Professor Nicolette Priaulx

Research orientation and focus: Working collaboratively with actors across a range of fields, including the health sciences, science communication, bioethics and science and technology studies, what binds my work together is an enduring fascination with the acquisition and formation of knowledge, the meta-cognitive skills required to appreciate what we know (and what we don't), and the challenges of working across disciplines. These themes, translated into the world(s) of 'law and society', are central to the monograph that I am supposed to be currently writing, Dangerous Unknowledge in Law and Society (due to be published with Glasshouse Press some time this century). 

 In the last five years in particular, I have enjoyed the opportunity to lead a large range of research initiatives at Cardiff University and beyond. I was the lead Director of the WG Hart 2016 Workshop 'Valuing Expertise: Legal, Normative and Social Dimensions' at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, co-led the Law, Experience and Practice Network (funded by Cardiff University's College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) and in 2018/19 completed a British Academy funded project entitled, 'Multidisciplinary Understandings of Legal Academia', undertaken with Dr Martin Weinel and Willow Leonard-Clarke in the School of Social Sciences and Dr Tom Hayes in the School of Law and Politics. I have also co-led the LawLab Research Centre at Cardiff which used a range of experimental techniques to enhance (and learn the ‘know how’ of) collaborative cross-disciplinary practice. A number of exciting cross-disciplinary collaborative intiatives have sprung out of the LabLaw as a result. These include a project co-led with Dr Katy Greenland (School of Social Sciences) entitled, ‘Does Gender Matter? The Experiences of being a female academic in Higher Education’ (funded by Cardiff College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), the SPARC project (a socio-technical initiative designed to create novel connections between researchers), with academics from the School of Computer Sciences and Engineering, and more recently a project with Professor Harry Collins and others, entitled 'Remote versus face-to-face communication'. 

Nevertheless, for many of us the legal academic role is no longer really about research anymore - so that research is performed nearly exclusively during one's holidays. In view of this, I've let most of these developing research projects drop. The little spare time that there is outside of the job is now being increasingly occupied by engagement in trade union activities and pan sector networks in higher education - and using my legal and networking skills to identify how we collectively transform higher education into a sector that is worth having: one where students receive the attention and education they deserve, and one where staff (PS and academic) are seen as valuable and whose health and wellbeing is protected. I am one of the Academics for Pensions Justice which was involved in casebuilding in respect of the USS Ltd, I am a co-opted member of the Cardiff UCU Executive and I work with actors across the Higher Education network to investigate how universities are run, and the labour/working conditions of staff in Higher Education. 

Honours and awards

Grants and Awards

• Valuing Expertise: Legal, Normative and Social Dimensions, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 2016 W G Hart Legal Workshop (co-organised with Professor Matthew Weait, Portsmouth University), £3000.
• Principal Investigator, BA Small Grants application for £9,883 for project ‘Multidisciplinary Understandings of Legal Academia’ (awarded July 2015; project runs until 31 July 2017).
• Principal Investigator (with co-investigator, Dr Lydia Hayes) of Cardiff University College for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Network Initiator Funding (Law, Experience and Practice: A network for interdisciplinarity in care research) £25,000 (awarded June 2015).
• SRC Training Bursary of £1,000 for course on Systematic Reviews for Policy and Practice (2013).
• Principal Investigator for Law School’s contribution to FP7 European Commission Science in Society Consortium Grant, ETHICSWEB (with Consortium of 11 Universities); total Cardiff grant, £25,000 (Project concluded 2012).

Impact and Media Appearances 

• Work cited by the Court of Appeal of Singapore in ACB v Thomson Medical PTE Ltd and others [2017] SGCA 20 (Priaulx, N, “Damages for the 'Unwanted' Child: Time for a Rethink?” (2005) 73 Medico-Legal Journal 152).
• Appearance on Newstalk ZB Radio (New Zealand’s largest radio station) discussing Social Development Minister, Anne Tolley’s comments around reproduction policy.
• Invited to give Oral Evidence for a cross-bench group in Parliament on Abortion on Grounds of Foetal Abnormality (4th Session [Law] 18th March 2013). See my write up about this experience: Pro-Life Inquiries: When is a Parliamentary Inquiry really a Parliamentary Inquiry? Part I; Pro-Life Inquiries: When is a Parliamentary Inquiry really a Parliamentary Inquiry? Part II.  
• Written Evidence, Commons Select Committee, All Party Group Inquiry (June 2013). Note that changes have been implemented by the Parliamentary Standards Rules for APPGs and subsequently enforced.   

