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  • Find a PhD Supervisor

Find a PhD Supervisor

Professor John Morison

School of Law

Professor John Morison

School of Law

My work focuses on legal and constitutional theory and I have a particular interest in new technology and its impact. This covers issues around e-government and e-democracy as well as the ‘Smart City’. I am also interested in aspects of the legal profession and the judiciary.

Contact info

  • View Academic Profile
  • J.Morison@qub.ac.uk
  • +44 (0)28 9097 3089

Research Interests

Open to PhD applications in: 

  • Constitutional law and theory
  • Democracy and participation
  • New technology
  • Smart cities
  • Algorithmic government
  • The legal profession and judges

Make a PhD enquiry


Public outreach & key achievements

  • Professor Morison was a previously a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit, University College London, Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London (supported by a grant from the British Academy) a visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town, a research fellow at the Institute of Governance at QUB supported by a grant from the Royal Irish Academy, and in 2007-08 a Visiting Research Chair at the Law School in the Universiteit of Utrecht. He is a member of the Higher Education Academy and has been or is currently an external examiner for universities in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, as well as for a number of continental PhDs. 

    In 2005 Professor Morison was appointed to the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission and re-appointed for a further four years from 2008-12. He was an Independent Board Member of the Legal Services Agency which funds legal aid in Northern Ireland from 2013-18. In March 2009 he was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He served as a member of its Academic Board as well as the chair of the Academy's Ethical, Political, Legal and Philosophical Studies Committee from 2014 to 2018. In 2015 he led the RIA's Ethics and Opinion Series within the President of Ireland's Ethics Initiative and in 2016 organised the RIA's Constitutional Conversations series. 

    In 2018 he was invited to join the RIA's Policy Oversight Group, where he is currently chairing a review of Early Career Provision in Ireland, and he was co-opted to the RIA Council in 2018. A previous Head of the School of Law, he was also Director of Internationalisation until 2016, and in this role was a founder of the innovative Juris Doctorate (JD) degree which attracts students from across the world to QUB. 
He was appointed as the Law School's "REF Champion" in October 2016 and was Programme Coordinator for the Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on CyberSecurity (LINAS) which has been established to support pioneering research at the interface between the social sciences and electronic engineering & computer science, and remains on its managment group


Research students

PhD area  Talking technology: Regulating and ensuring the safety of intelligent voice assistants
Name James Sweeney
   
PhD area    
The constitution, citizenship and equality
Name Lydia Griffith
   
PhD area   
Secure environments, legally compliant environments, safe environments: Understanding the dynamics for confidence with algorithmic decision making
Name David Mark
   
PhD area    
 A casualty of conflict? Media censorship and freedom of expression in Nepal
Name Narayan Kandel
   
PhD area From private to public: The inter-operability and governance of private sector algorithmic solutions in the public sector
Name Tomas McInerney
   
PhD area The human element in cybersecurity
Name Louise O'Hagan
   
PhD area The governance and management of data in the smart city
Name Sejal Chandak

 


Alumni: Where are they now

PhD area Public financial crimes: A critical analysis of the role of Kuwaiti criminal and regulatory agencies in the investigation process
Name Dr Hamad Alfahad
Years of study PhD awarded 2020
   
PhD area
A critical analysis of the rights-based approach to development
Name Dr Andrew Godden
Years of study                   PhD awarded 2019
Current Position:  Lecturer, School of Law, Queen’s Belfast
   
PhD area
Law on the horizon of algorithmic governmentality: Legal innovation, machine learning and 'semi-automated' justice
Name Dr Adam Harkens
Years of study PhD awarded 2018
Current Position:  Research associate in Algorithmic Decision- Making in the Criminal Justice System, School of Law, University of Birmingham
   
PhD area
Big data, surveillance and the digital citizen
Name Dr Jennifer Cobbe
Years of study PhD awarded 2018
Current Position: Coordinator, Trust and Technology Initiative, Cambridge University
   
PhD area Governmentality and the community experience in Belfast 1975-1995
Name Dr Avila Kilmurry
Years of study PhD awarded 2009
Current Position Director of Community Foundation for Northern Ireland from 1994 to 2015; Honorary Professor of Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University
   
   

Discover More

  • Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
  • School of Law
    The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice 
  • CITI-GENS Doctoral Training Centre
  • Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Algorithmic Solutions

 

Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law

Read our guidance on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.


Postgraduate research
Apply now
Your postgraduate experience
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