Funded research
We are currently involved in a range of projects including 2 European Research Council (ERC) grants, several Horizon Europe projects, multiple Irish Research Council (IRC) funded projects, as well as collaborations with policymakers, industry, civil society organisations, and other external stakeholders.
Upcoming projects:
Professor Delia Ferri and Dr. Charles O’Sullivan of the School of Law & Criminology have been awarded funding of over €250,000 from the EU’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme (HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-04). The MU researchers’ work will be conducted as part of an international consortium led by Universitá di Firenze - PIN Arco (Florence, Italy). The whole consortium will receive approximately €3million for the project, entitled ‘Sustainable Wellbeing Through Investment in Social Services’ (SWINS), and will include partners from Belgium, Spain, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Hungary and Germany. Read more about the project here
The School of Law and Criminology is delighted to annonuce that our staff have been awarded three out of five of the Maynooth University wide awards for Research Achievement.
Dr Bríd Ní Ghráinne, received the Maynooth University Early-Career Research Award. The award recognises outstanding research achievements by colleagues who are in the early stages of their career. This award honours individuals who have demonstrated exceptional promise through innovative research, contributing new knowledge and ideas within their discipline. Recipients are celebrated for their potential to become future leaders in their field, showcasing significant scholarly outputs and the ability to establish a strong research trajectory.
Bríd is an expert in the Law of Forced Migration, particularly on the topic of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which refers to the (estimated) 71 million people who have been forced to flee their homes but who remain within their states. The complexity of reasons for which IDPs flee has meant that her research spans refugee law, human rights law, humanitarian law, disaster law, law of the sea, as well as general Public International Law.
Professor Aisling McMahon received the Maynooth University Mid-Career Research Award acknowledges academic staff who have established themselves as significant contributors to their field. This award honours those who, at the mid-point of their career, have demonstrated sustained excellence in research, making impactful contributions that advance knowledge and understanding.
Aisling is a Professor of Law, Maynooth University, and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council funded PatentsInHumans project. She is an internationally recognised expert in health law and intellectual property law. She is particularly interested in the regulation of emerging health-technologies, and the role of (bio)ethics within intellectual property law decision-making.
Dr Ian Marder received the Maynooth University Excellence in Research Outputs Award celebrates colleagues who have produced outstanding research outputs. This award honours those whose scholarly outputs significantly contribute to advancing knowledge and enhancing the university's reputation in their respective fields.
Ian work considers how to prevent, reduce and repair harm caused by crime and criminal justice, and how to meet citizens' and professionals' needs. He mostly write on restorative justice, restorative practices in criminal justice and higher education, and other elements of criminal justice change. Ian also write for public and professional audiences to communicate evidence and ideas from research.
We are incredibly proud of our colleagues for their years of hard work and research output, and acknowledge to the teams that support them in Msynooth, amongst their international research networks, and their friends and supporters outside the university. All the staff and students of the School collectively make for a wonderful community.
Notable recognition
Maynooth University’s School of Law and Criminology was ranked first among departments/faculties/schools of law on the Island of Ireland by “new” download count (over the last year), with over 18,900 new downloads (and, ranked #48 of 500 internationally ranked law schools) on the Social Science Research Network's November 1, 2024 rankings,
Second ranked, University College Dublin, also has over 15,400 new downloads (and, ranked #56 of 500 internationally ranked law schools). And, third ranked, Queen’s University Belfast (NI) has over 11,400 new downloads (and, ranked #82 of 500 internationally ranked law schools). Read here
As an aside an analysis recently completed in Maynooth University of the mentions of research in government policies and news mentions showed that whilst the School of Law and Criminology Maynooth University is amongst the youngest in the Faculty of Social Sciences, it is also one of the most visible in society.
Recently, Professor Aisling McMahon has been invited to join the international advisory board of Legal Studies, a leading international peer review generalist law journal.
Policy and Media
Numerous articles referencing our published work have appeared in the mainstream media, while colleagues have appeared on The Tonight Show and RTÉs Upfront in recent weeks.
We have held several events to emphasise our work with policymakers in the last month.
Dr Joe Garrihy and Dr Ciara Bracken-Roche launched their report "Boxed Out: Higher Education, Criminal Convictions, and Perceptions of Risk".
Dr Bracken Roche also hosted a public “think in” on Facial Recognition Technology as part of the Beta Festival of Art & Technology 2024.
The first comprehensive investigation of the specific needs and perspectives of Foreign National Prisoners (FNPs) in the Irish Prison System was also released last week. The study was conducted by Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology researchers in collaboration with the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) and was funded by the Irish Research Council and Maynooth University. The analysis by Dr David Doyle, Dr Joe Garrihy, Muiread Murphy and Maria Cleary draws on interviews conducted with 82 prisoners – 69 male and 13 female – in eight Irish prisons over a 12-month period between late 2021 and 2022.
