has a degree in law from the University of the West of England (2010) and a masters degree in commercial law at the University of Bristol (2011). Holly commenced her research at the University of Bristol in 2011. She also teaches tort law at undergraduate level.
Holly’s research will explore the issues that arise from the coalition government’s “new approach to financial regulation”, as explained in the series of consultation papers of the same title. The primary change in the reforms relates to the regulatory architecture of the banking sector in which it is proposed that the integrated regulator, the Financial Services Authority, will be abolished. Instead the Bank of England will be established as the new prudential regulator, and the Financial Conduct Authority, which has responsibilities for the conduct of business regulatory function, will form a “twin peaks” model. The consultation papers envisage the new regulatory bodies following a judgment-based approach to regulation and supervision, and facilitating a stronger banking sector within the UK. However, it must be asked whether these changes really will ‘build a stronger system’. In order to answer this question, this research will consider the changes to the regulatory architecture, any inherent problems within the new model, and whether the changes can be justified. It will assess the approaches that the new bodies undertake in relation to regulation and supervision of institutions within the banking sector, and will consider the perceived effectiveness of the new regulators, both in the UK and internationally. The experiences of other regulators currently functioning within a “twin peaks” model in different jurisdictions will enable a comparative viewpoint.
- Supervisor: Keith Stanton
Thalia Prastitou: Interpretation asymmetries: An obstacle to the harmonised application of European contract law?
Thalia obtained an LL.B degree from the University of Warwick in 2004 and LL.M degree in commercial Law, from the University of Bristol in 2005. She is a member of the Bar Council of Cyprus. She began her research degree at the University of Bristol in 2007. She teaches European Law at the University of Bristol.
Her research explores the area of European contract law, examining the issue of interpretation asymmetries as an obstacle to the harmonized application of the European contract law regime. More specifically, Thalia aims to assess the role and capacity of the Common Frame of Reference in providing a harmonised interpretation and application of the acquis communautaire, as a prerequisite for establishing a common contract law in Europe.
- Supervisors: Paula Giliker & Nina Boeger
Jim Robinson: Exploring the impact of housing, land and property issues on societies emerging from conflict (ESRC scholarship)
Jim has a BA in philosophy from the University of Warwick (2000), a MA in international relations from the University of Nottingham (2006) and a MSc in Socio-legal studies (2011) from the University of Bristol. He began his research degree at the University of Bristol in 2011.
Jim’s research interests lie in the impact of housing land and property (HLP) issues in societies emerging from conflict, with a particular focus on South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Whilst there is emerging consensus on the importance of HLP issues in humanitarian contexts and a need for such issues to be addressed, there remains a significant gap between this consensus and the reality on the ground. Humanitarian efforts too often focus on the return of displaced populations when wider HLP issues must be considered to improve prospects for peace. Jim’s research will explore attempts to engage with HLP issues by a variety of actors and stakeholders and will also draw on complexity theory to consider concepts of legal pluralism (for example de Sousa Santos’ concept of interlegality) in situations of conflict and the humanitarian responses to such conflict.
- Supervisor: David Cowan
Roseanne Russell: 'Gender equality and the firm: the role of corporate social responsibility'. (Graduate Teaching Assistantship)
Roseanne has a LLB from the University of Glasgow (1999). She completed her MPhil at the University of Bristol in 2011, which explored whether and how gender pay equality could be conceptualised as a matter of corporate governance.
Roseanne’s PhD, commencing in October 2011, will investigate how company law and corporate governance may be reformed to ensure that the normative aims of Corporate Social Responsibility, and more specifically the inclusion of women in public limited corporations, are achieved.
Roseanne teaches company law and corporate governance. She is a solicitor (dual-qualified in Scotland and England) and member of the Law Society’s advisory committee on Employment Law.
- Supervisors: Charlotte Villiers and Tonia Novitz
Publications and conference presentations:
R. Russell ‘Malone and others v British Airways plc: Protection of Managerial Prerogative?’ (2011) Industrial Law Journal 40(2): 207.
R. Russell, ‘Gender Equality and the Firm: Lessons from Norwegian Boardrooms’ (2011) Queen Mary PhD Conference
Janine Sargoni: Regulating Geoengineering Research through Strategic Environmental Assessment (ESRC studentship)
Having previously practised social-welfare and planning law as a solicitor-advocate, Janine was awarded a “1+ 3” studentship from the ESRC. Prior to this she was awarded an LLM (2009) and an MSc in Socio-Legal Studies (2010) from the University of Bristol. She teaches Law and State.
