UCC School of Law Summer Newsletter - July 2025

17 Jul 2025

Welcome to the School of Law Summer 2025 Newsletter!

We are delighted to bring you the latest news from the School.

A message from Professor Mark Poustie, Dean of the School of Law

As the 2024-25 academic year draws to a close I’m delighted to report another successful year in which UCC ranked for the 5^th year running in the top 100 for Law in the QS World Subject rankings, our research successes continued with further awards, colleagues secured prestigious external appointments, our students demonstrated their talents and the student Law Society went from strength to strength in its activities.  I am also delighted to welcome a number of new appointments including Professor Noreen O’Meara, the Synnott Family Chair in EU Law. I hope you will enjoy reading the items below giving you more detail on our activities and successes.  As I approach the end of my term as Dean, I’m very proud of the achievements of my colleagues and our students over the last 6 years.

LLM IN FOCUS: LLM Law, Technology and Innovation

The School of Law is delighted to announce the launch of the LLM (Law, Technology and Innovation), a qualification designed to prepare graduates to engage with this rapidly expanding field with significant career opportunities. The first intake will commence in September 2025, with applications now open. 

This refreshed programme is a successor to our LLM IP and E-Law and builds on the School’s longstanding expertise in law and technology and is open to both law graduates and non-law graduates. It will appeal to law graduates who wish to pursue careers in the in-demand sphere of law and technology and law and the digital economy, or practitioners and policy professionals who want to expand their skills and knowledge in contemporary areas such as regulation of artificial intelligence, European Union regulatory developments, cybercrime and intellectual property. It will also appeal to suitably qualified non-law graduates who are interested in compliance, ethics, or trust and safety roles in the Irish and global technology context. 

Led by Programme Director Dr Nessa Lynch, Matheson Lecturer in Law, Technology and Innovation and a globally recognized expert in law and policy relating to emerging technologies, the programme reflects contemporary development of the field from a standalone sphere to a cross-cutting field. 

Speaking about the programme, Dr Lynch said:

“The programme will ground students in core subjects such as law and regulation of emerging technologies and the law and policy of the digital market, while offering students the chance to explore adjacent and interlinked subjects such as children’s rights and environmental law. Our clinical module gives students practical insights into contemporary issues in law and innovation”.

The School of Law acknowledges the support that Matheson LLP has given in the development of this refreshed programme through the multi-year partnership with the School and the establishment of the Matheson Lectureship in Law, Technology and Innovation.  Enquiries are welcome and applications can be made here.

2025 RESEARCH & PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

Report launch: ‘Ascertaining the Views of Children in Guardianship, Custody and Access Proceedings in Ireland’.

In February, the Child Law Clinic published a report on ‘Ascertaining the Views of Children in Guardianship, Custody and Access Proceedings in Ireland’.  This report, written by Prof Conor O’Mahony with the research assistance of postgraduate students on the LLM in Children's Rights and Family Law at UCC, commissioned by Children's Rights Alliance and One Family and funded by Research Ireland, documents shortfalls in the implementation of the obligation imposed by Article 42A.4 of the Irish Constitution to ascertain and give due weight to the views of children in private family law proceedings and makes recommendations for reform. The report is available here.

Dr Mary Tumelty and Dr Annie Sorbie awarded funding for new project exploring the crisis within the healthcare workforce

Dr Mary Tumelty, Senior Lecturer, UCC School of Law and Dr Annie Sorbie, Senior Lecturer in Health, Medical Law and Ethics, University of Edinburgh, have been awarded funding by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Irish Academy as part of the Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grants. The collaborative project is titled, ‘Regulating for the Workforce of the Future: Addressing the Healthcare Workforce Crisis in Scotland and Ireland’. Read more here.

‘The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought’ published

‘The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought’ edited by School of Law’s Dr Patrick O’Callaghan and Bethany Shiner, Middlesex University, was published in March. The right to freedom of thought features prominently in debates about emerging technologies including neurotechnology and AI, but there is little understanding of its scope, content or application. This book presents the first attempt to set out how the right is protected, interpreted and applied globally.

UCC Research and Innovation Awards

The UCC Research & Innovation Awards embrace excellence in research, innovation, and entrepreneurial activity, across the entire university research community. Congratulations to School of Law colleagues who were awarded at the event. PhD Student of the Year Niamh Guiry, PhD researcher at the School of Law, was jointly awarded the UCC 180 Professor Adrian Dixon Prize PhD Student of the Year. Niamh is supervised by Professor Owen McIntyre and Dr Dug Cubie. The Research Image of the Year award was made to Dr. Luigi Lonardo, UCC School of Law, artist Claire Halpin and the Glucksman for the commission of Panorama Europa as part of an EU funded project on citizen's rights. 

