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Research Clusters

The School of Law and Social Justice's fourteen Research Clusters, Networks, and Units provide focal points for collaboration in different areas of social, legal, and political research. Through them our academic researchers can share ideas, develop projects, gain peer support, access broader networks, and organise seminars and conferences. 

Staff members and PhD students can belong to multiple clusters, as can collaborators from across the University and beyond.

Clusters provide the framework for delivering postgraduate research supervision and support, with students fully integrated into projects.

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Centre for Ageing and the Life Course (CALC)

CALC fosters research in critical and cultural ageing studies, exploring the underpinning factors shaping inequalities in ageing, as well as the subjective meaning and lived experience of health and well-being in later life.

Charity Law & Policy Unit School of Law and Social Justice building with burgundy tint and white text overlaid that reads 'Charity Law & Policy Unit - CLPU'

Charity Law and Policy Unit (CLPU)

CLPU carries out research into the legal issues facing charities and third sector organisations, often with a strong empirical element and leading to proposals for legal and regulatory reform, which have made important contributions to policy change in this field.

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Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law

International Criminal Law has become one of the most prominent aspects of international law. The International Criminal Court and other tribunals have captured the imagination of the public, and international criminal justice has become a much commented-upon scholarly topic.

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EU Law at Liverpool

Committed to driving forward a critical understanding of the European Union, EU Law at Liverpool offers a broad range of expertise across diverse areas of EU law and policy alongside significant impact, knowledge exchange and public engagement activity as regards EU constitutional and institutional law.

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European Children's Rights Unit (ECRU)

ECRU is a research-intensive cluster that covers a broad range of children’s rights areas, including immigration and asylum, children’s rights in the legal process, special educational needs and exclusions, criminal justice and Brexit.

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European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN)

Liverpool Law School co-ordinates ECLAN together with the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Luxembourg. The network brings together academics from 32 countries from Europe and beyond.

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Feminist Legal Research and Action Network (FRAN)

Building on the history of the Feminist Legal Research Unit at the University of Liverpool, we are a group of legal scholars who take an intersectional approach to feminist research, teaching and scholarship.

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Health Law and Regulation Unit (HLRU)

HLRU brings together a range of experts pursuing impactful research into current legal, regulatory and policy dilemmas in healthcare, including areas such as medical malpractice, patient capacity and consent, reproduction, research ethics, and mental health.

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International Criminological Research Unit (ICRU)

ICRU is committed to advancing theoretically-informed, empirically-rigorous and policy-relevant research in criminology and criminal justice that resonates locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

International Law and Human Rights Unit School of Law and Social Justice building with orange tint and text that reads 'International Law and Human Rights Unit'

International Law and Human Rights Unit (ILHRU)

ILHRU provides a hub for researchers who coalesce around a number of themes including European System of Human Rights Protection; Conflict, Post-Conflict and Security; International Courts and Tribunals; Law of the Global Economy; Migration; Minority Protection; Self-Determination and Natural Resources.

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Law and Non-Communicable Diseases Unit

The Law & NCD Unit conducts research into how legal instruments can be used as tools for the prevention of NCDs, and how robust evidence-based policy interventions can be designed to support effective prevention of NCD risk factors including unhealthy diets, alcohol and tobacco.

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Liverpool Economic Governance Unit (LEGU)

LEGU brings together researchers interested in the challenges and opportunities afforded by changes in global economic governance. Globalisation and the rise of neo-liberal economic and political principles have resulted in a new and complex set of relationships between the state, society and markets.

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Liverpool Public Law Unit (LPLU)

LPLU draws together wide-ranging expertise in public law, in and between global, European and UK contexts. This unit focuses on analyses of institutional power, theory, and multi-level governance. It covers traditional realms of public law, but also explores how other areas of law can regulate public life, and what constitutes public law and why, exploring Marxist, critical and feminist perspectives.

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Publics & Practices

Publics & Practices is a group of researchers interested in examining the social, economic, cultural, political and affective production of publics. We address ourselves to the ways in which publics become a matter of political concern for social scientists, states, corporations, and others.