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Dr Melanie Smith

Reader in Law

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My teaching and research interests include EU law, Administrative Law and Public Law, with a particular interest in the constitutional and administrative governance of the EU. My European work has concentrated upon the twin themes of legitimacy and accountability, in particular, legitimacy in the enforcement of European Law. Building upon and developing empirical research gathered during my PhD, I published a monograph entitled Centralised Enforcement, Legitimacy and Good Governance in the EU (Routledge, 2009). This work has been taken up by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, and as a consequence I have been invited to speak in the Parliament on the topic of enforcement of EU law. I have been appointed as an expert advisor to sit on working groups in the European Parliament on the development of EU administrative law and regularly assist in the drafting of resolutions on the topic of enforcement of EU law. I have recently completed an edited collection entitled New Directions in Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy (eds S Drake and M Smith, 2016, Edward Elgar) which maps the various strategies, techniques and remedies employed across diverse policy areas in order to facilitate better enforcement of EU law.

My current projects concentrate on the contribution of the European Parliament to the legitimacy of enforcement of EU law, and the developing crisis of the rule of law in the EU. I am also currently working on a project which builds on the work started as part of an edited collection published in 2016 entitled 'New Directions in the Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy' (eds S Drake and M Smith, Edward Elgar 2016). The projects aims to take forward the mapping exercise carried out in this text of the various remedies and enforcement strategies employed and designed by the EU institutions to ensure EU citizens have full enjoyment of their EU rights. After the referendum result in favour of some form of Brexit, the new project examines the areas where (1) a gap or failure of enforcement existed within the sphere of EU law right and (2) the impact of Brexit on the loss/ or potential loss of these rights altogether, not through removal of EU law directly, but from the lack of enforcability of these rights, creating and/or exacerbating an access to justice problem that already existed by removing the mechanisms that enabled EU citizens to enjoy these rights in practice. 

I welcome proposals for PhD supervision on topics broadly related to the field of enforcement of EU law and EU constitional and administrative law in general.

You can follow me on Twitter @Drmelsmith

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Education and qualifications

2006-2008 - Postgraduate Certificate of University Teaching and Learning, Cardiff University

2003-2007 - PhD, European Law, University of Edinburgh

2002-2003 - LLM (distinction) in Public Law, King's College London

1993-1996 - LLB (hons) Law Degree, King's College London

Career Overview

2012 - present: Reader, Cardiff Law School

2006 - 2012: Lecturer, Cardiff Law School 

2004-2005: Tutor, University of Manchester

2003-2004: Graduate Teacher, University of Manchester

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2015 -  Visiting Research Fellowship, University College Dublin.

2014/2015 - University Research Leave, Cardiff University, £15,000

2006 - College of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Edinburgh Scholarship Prize,  £10,000, plus University of        Edinburgh PhD programme fees for 1 year.

2003 - Public Law Scholarship Award, University of Manchester (co-financed by the British Academy), funding for PhD studies (£20,000, plus University of Manchester PhD programme fees for 2 years).

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Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Steering Committee, Public Law Wales (2007-2012)

Member, Administrative Law Discussion Forum

Member Society of Legal Scholars

Member University Association of Contemporary Studies in Europe

Member European Union Studies Association

Member European Community Studies Association – Canada

Member ReNeual Network

Member European Institute of Law

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Conferences

2016

The visible, the invisible, the impenetrable: challenging legal and compliance scholarship on centralised enforcement of EU law - January
Workshop on Compliance in EU Law, University of Leiden, The Hague, The Netherlands

2015

The visible, the invisible, the impenetrable: innovations and rebranding in centralised enforcement of EU Law - August
ECPR General Conference Montreal (2015), Montreal, Canada

The quest for transparency and participation in centralised enforcement of EU law: insurmountable barriers to effectiveness? - July
22nd Conference of Europeanists, , Science Po, Paris, France

Staring into the abyss: crisis and transformation of the rule of law in the EU - May
Workshop on Crisis and Transformation in the EU, Trento, Italy

Channelling Rumsfeld: legal and political science scholarship on the centralised mechanism of enforcement of EU law - March
UCD Sutherland School of Law, Staff Seminar Series, UCD, Dublin, Ireland

2014

Old methods, new labels: innovation and rebranding in centralised enforcement of EU law - September
New Directions in Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Cardiff School of Law and Politics

Jean Monnet Workshop Co-organsier, Funded by the European Commission - September
New Directions in Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy, Cardiff Law School

Evaluation and the salience of infringement data - June
Policy Evaluation in the European Union, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Cardiff Law School

2011

Enforcement of obligations: a network or partnership approach to accountability? - November
'When European Citizens Complain: the Network of European Ombudsman and network accountability', University College London

Legitimacy and EU Administrative Law: Future Prospects - November
Working Group on EU Administrative Law, Legal Affairs Committee, European Parliament, Brussels

Infringement procedure and EU administrative law - April
EU administrative law: state of play and future prospects, University of Leon, Spain

Processes and forms of accountability: the European Parliament, the Commission and enforcement of EU obligations - March
European Union Studies Association 12th Biennial Conference, Boston, Mass. USA

European Administrative Law - Reform of the infringement procedure - February
Working Group on European Administrative Law, European Parliament, European Parliament, Brussels

2010

Developing administrative legitimacy in the EU - November
Swansea Law School Staff Seminar Series, Swansea University

'Developing administrative principles in the EU: a foundational model of legitimacy?' - June
After Lisbon: The Future of European Law & Policy Conference on European Law & Policy in Context , Institute of European Law, Birmingham University

'Inter–institutional dialogue and the establishment of enforcement norms: a decade of financial penalties under Article 228 EC ' - April
ECSA - Canada Biennial Conference, British Columbia, Canada

2008

‘The centralized infringement procedure: abandoning good governance as a response to enlargement?’ - September
Society of Legal Studies Annual Conference, London School of Economics

‘Enforcement, monitoring, verification, outsourcing: the decline and decline of the infringement procedure’ - September
UACES Annual Conference ‘Exchanging Ideas on Europe’ , Edinburgh University.