Professor Louise Crowley and Marianne Joyce received the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association Law Book of the year award 2023/2024 for 'Family Law' (2nd edition).
Published in December 2023, exactly 10 years since the publication of the 1st edition, Louise began working on the 2nd edition of 'Family Law' in January 2023, whilst on 6 months sabbatical leave from her role as Professor of Family Law. In March 2023 she approached her then LLM student Marianne Joyce and recruited her as a part-time research assistant to conduct some of the research. After 6-8 weeks it became apparent that Marianne's work was of such a high standard that Prof Crowley asked Marianne if she would be interested in becoming a co-author. Read more here.

National Survey of Intercountry adoption experiences launches

Click the video above to watch Professor Madden’s lecture

In February, Prof Deirdre Madden was presented with a commemorative medal by the President of the RCSI Professor Deborah McNamara, to mark the occasion of the 32nd Carmichael lecture.
The annual Carmichael Lecture is named after former President of RCSI, Richard Carmichael. Previous speakers have included Tom Arnold, Seamus Mallon, Michael O’Leary, Fintan O’Toole, and Fergal Keane. Professor Madden's lecture was entitled "Trust and truth in healthcare".

2025 STAFF UPDATES – NEW APPOINTMENTS & PROMOTIONS

Dr Holly Faulkner - Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow in the MaREI Centre

Holly joins us as a Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow in the MaREI Centre under the Horizon Europe DIRECTED project. Holly is a qualified barrister and completed her PhD in the Faculty of Law in the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand under the supervision of Professor John Hopkins.   She has an 18-month position, and we intend that she will spend one day a week in the School of Law.

Dr Roila Mavrouli – Lecturer in EU Law

Dr Roila Mavrouli joins us as a Lecturer in EU Law. Roila joins us from a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at CNRS and HEC Paris in the field of public and European law.  She has been working on the new EU instruments for the protection of the rule of law with Arnaud Van Waeyenberge (ANR project). Her research seeks to put the European situation into perspective by assessing the effectiveness of the protection of the rule of law in the EU Member States.

Roila holds a PhD in law from the University Paris Nanterre in cotutelle with the University of Luxembourg, an LL.M. in International and European Law from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, a Masters in Political Philosophy and Sociology from the University Paris 7 Diderot and an LL.B. from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. From 2016 to 2023 she taught European law, introduction to public law, constitutional law, comparative law and legal methodology at the University of Luxembourg, at the University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and at the University of Vientiane.

She has held a position of junior lecturer with a specific focus on European law (citizenship, migration and justice), environmental law and international human rights’ law (ECHR). She has pursued traineeships at the GISTI and at the Court of Justice of the European Union and has worked with legal experts on the Charterpedia project focusing on fundamental rights within the EU (FRA). 

Dr Luke Noonan – Lecturer

Luke will be well known to colleagues having completed both his LLM (2019) and PhD (2024) at UCC.  He previously served as a Lecturer in Law at UCC during 2023-24 and was also previously Assistant Professor in Criminal Law at Dublin City University.  Luke is Acting Director of the Centre of Criminal Justice and Human Rights having previously served as Deputy Director since 2024 and has been the Co-Director of the Irish Legal Information Initiative since 2020. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of criminal law, criminal justice, law of evidence, human rights and mental health law. 

Professor Noreen O’Meara - The Synnott Family Chair in EU Law

Noreen joins us from Surrey University Law School where she was a Reader in Human Rights, European and Environmental Law.  Noreen undertook a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship in 2024-25 to advance her research on national, EU and international dimensions of environmental governance. She obtained her LLB at the University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi College), LLM at UCL and PhD at Queen Mary, University of London.  Noreen also completed non-degree studies at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Université Paris-1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and RADA. She previously worked as a research fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and in practice at the European Commission's Legal Service and the Court of Justice of the EU (cabinet, Advocate General Sharpston). Her work focused on infringement actions against Member States.  Noreen has led a variety of research projects on trade, human rights and sustainability in the EU context as well as on plastics including for UNEP in relation to the development of a Global Plastics Treaty.  She previously held visiting positions at The Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL, University of Oxford), iCourts (University of Copenhagen), UCD and TCD, during which time she joined the Editorial Board of the Irish Journal of European Law (IJEL). Noreen also has visiting positions at Stockholm University, UCD Earth and at the Exeter Centre for Environmental Law (ExCEL).

