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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Area of Expertise

  • Child and family law
  • Family justice 
  • Childcare and protection
  • Youth justice and childhood offending
  • Children’s rights, welfare and wellbeing

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

Children on the Move - exploring issues of participation and protection in children's hearings
Speaker
24/3/2023
International Society of Family Law Caribbean Conference
Speaker
15/12/2022
Children and Young People's Centre for Justice: Youth Court Evidence Summit
Participant
10/11/2022
Masterclass: Human Rights, Children's Rights and Climate Change
Participant
22/6/2022
Designing a New Capacity Building Approach in Response to Human Rights Innovation in Scotland
Participant
10/5/2022
Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures Special CPD Course on Children's Human Rights
Invited speaker
8/3/2022

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 - 30-Jan-2026
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