‘Enforcement, monitoring, verification, outsourcing: the decline and decline of the infringement procedure’ - July
The Next 50 Years: The Future of EU law and Policy , Institute of European Law, University of Birmingham

'The Commission’s new policy on enforcement' - April
Governance and Constitutionalism Seminar Series, Cardiff University

2004

'Changing polities and electoral rights: the case of Lithuania and EU accession’ - July
Hart Legal Workshop 2004 ‘The Challenge of Migration to Legal Systems’ , Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, London.

Pwyllgorau ac adolygu

Current Management and Administrative Roles

  • Chair, Board of Postgraduate Examinations
  • Independent Examiner, PhD (on-going)
  • REF Review Panel (on-going)
  • Peer Reviewer (internal teaching)
  • PDR (appraiser)
  • Research Mentor 2014 (on-going)
  • Personal Tutor

Previous Administrative Roles

  • Deputy Director, Postgraduate Studies 2013 -2014
  • PCUTL Mentor 2012 - 2014
  • Probation Manager
  • Acting Chair of Postgraduate Studies (Taught)
  • Chair, PhD Viva
  • Research Committee 2006-2010
  • Personal Tutoring Working Group 2007-2008
  • Teaching and Learning Committee 2009-2010
  • Matrix Working Group 2009
  • Year 3 Convenor 2009-2010
  • Chair, Student Progress Monitoring Committee 2010-2013

Cyhoeddiadau

2020

2019

2018

2016

2015

2014

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2006

Addysgu

Teaching

  • Administrative Law (Module Convenor)
  • Public Law (Module Convenor)
  • European Union Law
  • Research Supervision (undergraduate - EU Administrative Law)
  • Research Supervision (postgraduate, European LLM)
  • EU Law and Governance (postgraduate, European LLM)

I welcome applications from PhD candidates in the fiels of EU law, EU Administrative Law and EU governance.

Current Projects

I am currently working on a project which builds on the work started as part of an edited collection published in 2016 entitled 'New Directions in the Effective Enforcement of EU Law and Policy' (eds S Drake and M Smith, Edward Elgar 2016). The projects aims to take forward the mapping exercise carried out in this text of the various remedies and enforcement strategies employed and designed by the EU institutions to ensure EU citizens have full enjoyment of their EU rights. After the referendum result in favour of some form of Brexit, the new project examines the areas where (1) a gap or failure of enforcement existed within the sphere of EU law right and (2) the impact of Brexit on the loss/ or potential loss of these rights altogether, not through removal of EU law directly, but from the lack of enforcability of these rights, creating and/or exacerbating an access to justice problem that already existed by removing the mechanisms that enabled EU citizens to enjoy these rights in practice. 

Research Funding

2014/15 Cardiff University Research Leave Fellowship

£15,000

2014 European Commission: Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence

£10,000 to organise and host workshop on ‘New directions in effective enforcement of EU law and policy’, Cardiff Law School.

2011 Cardiff Law School Research Committee

£1450 to present a paper at the leading international political science conference, European Union Studies Association Twelfth Biennial Conference, 3-5 March 2011, Boston, USA. I also applied for British Academy funding for this conference.

2010 Cardiff Law School Research Committee

£1200 to present a paper at the European Community Studies Association – Canada, April 2010, Victoria, Canada. This led to the production of a paper ‘Inter–institutional dialogue and the establishment of enforcement norms: a decade of financial penalties under Article 228 EC (now 260 TFEU)’.

2010 Cardiff Law School Research Committee

£250 to present a paper at ‘After Lisbon: The Future of European Law & Policy - 2nd Conference on European Law & Policy in Context’ held at Birmingham University by the European Institute. This led to the paper ‘Developing administrative principles in the EU: a foundational model of legitimacy’.

2009 Cardiff Law School Research Committee

£800 for two separate research visits to the European Parliament, European Commission and European Ombudsman to conduct elite interviews. This research formed part of the monograph, Centralised Enforcement, Legitimacy and Good Governance in the EU.

2003/06 British Academy Funding (see below)

In connection with the PhD Scholarship I obtained from Manchester University, I undertook empirical research for Jo Shaw in relation to the ‘Managing and Moulding the Boundaries of Suffrage: EU electoral rights in context’ project, funded by the British Academy (LRG 35424). This work was included in the eventual production of a monograph (UACES Best Book Prize) by Professor Shaw entitled ‘The transformation of citizenship in the European Union’, Cambridge University Press (2008).

Provision of External Advice

Dr Smith has provided advice to and prepared reports for the European Parliament in relation to enforcement of EU obligations. She has been invited to speak at public hearings on this topic and take part in a working group, as an expert advisor, on EU administrative law for the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament.

Dr Smith was a Committee Member of Public Law Wales (2007-2012). As such she was involved in furthering links between the legal profession and Cardiff Law School, including helping to organise a programme of public lectures which speak to an audience comprised of students, academics, practitioners, the judiciary and members of the local government and National Assembly. For more information on this organisation please see their website: http://www.publiclawwales.co.uk/

Supervision

Past projects