School of Law hosts inspiring Postgraduate Researcher Conference

On Wednesday 22 April 2026 the School of Law hosted a conference run by Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) looking at the work of PGRs from across all School Research Centres.

The Postgraduate Research (PGR) Conference was organised by School of Law PGRs Hannah Shackleton and Sophie de Groot, and was a combined conference for all four of the School’s research centres: the Centre for Innovation and Research in Criminological and Legal Education, the Centre for Business Law and Practice, the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, and the Centre for Law and Social Justice. PGRs at all stages of their research degrees presented their work.   

The conference was hosted in the School’s Moot Court and consisted of four panels which were designed to showcase research across a wide variety of specialisms: 

• Panel One: Gendered Harm, Violence and Justice Responses 

• Panel Two: Technology, Evidence, and the Regulation of Expression 

• Panel Three: Global Governance, Security, and Institutional Transformation 

• Panel Four: Crime, Desistance, and Informal Justice in the Digital Age

Catriona Flesher, who won the prize for Best Presentation for ‘Loss and Damage: Examining the gap between lived experiences and international legal imaginaries of climate impacts’ said: 

The PGR Conference was such a supportive and generative environment to share and celebrate the amazing research done by PGRs in the School of Law.

“I was delighted to receive the prize for best presentation in a day of excellent presentations – and I'm immensely grateful to my current and past supervisors, Professor Stephen Whitfield, Dr Amrita Mukherjee, Dr Justine Bendel, and Dr Carrie Bradshaw for their guidance and support. Thank you also to Hannah and Sophie for organising! It is such a privilege to be part of the School of Law community.”

Esther Wilkinson, who presented on ‘Websleuthing and online investigative practices’ told us: 

As a first-year PGR, presenting my current research on websleuth communities and the ethical challenges involved in conducting online research allowed me to share ideas, receive feedback and engage with staff and other PGRs across the School of Law. 

“I’m especially grateful to my fellow PGRs and supervisors, Professor David Churchill and Dr Sean Butcher, for encouraging me to discuss my work at this stage of my PhD and for their continued guidance and support, which gave me the confidence to present my research.”

 

Organisers Hannah and Sophie told us, 'It was a pleasure to organise and host the School of Law PGR conference. All of the presentations were excellent, and it was inspiring to see the diverse range of research being carried out across the school.’

Bringing everyone together continued to build our shared sense of community across the School, and we want to thank all the staff and PGRs who came along. 

“The genuine interest and great conversations made the conference a real success, and a brilliant showcase of the supportive research environment we have in the School of Law.”

Director of Research and Innovation Professor Henry Yeomans told us:

The PGR conference showcased some of the outstanding research being undertaken within the School of Law. The quality of the research and the quality of the presentations were very impressive indeed. It was an excellent day and I am very grateful to the organisers.

If you are interested in joining the School of Law’s exciting Postgraduate Research community, find out more here.