Find more informtion about the School of Law and Criminology's research achievements here
Dr. Amina Adanan
‘Advancing the Rights of Prisoners in Ireland Through Strategic Litigation’ (AD-PRIS).
Dr. Amina Adanan was awarded a New Foundations grant by
the Irish Research Council for a project ‘Advancing the Rights of Prisoners in Ireland Through Strategic Litigation’ (AD-PRIS). Project details: Notwithstanding the increase in public interest cases to advance the rights of disadvantaged groups in Ireland, prison law remains under litigated in the State. Working with the leading national CSO advocating for penal reform (Irish Penal Reform Trust), and using desk based research supplemented by semi-structured interviews, AD-PRIS has two aims. First, to draft a strategic litigation policy for the advancement of the prisoners’ rights in Ireland, exploring the legal options that exist at a national, European and international level. Second, to develop a network of stakeholders, legal practitioners and academics with the purpose of initiating such cases.
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Dr. Lynsey Black
In 2022,
Dr. Lynsey Black was awarded an IRC Starting Laureate for her project 'CONSPACE: Penal Nationalism and the Northern Ireland Border' (IRCLA/2022/2418_BLACK). This is a four-year project which uses archival and participant research methodologies to tease out the meanings of crime, punishment and security at the Northern Irish border over a 100-year period exploring both historical and contemporary instances of penal nationalism at the border. The work brings in the perspectives and approaches of border criminology and penal nationalism. The CONSPACE project is affiliated with
Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI).
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Dr. Joe Garrihy and Dr. Ciara Bracken-Roche
Dr. Ciara Bracken-Roche and Dr. Joe Garrihy recently received awards under the Irish Research Council (IRC) ‘New Foundations’ programme for their project, Boxed Out: Higher education, criminal convictions, and perceptions of risk, in partnership with Irish Penal Reform Trust
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Dr Avril Brandon
Dr. Avril Brandon has been awarded funding from the Department of Justice to conduct research on ethnic monitoring in the criminal justice system. This research aims to examine and learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions that have developed and implemented ethnic monitoring systems. She will conduct this research in collaboration with Professor Denis Bracken at the University of Manitoba, Canada.
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Dr Mary Dobbs
Dr. Mary Dobbs is also part of a Horizon Europe project (P2GreeN) (2022-2026) looking at the potential to reclaim nutrients from human waste for use as fertiliser in food production - she will be investigating the legal and regulatory frameworks across the EU and relevant regions for this project.
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Professor Michael Doherty
Professor Michael Doherty, Head of the School of Law and Criminology, is currently undertaking research on different ways of regulating new forms of employment emerging through technological advance, and through the increasingly differentiated forms of employment relationship that are observable. The digitalisation of the workplace leads to both completely new phenomena, and also traditional legal challenges present in novel forms. The research looks at changing conceptions of the employment relationship, relating to workers in the ‘gig economy’, but also workers ‘on the borderline’ of employee/self-employed status; the ‘false-self-employed’, and seeks to examine legislative, and other regulatory, strategies ensure the rights of such workers are secured.
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Professor Michael Doherty and Dr David Mangan
VIRAL
Professor Michael Doherty and Dr. David Mangan are currently working on a European Commission Project investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on employment relations in the aviation industry. VIRAL is a two-year project, with 12 partners from six EU Member States. The project aims to identify measures to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on the air transport sector. A vital consideration for the VIRAL project involves mapping employment relations changes in the European air transport value chain, due to the impact of lockdowns, and mapping plans to re-invigorate the industry in the coming years.
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Dr. David Doyle
Dr. David Doyle is currently in the process of completing a co-authored book on capital punishment in post-independence Ireland. He was also recently awarded an Irish Research Council New Foundations Award to seed a new study on Human Trafficking in Ireland.
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Professor Delia Ferri
Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING).
Prof. Delia Ferri is researching on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) within the European Union (EU) and its Member States. Currently, Prof. Ferri is Principal Investigator of the project Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING). DANCING explores the right of persons with disabilities to take part in cultural life as an essential aspect of enhancing cultural diversity in the EU, and aims to produce ground-breaking knowledge. By using a combination of legal, empirical and arts-based research, and adopting a participatory approach, DANCING pursues three complementary objectives, experiential, normative and theoretical respectively. The project is funded by the European Research Council (Grant agreement No. 864182).
