Dr Eoin Guilfoyle
Lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

Summary

Eoin joined Brunel Law School in June 2022 as a Lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. Prior to this, he worked as a Teaching Associate in Law at the University of Bristol Law School (2019-2022).

Eoin graduated with a PhD in Law from the University of Limerick in 2019. He also holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh and an LLB in Law from Griffith College Cork.  Eoin’s research interests lie primarily in sentencing law and community sanctions. His PhD, which was funded by the Irish Research Council, involved an extensive examination of the Irish Community Service Order.

Eoin has published numerous peer-reviewed academic articles in leading criminology, law and legal research methods journals. In addition, he has written commissioned reports for bodies such as the Sentencing Academy (2021) and the Probation Service (2022, 2025). He has presented at a wide range of national and international academic conferences. He has also been invited to present his research to District Court Judges in Ireland, to the newly formed Irish Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee, and has given expert evidence to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee as part of their Inquiry into Community Sentences (2023). 

Prior to beginning his career in academia, Eoin held two research positions. The first with the Irish Sentencing Information System, a body set up by the judiciary to collect and analyse sentencing data and the second with the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, a body set up by the Irish Government to conduct an extensive review of policing in Ireland and to make recommendations for the future of policing in the country.

Eoin was also a certified mediator and a member of the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland from 2014 to 2019.

Current research projects

August 2022 to February 2025: Eoin is a Co-Investigator on a research project titled: Exploring the Nature of Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing through Causal Inference. The project is funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative and is led by Prof. Jose Pina-Sánchez, Professor of Quantitative Criminology (University of Leeds). The project will use a new methodological framework that will test whether ethnic disparities in criminal sentences represent evidence of discrimination. 

September 2024 to February 2025: Eoin is a Co-Investigator on a commissioned research study evaluating the current use and operation of Integrated Community Service in Ireland. The study is funded by the Probation Service (Ireland) and is led by Dr Louise Kennefick (University of Glasgow).  

Qualifications

PhD in Law (University of Limerick); MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice (University of Edinburgh); LLB in Law (Griffith College); Certified Mediator (Mediators' Institute of Ireland)