Overview

Join an international group of researchers and practitioners with expertise in the areas of Law and Society, Digital Economy and Arbitration Law, and Criminal Justice. Our PhD research programme will allow you to explore your own interests in law, supported by the expertise of our staff. As a PhD research student here, you will be affiliated with the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion and you'll be supported to undertake research that makes an independent and original contribution to knowledge and to progress into your future career.

Additional Descriptions

Here at the Faculty of Business and Law, the goal of our research is to develop a better understanding of the challenges arising from the role and application of law in the community, especially challenges around access to justice and inclusion. You’ll find staff with expertise in three broad areas: Law and Society, Digital Economy and Arbitration Law, and Criminal Justice.

Our Law and Society researchers have addressed a range of contemporary social issues in the areas of human rights and vulnerable communities, family law, Sharia law and the regulation of sports. This research ranges from the impact of Brexit on the welfare rights EU Roma migrants in the United Kingdom to parents’ rights over their children’s religious upbringing in the context of the government’s PREVENT strategy, and issues of family law and the legal regulation of intimate relationships.

Our Digital Economy and Arbitration Law researchers have engaged with the pressing legal and regulatory implications of developments in the areas of International Arbitration, as well as Information and Communication Technologies, including strategies for bridging the digital divide, the regulation of online behavioural advertising on Facebook and other social networking sites, copyright reform, sports law, and foundational questions relating to authority and authorisation in international investment dispute settlement.

Our Criminal Justice researchers have engaged with the global challenges of international counter-terrorism and, in particular, the prosecution of members of Islamic State for international crimes against the Yazidis. This research strand has also focused on issues of criminal procedure, such as the role of precedent in international criminal courts and tribunals and the impact of scientific evidence, such as DNA evidence, on the criminal trial. Many of the research projects undertaken by our researchers have strongly interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological design.

We’ll allocate you two supervisors suited to your area of research, with additional staff members available if necessary, and provide you with a rich and stimulating environment in which to conduct your research.

As a PhD student here, you'll be affiliated with the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion, which engages in research, dialogue and policy initiatives to promote the important values of access to justice and inclusion. We also host and take part in many other research events, including regular Faculty and departmental research seminars, which will allow you to present your research in a safe and supportive setting. These events, along with our online environment, will help you connect with other research students from a range of disciplines.

All your subject-specific studies will be enhanced and supported by our university-wide training sessions, where you’ll gain important research expertise in areas like ethics, presentations, intellectual property and digital scholarship.

• Careers

We’ll provide you with many opportunities for career development and training, in areas like writing up a paper for publication, placing an academic article, giving a conference paper, the doctoral writing style, updates on research methods and literature searches, internet training, editing skills for doctoral research, subsequent monograph publication and working with agents and publishers. You might also be able to take on teaching responsibilities, or organise research events.

In conjunction with the University’s research support, you can request specific support for writing-up, conference papers, general research methods and other research skills if you need it.

• Specialist facilities

You’ll have access to our state-of-the-art mock courtroom for staging debates and elements of the criminal justice process, the University of Cambridge Library, our own campus library and other local archives.

Our Faculty has a dedicated PhD room, where our doctoral students can all meet up to work and take an active part in our postgraduate student community.