Taking a regulatory perspective, and in the context of scientific research, the aim of her project is to explore how authority might be justly exercised in the absence of democratic legitimacy. Her focus is on geo-engineering. This is the “deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system in order to moderate global warming” (Royal Society 2009). Further research in this area is likely to precipitate transboundary effects and is currently under-regulated. The project is particularly relevant in the light of the Royal Society’s call for geo-engineering research to be regulated so that the threat of unilateral state action is minimised.
- Supervisors: Tony Prosser and Bronwen Morgan
Presentations and papers:
J. Sargoni, “The Legitimate Regulation of Geo-engineering Research” (2011) Developing Geo-engineering Research at Bristol: Interdisciplinary workshop, University of Bristol
J. Sargoni, “Authority, Legitimacy and Accountability in Transnational Regulation” (2011) LSA Annual Meeting, San Francisco
J. Sargoni, “Characterising the Regulation of Geoengineering Research: Methodology” (2010) Methods in Legal Science Colloquium, Universities of Bristol and Copenhagen.
Sarika Seshadri: Social Enterprise and Governance in Transnational Partnerships for Development (ESRC scholarship)
Sarika has a BSc in Politics and Sociology at the University of Bristol (2006), an MSc in International Relations (2007) and a MSc in Socio-Legal Studies (2008). She is currently studying for a PhD.
Her research explores the governance of cross-national partnerships between social sector ventures, with a particular focus on the provision of safe drinking water in rural India. The research is being undertaken in collaboration with Frank Water, a Bristol-based social enterprise that sells local bottled water products in the UK in order to raise money for safe drinking water projects across the world. These projects have so far been carried out in partnership with an Indian-based NGO, the Naandi Foundation, and international technology companies such as WaterHealth International and Tata Projects. The objectives of the research are to identify an appropriate governance framework which can be used to guide further partnerships, and to analyse the role of social enterprise in new forms of global governance.
- Supervisors: Bronwen Morgan and David Gordon
Papers
- S. Seshadri “Water for Water: Governing Development through Social Enterprise” (2009) Business and Poverty Conference, University of Cambridge, May 2009.
- S. Seshadri “The Drinking Water Problem: A FRANK Solution” (2010), Department of Sociology Seminar Series, Osmania University, March 2010.
- S. Seshadri “Learning by Experience: New Governance and FRANK Water Projects” (2010) Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, University of West of England, April 2010.
- S. Seshadri “FRANK Water: A Case Study of New Governance” (2010) A Sustainable Future for Water and Sanitation? Postgraduate Workshop, Royal Holloway, June 2010.
- S. Seshhadri, “Drink Me, Save Lives: Ethical Consumerism in the Shadow of the State” (2011), Law and Society Association Annual Conference, San Francisco.
Meena Singelee: Towards a secure compliance framework – Multilateral Approaches to Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
Meena graduated from the University of Bristol with a Bachelors degree in Politics, a Masters in International Relations and a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Sciences Research Methods. She was also awarded a Convocation Award in 2007 for outstanding contribution to university life. She joined the School of Law at Bristol to October 2009, where she is currently working towards an M.Phil in International Law.
Meena’s current research focuses on building a secure compliance framework as part of multilateral approaches to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Her thesis focuses on the role of compliance in securing the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. The research addresses the issues of intentional and unintentional non-compliance by states party to nuclear-related legally binding instruments such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as well as UN Security Council resolutions. She is currently working on devising a compliance framework within a nuclear superstructure to address the weaknesses of dealing with non-compliance by the IAEA Board of Governors, and UN Security Council.
- Supervisor: Achilles Skordas
Andrew Stafford 'Managing contact and expectation: Police call handling and response to non-emergency calls for service'
Andrew received his MSc from the University of Manchester in 2007, following which he began work for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), where he is now a Senior Research Manager. Andrew was awarded funding sponsorship from the ESRC, and began his research at Bristol in 2008.
Andrew’s research explores through qualitative methods how police handling of, and response to non-emergency calls for service can impact upon public confidence in the police. The research explores the relationship between expectation and satisfaction, how the use of language and tone of voice during calls to the police can affect perception of service, the effectiveness and efficiency of police non emergency response procedure, and how signal events can influence the decision to mobilise the law. The research considers the measurement of feelings of trust and confidence towards the police, and how the understanding of these concepts can vary. Andrew’s research overlaps with many contemporary criminological issues, including the fear of crime, the treatment of victims of crime, measuring police performance, and the impact of signal crimes.
