Dr Amanda Spalding

Profile

I am a Lecturer in Law specialising in immigration law and human rights. I joined the University of Leeds in July 2023, having previously worked at the University of Sheffield, Canterbury Christ Church University and SOAS. I am a graduate of King’s College London (PhD, LLM) and the Robert Gordon University (LLB Hons). I am currently the Deputy Editor for the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law.  

Research interests

My research primarily focuses on immigration law and policy in the UK and Europe and its relationship with human rights and criminal law. My book The Treatment of Immigrants in the European Court of Human Rights: Moving Beyond Criminalisation has been called a “precious addition to research at the intersection of human rights and criminal law”. I have published research on human rights and immigration law in the Modern Law Review, the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, the European Journal of Migration and Law and the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law.   

Outside of my immigration law expertise, I also work on issues of gender-based violence including sexual and domestic violence. I have published work on the ‘rough sex’ defence and rape trials in edited collections. More broadly, I am interested in research examining the law in context which utilises both doctrinal research methods to examine the internal coherence of the law but also socio-legal methods to discuss this coherence in light of the social and ideological context in which the law operates.  

Qualifications

• PhD in Law (King's College London)
• LLM (King's College London)
• LLB (Hons) (The Robert Gordon University)

Student education

I currently teach Criminal Law, European Union Law, Family Law and Gender and the Law.  

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Law and Social Justice