Collaborations
Our academics within the Brunel Law School contribute significantly to creative thinking in the development of law and public policy.
This is demonstrated through our regular scholarly engagement with and influence on the work of international organisations, parliaments and other institutional actors.
Examples of our collaborations in legal research
Migration law
Private law
- Dr Federico Ferretti is an appointed member of Financial Services User Group of the European Commission (DG FISMA) to advise the European Commission on any policy and legislative matter affecting the users of financial services. He was reaffirmed in his position in 2014. As part of his funded project on the over-indebtedness of the European Consumers, Ferretti has worked with national lawyers, judges, the industry and consumer organisations in four different member states of the EU (UK, Greece, Germany and Italy) on consumer over-indebtedness and responsible lending.
- A report on Legal Instruments and Practice of Arbitration in the EU was completed by Federico Ferretti, Dr Christine Riefa, Professor Ilias Bantekas and academics from other legal institutions. It included working with law firms in all EU countries to research the national practices of arbitration across the EU and Switzerland. For further information https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2637305
- In early 2016, Professor Ilias Bantekas was appointed in the list of initial arbitrators of the Bucharest International Arbitration Center. In 2014, he acted as a senior advisor to the Greek Parliamentary Committee and has been one of the main drafters of the Report of the Truth Committee on Public Debt.
- During his transfer knowledge leave in 2014, Dr Peter Petkoff was able to develop research workshops with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Petkoff continues to act as a consultant to the Media Freedom Office of the OSCE and to the European Parliament.
Public law
- Dr Christian Heitsch continues to act as the advisor to the German legal firm Baumann Rechtsanwaelte. He completed a submission to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee with them in 2014.
- Dr Adrienne Barnett was appointed a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women in 2014, and has been actively involved in advising and assisting them since then.
- In 2015, Dr Eleni Polymenopoulou completed two reports for the International Press Institute on freedom of expression in Greece.
- Professor Alexandra Xanthaki advised the DfID and FCO on indigenous rights and the World Bank; her suggested position was adopted as the UK position on the matter.
- Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos also enjoys strong links with the General Prosecutor and NGOS working in criminal justice, including Trials International, Open Society and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties - all represented well in the ‘Britain in Europe’ think tank.
- Dr Ignacio de la Rasilla has been the Founder and Co-Chair of the Interest Group on the History of International Law, the European Society of International law; and the Study Group of the History of International Law and the Latin-American Society of International Law.
- Brunel Law School will be hosting Christina Blasi Casagram from Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona as a Visiting Yerun Research Fellow from 14th October 2018 until 1st December 2018. While at Brunel University London, Dr Blasi will work in collaboration with Prof Xanthaki on a H2020 submission for the call SU-BES01-2018-2019-2020 (Human factors, and socail, societal, and organisational aspects of border and external secruity). This will be submitted in August 2019. Dr Blasi will also work on Migration Rights in the European and International level. Her work complements really well with Prof Xanthaki's work; Prof Xanthaki is an expert on migration at the international level, whereas Dr Blasi is an expert on migration at the European level. While at Brunel, they will collaborate on a REF2021 publication on migration that will combine the two approaches. They also plan to reflect on funding applications for the future. Finally, Dr Blasi will have an input in the preparation of the MA in Migration Law, Policy and Practice, to start at BLS in 2019. She will offer teaching and a paper to students and staff of her research on the role of Europol in fighting human trafficking/smuggling.
Socio-Legal Studies
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Digital Humanitarianism
Dr Serena Natile is co-Investigator for the project ‘Digital Humanitarianism: Confronting Opportunities and Challenges’ with Professor David Nelken (KCL), Dr James Millington (KCL), Dr Faith Taylor (University of Portsmouth), Professor Fleur Johns (UNSW), Dr Co-Pierre Georg and Allan Davids (Digital Financial Innovation Lab University of Cape Town), Dr Ana Paula Camelo and Vitor Ido (FGV São Paolo). The project maps how digital platforms and the data they produce are changing the governance of humanitarian assistance and examines the socio-legal and political dilemmas resulting from these changes. As part of the project the team organised a workshop on Mapping Digital Humanitarianism which took place on 15 February 2019 and established a network of scholars, development practitioners, digital developers and policy makers working on digital humanitarianism. The team is currently planning a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya in July 2019. Check out the project website humanitarianism.digital
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Inclusionary Practices Project
Dr Serena Natile is part of the British Academy-funded Inclusionary Practices Project led by Professor Toni Williams from Kent Law School and Professor Fabricio Polido from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). This project explores multiple ways in which legal and regulatory techniques are used to implement social and economic inclusion policies in Europe, Latin America and in the digital domain. Beyond its contribution to scholarship and policy debates, the project has created new research and teaching collaborations with scholars from UFMG. Particularly relevant is Serena’s collaboration with Professors Pedro Gravata Nicoli and Marcelo Macier Ramos, founders of the DIVERSO project (Núcleo Jurídico de Diversidade Sexual e de Gênero). The Inclusionary Practices Project’s final workshop will take place at the University of Amazonas, Brazil in September 2019. The research team is currently working on an edited book for Elgar provisionally titled Inclusionary Practices: Constituting Inclusion and Exclusion Through Law and Regulation.