Maral Nosratzadeh

Profile

I am a postgraduate researcher at the School of Law; I joined the School in September 2019. I completed my LL.B in 2022 and my LL.M in Law and social justice here in 2023. upon the completion of my LLM, I was awarded the University of Leeds Faculty of Social Sciences Doctoral Scholarship to start my PhD in October 2023. During my previous years of study, I was drawn to areas such as disability law, International human rights law, comparative human rights, and international law, which heavily impacted my research interests and career path in legal research and academia. I developed further interest in legal research when I was a student researcher to Professor Luke Clements on the Cerebra project at the University of Leeds, which examined the lawfulness of social care needs assessment procedures for children with autism. In addition to my PhD, I am a Teaching Assistant at the School of Law, delivering seminars across all years of undergraduate study. I am a Seminar Leader in Land Law, Tort Law and Disability Law. Apart from my teaching role, I am also a PGR EDI representative  & Conference Organiser for the school of law as well as a Faculty of Social Sciences EDI Advisory Board member.

Research interests

My research focuses on examining the effectiveness of advocacy in securing rights to independent living for disabled people in Iceland and England, using an international human rights law framework. It aims to explore how rights to independent living are being accessed, the practical difficulties around securing those rights and the issues that disabled people encounter when trying to enforce their entitlement. In wider context, I explore the extent to which access to advocacy support such as the provision of Rights Protection Officers (in Iceland) and independent advocacy (in England) can be effective. Through this, I hope to be able to model a responsive social care system where the right to advocacy is available irrespective of the type of impairment in securing rights for disabled people.

Outside of the focus of my current research, I am also generally interested in social justice, discrimination, International human rights, disability rights both within legal and wider field. Particularly, the implementation of UN bodies such as United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability for the enforcement of law and policy. In addition, earlier this year I was appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport (The Rt Hon Louise Haigh MP) to be a member of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) for the Department of  Transport (DfT), United Kingdom. In my role as an advisor, I provide advice to the government on the transport needs of disabled people, I assist the UK's government department of Transport with development of policy, research proposal and Inclusive transport strategies. In my engagement with officials and the ministerial team, I hope to help with making public transport more passenger-focused, inclusive and efficient for all disabled people without any barriers.

Qualifications

• LLM Law and social justice (University of Leeds)
• LLB Law (University of Leeds)

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Disability Studies
• Centre for Law and Social Justice
• Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education