PhD Law and Social Justice

The Law School, rated 4th in the UK for research in Law REF 2014 and first for impact in Law, is committed to developing its research profile and environment. The Head of School is Prof Eugene McNamee. The School espouses a commitment to socio-legal and multidisciplinary studies as well as supporting doctrinal research.

The School welcomes proposals in the area of Law and Social Justice, especially proposals linked to the Ulster University Law Clinic. Examples of proposals in the area of law and social justice would include Access to justice, including clinical legal education Legal Support, litigants in person, participation; Social Security Law; Citizenship rights; administrative justice and tribunal reform; poverty and destitution; Welfare reform.

The School of Law is home to the Ulster University Law Clinic (/) – an in-house, public facing law clinic staffed by postgraduate students on the LLM Clinical Legal Education under the supervision of Law School staff. The Clinic is led by Dr Grainne McKeever (member of UK Social Security Advisory Committee) and Dr Esther McGuinness. The Ulster University Law Clinic has established an international reputation for its work in the area of access to justice. It has won several national prizes for its innovative approach to research-driven education and pro bono work, providing free legal advice to the public in social security and employment law. In 2014 the Clinic was nominated for a global Innovating Justice award, on the basis of its strong potential to deliver concrete justice results, and the Head of the Law School was awarded a 2014 Fulbright Public Sector Award to develop the Clinic’s innovative model of meeting unmet legal need through innovative graduate legal education.

PhD graduates are recognised by employers to hold valuable transferrable skills, as the nature of the degree trains candidates in creativity, critical inquiry, problem solving, negotiation skills, professionalism and confidence. The most recent Ulster survey of PhD graduates found that 92% had secured employment within the first year since graduation (HESA Destination of Leavers Survey 2015), and while two thirds end up in the Higher Education or Research sectors, the range of skills acquired equips the remainder for employment in a wide range of contexts.