Dr Rhonda Wheate
Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow
Law
Personal statement
Personal statement
Dr Rhonda Wheate has dual qualifications in Science (University Medal for chemistry, Hons Class I) and Law (Hons Class I). Building upon this, Rhonda's PhD research examined how well real juries in criminal trials comprehend scientific evidence. Her later research has focused on expert evidence; forensic science; judicial, legal & juror comprehension; and more recently, on Clinical Legal Education. Rhonda is the Director of the Clinical LLB at the Law School, as well as supervising Hons, Masters and PhD students in areas related to the above research.
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Prize And Awards
- Nominee - Strathclyde Students Union Teaching Award 2021
- Recipient
- 2021
- Ria de Groot Award for Best Female Graduate
- Recipient
- 2007
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Publications
- Why do judges keep letting bad science into criminal trials?
- Wheate Rhonda
- (2021)
- 'Life experience' and juror bias in criminal trials
- Wheate Rhonda
- (2021)
- The Young grandfather : a new approach to the reliability of expert evidence in Scottish criminal cases or business as usual?
- Nicolson Donald, Wheate Rhonda
- Juridical Review Vol 2020, pp. 111-152 (2020)
- The importance of DNA evidence to juries in criminal trials
- Wheate Rhonda
- International Journal of Evidence and Proof Vol 14, pp. 129–145 (2010)
- https://doi.org/10.1350/ijep.2010.14.2.348
- A tale of two approaches - the NAS report and the Law Commission consultation paper on forensic science
- Wheate Rhonda M, Jamieson Allan
- International Commentary on Evidence Vol 7 (2009)
- https://doi.org/10.2202/1554-4567.1110
- Australian forensic scientists : a view from the witness box
- Wheate Rhonda
- Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences Vol 40, pp. 123-146 (2008)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00450610802452228
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Professional Activities
- BBC Scotland Radio Sunday Morning Interview: George Floyd & Jury Selection
- Interviewee
- 14/2/2021
- Network for the Public Communication of Science and Technology (External organisation)
- Member
- 2021
- Law and Society Association (External organisation)
- Member
- 2021
- Socio-Legal Studies Association (External organisation)
- Member
- 2021
- Society of Legal Scholars Annual conference 2020
- Speaker
- 2/9/2020
- PhD Examiner - The Regulation of DNA Collection and Retention for use in Criminal Investigations in Kuwait
- Examiner
- 8/2020
Projects
- EO4HR: Earth Observation for Human Rights
- Riccardi, Annalisa (Principal Investigator) Wheate, Rhonda (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2026
- Honour-Based Abuse in Scotland: Evidence and pathways to strengthen protection for victims
- Wheate, Rhonda (Principal Investigator) McLaughlin, Elaine (Co-investigator) McGowan, Mhairi (Co-investigator) Faulds, Samantha (Co-investigator) Burton, Allan (Co-investigator)
- Funded (£17,918) by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (£16,418), Strathclyde Law School (£1,000) and Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid (£500). A series of multi-agency, multi-disciplinary events providing a forum for the analysis of current legal and policy frameworks in Scotland concerning Honour Based Abuse (HBA).
The project and events will consider the protection provided to victims of gender-based HBA through the law and policing. The project will illuminate and evaluate the effect of the law and policing on women who are impacted by the intersecting factors of gender, ethnicity, family networks, linguistic, financial, educational, immigration and other barriers in the face of HBA, creating recommendations for law reform, policy reform, and an animation to be played by Police Scotland in airport and immigration venues in relation to HBA. - 01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022
- Literature Review of the sentencing of cases involving domestic abuse
- Wheate, Rhonda (Principal Investigator)
- Report for the Scottish Sentencing Council, in collaboration with Glasgow University Law School (£8,175.44)
- 26-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2022
- Thai Judiciary Visit 2019
- Wheate, Rhonda (Principal Investigator)
- I provided a seminar in Criminal Law and Jury Trials to 35 senior members of the Thai judiciary, who were visiting Strathclyde for an academic programme on Scots Law.
- 14-Jan-2019 - 27-Jan-2019
- Public Confidence and Partnership in Policing
- Wheate, Rhonda (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2017 - 26-Jan-2018
- Expert witness - McLaren & Others v HMA - criminal appeal
- Wheate, Rhonda (Principal Investigator)
- I was instructed as an expert witness in McLaren and Ors v HMA, a criminal appeal from the longest ever trial in Scottish history (320+ days of evidence, including vast amounts of complex fraud expert evidence). I was approached on the basis of my expertise and research on juries, and my reputation from the many CPD courses I have delivered to legal practitioners over the past decade on juries and the presentation of complex evidence. I scrutinised the trial and trial evidence, delivered a number of briefing papers to counsel, and attended consultations with counsel and case agents. (2017-18)
- 01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2018
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Contact
Dr
Rhonda
Wheate
Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow
Law
Email: r.wheate@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 4347