Dr Michelle Donnelly

Lecturer

Law

Contact

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Personal statement

I am a socio-legal scholar with interests in child and family justice. I joined the Law School as a Lecturer in July 2021. Prior to that, I was appointed as a Lecturer and the Director of the BA Law programmes at the University of Stirling (2018-2021). I previously held roles as a Teaching Fellow (2017-2018) and Research Fellow (2016-2017) at Strathclyde Law School, and as a Research Assistant to the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (2017).  I am an Associate of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and a Fellow of Advance HE.

I work across child and family law, primarily on issues related to compulsory state intervention in the lives of children and families. My major area of focus is the Scottish children’s hearings system. My Ph.D. (which was awarded with no corrections) explored the characteristically unitary nature of the children’s hearings system as an integrated child protection and justice forum. I have contributed to a number of funded projects examining aspects of children's hearings practice, including work on: reporter decision-making and the grounds of referral; the role of safeguarders in children's hearings proceedings; and, joint referrals to procurator fiscals and children's reporters in respect of serious offences allegedly committed by children and young people.

I am a participant in the British Academy’s Childhood Policy Programme - a multidisciplinary project investigating childhood policy throughout the United Kingdom (2019 – present).  As part of this, I was commissioned by the British Academy to write a ‘provocation paper’ on Scottish youth justice and was invited to speak at a panel discussion event on youth justice policy. I am currently involved in a project, led by the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, exploring justice inequalities for children in conflict with the law. I also contribute to an international comparative study on the state's powers to intervene in family life, led by the European University Viadrina.   

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Prize And Awards

Celebrate HER (Women+ in Leadership) Award Nomination
Recipient
13/2/2023
Strathclyde Medal Awards: Team Medal for Strathclyde Cares
Recipient
11/10/2022
Dedication to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award (Runner Up)
Recipient
2021
Teaching Excellence Award Nomination
Recipient
2021
Teaching Excellence Award Nomination
Recipient
2020
Teaching Excellence Award Nomination
Recipient
2018

More prizes and awards

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Stirling: November 2019
  • Doctor of Laws, University of Strathclyde: May 2017 
  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Strathclyde: July 2011 
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Teaching

I have taught across the law curriculum and developed teaching specialisms in child and family law and justice. I hold a postgraduate teaching qualification and have been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2019. I have been nominated for Teaching Excellence Awards at the Universities of Strathclyde (2018) and Stirling (2020 and 2021) and was the runner-up for the university-wide award for dedication to equality, diversity and inclusion at Stirling in 2021. I currently teach in the following areas: family law, childhood and crime, children's human rights, legal research. 

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Research Interests

I am interested in how the law responds to children and families, and addresses their rights and interests in legal processes. My work seeks to improve legal responses to children and young people who require compulsory state intervention, whether due to care and protection concerns or offending behaviour. My research mainly focusses on child law and justice, broadly construed. My wider interests relate to family law and justice more generally.

My work is predominately socio-legal in nature. I adopt doctrinal and empirical methodologies and have expertise in qualitative research methods. I am particularly interested in decision-making processes and practices in child welfare interventions. I have conducted research with a diverse range of participants from social workers to safeguarders, panel members to children’s reporters and procurator fiscals to sheriffs.

Professional Activities

Challenging Justice Inequalities
Speaker
17/6/2026
National Youth Justice Conference
Speaker
17/6/2026
The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice (Journal)
Peer reviewer
23/1/2026
Nicola Taylor
Host
8/10/2025
Leon Tan
Host
8/10/2025
Rights Implementation Workshop
Organiser
8/10/2025

More professional activities

Projects

Challenging Justice Inequalities. Co-producing change with children in conflict with the law
Vaswani, Nina (Principal Investigator) Donnelly, Michelle (Co-investigator) Porter, Robert Benjamin (Co-investigator) Taylor, Yvette (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2026
Exploring Justice Inequalities and rights for children in conflict with the law
Vaswani, Nina (Principal Investigator) Taylor, Yvette (Co-investigator) McDiarmid, Claire (Co-investigator) Donnelly, Michelle (Co-investigator) Mabon, Karyn (Post Grad Student)
Scoping exercise, literature review and workshops exploring the evidence base and evidence gaps around children with protected characteristics in conflict with the law, and their experiences of justice.
01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2021
The Public Interest and the Child’s Best Interests: Jointly-Reported Children in Scotland
McDiarmid, Claire (Principal Investigator) Donnelly, Michelle (Researcher)
01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2018
The role of Safeguarder in the Children's Hearings System
McDiarmid, Claire (Principal Investigator) Barry, Monica (Co-investigator) Corson, Stephen (Co-investigator) Donnelly, Michelle (Researcher)
07-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2017

More projects

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Contact

Dr Michelle Donnelly
Lecturer
Law

Email: m.donnelly@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 2493