- Supervisors: Richard Young & Oliver Quick
Eleanor Staples: Deconstructing the philosophical foundations of the contemporary social and legal devaluation of domestic childcare (ESRC scholarship)
Eleanor graduated from The University of Exeter in 2006 with a BA (Hons) in English and Philosophy. She then completed a Graduate Diploma in Law at The University of the West of England in 2007. In 2007, she was awarded an ESRC 1 + 3 scholarship to study at the University of Bristol. She completed my MSc in Socio-Legal studies at Bristol, and moved onto her doctoral research, in October 2008.
Her research focuses on the philosophy of Luce Irigaray and unpaid childcare. She uses Irigaray’s work to interrogate and reveal the 'forgetting of women' in the dominant western metaphysical canon upon which the economic, social, cultural and legal relations of western civilization are built. This deconstructive project aims to reveal the way dominant philosophical logic has positioned domestic childcare only as a necessary negative corollary to the positive value of paid employment. Using Irigaray’s work, she aims to reveal and challenge how contemporary policy and legal developments in this area reproduce the notion that paid work is overwhelmingly beneficial whereas caring for your child is constructed as an unimportant or leisure activity.
- Supervisors: David Cowan & Lois Bibbings
Papers/Publications
- E. Staples. ‘New Labour, good parenting and (un)paid work’ (2010). Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, University of the West of England, April 2010.
- E. Staples 'The sacrifice of mothers: An Irigarayan analysis of the value of domestic childcare in contemporary British society' (2011) Luce Irigaray International Seminar Symposium, University of Bristol
Mary Synge: Is charitable status losing its appeal? (AHRC scholarship)
Mary graduated in law from Exeter University in 1985. She qualified as a solicitor with Linklaters in London and practised there in the commercial property department for several years before leaving and setting up a computerised 'know-how' retrieval system for the department. Since 1995 she has worked as a freelance law author on a range of legal subjects. She is an examiner and consultant in law for the Institute of Chartered Accountants and also tutors trusts law at the University of Bristol and Advanced Commercial Property at BPP, Bristol.
Her research addresses the public benefit requirement contained in the Charities Act 2006, with particular reference to independent schools and other fee-charging charities. The research is doctrinal and will provide an in-depth analysis of the principles contained in the Commission’s guidance on this requirement and assess their consistency with underlying case law. It will also examine the Commission’s implementation of the public benefit requirement to date and comment on recent judicial proceedings which have challenged the Commission’s interpretation of the law. Comparative research will consider the position in Scotland, where a similar, but not identical, legal framework was introduced in 2005.
- Supervisors: Roger Kerridge & Gwen Seabourne
Publications:
- Synge M., ‘Poverty: An Essential Element in Charity After All?’ (2011) Cambridge Law Journal
Clare Torrible: The Role of Civil Actions in Police Regulation (ESRC Scholarship)
Clare Graduated from Bristol University in 1995, going on the complete the Legal Practice Course in 1996. She acted as a senior solicitor in relation to civil claims against the police for a number of years before moving to the Crown Prosecution Service. She completed the MSc in Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Bristol in 2011.
Clare’s interest lies in how civil claims function as an aspect of police regulation. Her research encompasses a socio-legal analysis of the development of the law in this area together with an empirical investigation into the impact of civil claims on policing policy and police complaints.
- Supervisors: Richard Young and Morag McDermont
Sarah Webber: The Lost Elements of Care: Older People's Access to Social Care Services and an Ethic of Care
(ESRC Scholarship)
Sarah graduated from The University of Bristol in 2007 with an LLB (Hons) in Law. In 2007, she was awarded an ESRC 1 + 3 scholarship to study socio-legal studies at the University of Bristol. In 2008, she passed her MSc in Socio-Legal Studies (with distinction) and moved on to her doctoral research in 2008. In addition to her research, Sarah teaches Constitutional Rights at the University of Bristol.
Sarah's research focuses on the relevance of the feminist ethic of care for current policy and legislation on older people, using qualitative methods to explore individual experiences of, and attitudes to, current and alternative care assessment procedures. Looking in depth at the views of policy makers, regulators, social workers, health care professionals, charities, carers and older people, the research aims to evaluate the current system and see whether an ethic of care alternative is desirable and feasible.
- Supervisors: Morag McDermont & Liz Lloyd