Rethinking Digital Copyright Law for a Culturally Diverse, Accessible, Creative Europe (ReCreating Europe).
Prof. Delia Ferri is also co-investigator in the H2020 project Rethinking Digital Copyright Law for a Culturally Diverse, Accessible, Creative Europe (ReCreating Europe), where she investigates access to digital cultural goods for people with disabilities, from an intersectional perspective. As member of the H2020 project SHAPES, she focuses on regulatory frameworks to support independence and enhanced quality of life for older people with disabilities. On the whole, Prof. Ferri’s research falls within the broader realm of EU Law and Comparative Law.
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Dr. Ian Marder
Dr. Ian Marder’s research projects in 2025 focus on the development of restorative justice, restorative practices and research partnerships. His restorative justice work includes projects to map restorative justice in Ireland, make restorative justice more accessible through the sharing of victims’ contact details, and support restorative justice providers to develop strategic plans. His restorative practices work includes studies of staff training in universities and among prison leaders, and a project to facilitate dialogue between the police and Black community. He is also the chair of the CORD Partnership, which seeks to bring research, policy and practice together to embed a culture of interdisciplinary open research in criminal justice in Ireland.
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Professor Aisling McMahon
Professor Aisling McMahon is leading the ERC PatentsInHumans Project. The five-year interdisciplinary project is funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant and will involve a team of researchers who will focus on developing a comprehensive understanding of the bioethical issues posed by patents and how they are used over technologies related to the human body (such as, medicines, elements of medical devices, etc). The project will interrogate to what extent such bioethical implications are considered if at all, within European patent decision-making for these technologies. Ultimately, a key project aim is to reimagine European patent decision-making to further embed bioethical considerations in the patent decision-making systems for technologies related to the human body. You can learn more about this project here.
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Dr. Clíodhna Murphy
Dr. Clíodhna Murphy is currently working on research relating to access to labour rights for a number of different categories of domestic worker; and is also taking part in the Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project, writing the 'missing' feminist judgment in the Supreme Court decision in Lobe and Osayande v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2003] IESC 3.
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Dr. Cian O'Concubhair
Policing Housing Rights Activism in Ireland, in partnership with Irish Council for Civil Liberties
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Dr John Reynolds
'TWAIL 2023: Democratizing International Law'
Dr. John Reynolds, was awarded a Connections Grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a project on ‘TWAIL 2023: Democratizing International Law’. Dr. John Reynolds is a co-applicant on the project along with his colleagues Sujith Xavier (University of Windsor), Laura Betancur Restrepo (Universidad de Los Andes) and Amaka Vanni (University of Leeds). The project brings together leading scholars and thinkers from around the world working on international law, global justice and equality from a range of perspectives, particularly those of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) research network. The project addresses several core intersecting thematic strands – racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and transitional justice – and will produce a series of special issue publications.
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Dr Sinéad Ring
Dr. Sinéad Ring received an award under the Irish Research Council (IRC) ‘New Foundations’ programme. The project awarded the funding: On Relevance and Consent: Interrogating The Uses of the Victim's Previous Sexual History in Serious Sexual Offences Trials, in partnership with Rape Crisis Network Ireland
See please below what an exciting line-up we have for the Spring 2025 Maynooth University, School of Law and Criminology Research Seminar Series.
12th Feb 2025
10:00-11:00 Edoardo Celeste (DCU)
Digital constitutionalism and EU digital sovereignty
SE230
26th Feb 2025
12:00-13:00 Cormac Behan
The alleged proposals to convert prisons into hotels’: Michael Davitt, Imprisonment, and the Promise of Penal Reform
SE234
12th March 2025
12:00-13:00 Frea Anderson
SE234
26th March 2025
12:00-13:00 Michael Boland
Directorial Standards and Expectations in Company Law
SE234
9th April 2025
12:00-14:00 Prof Marco Rocca (Strasbourg Uni)
ERC project Temporary labour migration in and to the European Union
SE234
16th April 2025
12:00-13:00 Sarah Hamill (TCD)
The Celtic Paper Tiger: Ireland's tenancies legislation and the chimera of tenants' rights
SE234
30th April 2025
12:00-13:00 Shane Horgan (Edinburgh Napier Uni)
Influence, Innovations and Infrastructure: reflections on emerging police strategies in techno-social contexts
SE234
14th May 2025
12:00-13:00 Claire Hamilton & Melanie Murchison (Manitoba)
Exclusionary rule
SE235
28th May 2025
12:00-13:00 Obele Akinniranye
Navigating Liability in the Age of Autonomy: A Critical Analysis of the EU Regulatory Framework for AI and Autonomous Vehicles
SE234
