Law (Research)

Goldsmiths Law MPhil/PhD candidates are given outstanding opportunities to explore modern legal phenomena in their rapidly changing socio-political, cultural, and economic context.

• Our forward-looking, cosmopolitan, and distinctive Law Department draws on - and has further strengthened - Goldsmiths’ rich heritage of social awareness and engagement, and its unique ability to foster radical and creative thinking, facilitated by cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration.

• Goldsmiths is known for its academic strengths in the creative arts, humanities, and social sciences; its unique focus on public and community engagement; the outstanding alumni from every generation of students; and its ground-breaking multi-disciplinary research. Our PhD programme follows this tradition, and students joining the programme will also be joining a wider doctoral community served by Goldsmiths’ multidisciplinary Graduate School.

Working independently and with others
We aspire for our PhD candidates to fully integrate into the Department of Law’s innovative approach to legal studies and legal research. We believe there is space for independent legal research, and are passionate about connecting students with our network of leading scholars and professionals, including:

• Our renowned Visiting Professors
• The dynamic organisations with which we work, whose aim is to make a real impact on policy, the law, and communities
• Academic staff and doctoral researchers in other Goldsmiths departments (e.g. in the departments of Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, History, Art, Design, Institute of Management Studies, and others) with intertwined research interests
• Our activist research centres and think tanks
• The scholars and legal professionals that collaborate with our Law and Policy Clinics

PhD candidates are offered opportunities to contribute to our research and public engagement activity that will develop their skills to work in and beyond academia upon graduation, including growing confidence in public speaking, and using modern technologies to communicate research outputs.

Research Supervision Areas
All MPhil/PhD candidates at Goldsmiths receive supervision from two members of academic staff throughout their study with us, who may be drawn from the same department or, in the case of interdisciplinary projects, multiple departments at the college.

Areas of research strength in the Department of Law include:

• Criminal law and procedure, and criminal justice

• Public international law

• Transnational human rights

• Law and migration

• Gender, race and sexuality

• Law and technologies

Prior to making an application candidates are strongly encouraged to directly approach individual academics with expertise in the area that they intend to pursue for doctoral study. This is an opportunity to inquire informally about supervision availability and discuss preliminary research ideas.