Donna Noonan – School of Law, Manager

Donna Noonan has recently joined as School Manager. Donna has over ten years experience in public and private higher education and professional education both in Ireland and the Netherlands. She has held various roles including admissions officer, recruitment officer and programme manager. In her most recent role prior to joining the School of Law, Donna worked for the Irish Business Employers Confederation (Ibec) as International Financial Services Skillnet Network Manager. In her role, Donna worked collaboratively with network companies to develop and deliver industry relevant training programmes for employees in the IFS sector.

Professor Fidelma White

Congratulations to Fidelma White who has recently been promoted to Professor Scale 2 in Law. 

Professor Nessa Lynch

Congratulations to Nessa Lynch who has recently been appointed as a Professor Scale 2 in Law. 

IN FOCUS: ‘ALL RIGHT ALL NIGHT’

Minister O’Donovan announces launch of new “All Right All Night” online safety training

The Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, announced the launch of a new online safety training resource for young people in April.  The All Right All Night training programme is a safety initiative which is funded by the Department’s Night-Time Economy Unit and developed by the Bystander Intervention Team in University College Cork.

The All Right All Night programme helps young people recognise problematic behaviour, whilst developing the skills and capacity to make safe and effective interventions to keep each other safe on a night out. The All Right All Night programme has been successfully piloted in schools, youth clubs and sports clubs across the country and is now rolling out nationwide. Through the workshops, participants gain a clear understanding of the diversity of lived experiences, and in so doing promote respect and inclusivity. This latest element of the programme, provides bystander intervention training condensed into a one-hour online training course. 5,000 places will be made available free of charge to people aged 18-24.

Professor Louise Crowley, UCC School of Law and Director of UCC's Bystander Programme said: 

“The Bystander team at University College Cork is excited to bring the impactful All Right All Night training to the online platform, making it immediately available to 18–24-year-olds across Ireland and allowing us to upscale our reach and maximise the programme impact. “The ability to better recognise problematic behaviour and the associated capacity to make safe and effective interventions will encourage and enable participants to contribute to an improved culture of respect and safety for all young people on nights out.” 

Those interested in learning more about bystander intervention or the new All Right All Night online training can find details on the new website www.allrightallnight.ie

IN FOCUS: EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Matheson holds inaugural Innovation Summit, 'AI Powered Transformation: Leading your Business into the Future' in partnership with UCC.

UCC was pleased to partner with leading Irish and global law firm Matheson to host the inaugural Innovation Summit, “AI Powered Transformation: Leading your Business into the Future” in the Aula Maxima in March. UCC President Professor John O’Halloran welcomed participants by reflecting on UCC’s contributions to the development of AI, which stretches back to Professor George Boole, and stressed the importance of equipping graduates with the tools and critical thinking skills to tackle the challenges and the opportunities of AI.

Seminar on ‘Housing, Dereliction and Property Rights’

The Centre for Law & the Environment was delighted to collaborate again with the Southern Law Association (SLA) in organising a seminar on the theme Housing, Dereliction and Property Rights in May. The seminar explored a range of issues around housing, obligations referable to property ownership and issues impacting urban regeneration.

‘The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in the context of the war in the EU’s neighbourhood’

Dr Luigi Lonardo and Dr Roila Mavrouli recently hosted a conference focusing on the impact of armed conflicts on the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) in UCC. The discussions explored the challenges for the Common European Asylum System, the Temporary Protection Directive, and the externalization of migration controls.  A central theme of the conference was the EU's legal obligations to protect fundamental rights and the rule of law, particularly in the context of war in the EU’s neighbourhood.

Centre for Law and the Environment hosts 21st Law & Environment Conference

We were delighted to host the 21st annual Law and the Environment in May at UCC.  This year’s conference focused on the theme ‘Reframing Environmental Law for Accountability, Circularity, Sustainability and Justice’, with parallel sessions covering a wide range of topics such as ‘Key Sectoral Challenges in Environmental Governance’, ‘The Onward March of Environmental (Human) Rights’, ‘Planning, Development and Heritage Law’ and ‘Environmental Developments in International Law’.  Visit the School’s YouTube channel to view a number of the presentations.

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