Professional memberships

• Society for the Social Study of Science
• Law & Society Association 
• Society of Legal Scholars

Academic positions

I undertook my undergraduate and postgradute studies at the University of Kent (LLB, first class honours, 2000; PhD in Law, 2004, no revisions) and started as a lecturer at Keele Law School in 2004. I moved to Cardiff University in 2007 as a Senior Lecturer, securing promotion to Readership in 2012, and Chair in 2016.

Speaking engagements

Invited

• Priaulx, N, (Key Note) ‘A Bluffer’s Guide to Everything’: Law, Knowledge & Expertise’ The Futures of Legal Education, Legal Education Research Network (LERN), Open University (26 September 2017).
• Priaulx, N, ‘Cross-disciplinary Collaborative Practice’, Interdisciplinary Research: Opportunities and Challenges – Lunchtime Debate Series, Academia Europaea Cardiff Knowledge Hub (9 June 2017).
• Priaulx, N and Jones, N, “The Abortion Act 1967”, Women’s Legal Landmarks, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies (13 April 2017).
• Priaulx, N and Weinel, M, “(Mis)Understanding Behaviour: Law, Science and Expertise’, Behavioural Science in Law & Policy: Evidence, Ethics, & Expertise, Newcastle University (22 – 23 September 2016).
• Priaulx, N, “Law & Society in Transition: Dealing with Emerging Challenges”, Fossilisation & Innovation in Law, Newcastle University (11-12 July 2016).

Committees and reviewing

School Level Citizenship (Examples)

• 2019 - 2020: Director of Research & Innovation (Law), Lead and co-director of the LawLab Research Centre, member of Research Committee, and Chair of RSS committee. 
• 2016 - 2019: Member of Research Committee; Lead and co-director of the LawLab Research Centre; Principal Investigator and co-ordinator of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, ‘Law, Experience and Practice’ network. 
• 2016 - 2017: Chair of the Law Curriculum Review
• 2013 - 2016: Acting Director of Postgraduate Studies; Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research and Postgraduate Taught; Chair of the Board of Postgraduate Studies
• 2013 - 2015: Organiser (with Stijn Smismans) of the Law Research Seminar series; 
• 2013 - 2014: Member of the Senior Management Team; Route Convenor of European Legal Studies, Route Convenor of the Law Pathway of the Social Science Research MSc, and LLM Admissions Tutor.  
• 2009 - 2012: Director of the Legal Aspects of Medical Practice Programme 
• 2007 - 2012: Postgraduate Steering Committee 

University Citizenship

• 2018 - Present: Member of the Social Science Park Working Group (AHSS), and co-opted member of Cardiff UCU Executive. 
• 2009 - 2013: Member of University Senate
• 2010 - 2013: Academic Strategy Committee and Senate Panel Student Complaints Committee. 

External Citizenship 

• Outspoken External Mock REF Assessor (2018) (I will never tire of telling institutions what a waste of time mock REF/REF is, and how it suboptimally duplicates work that has been done by field and sub-field experts such as journal article reviewers, communities of academic practice, as part of the normal production of academic work). 
• External Assessor on Promotion Applications for a variety of Institutions (2013 - Present). 
• External Examiner for PhD examination; Kent Law School, Emma Topham, Thick and Thin Concepts in Law (April 2017).
• External Examiner for PhD examination; Birmingham Law School, Samantha Schnobel, Prioritising the Best Interests of the Animal and Re-Framing Veterinary Negligence (Dec 2016).
• Internal Examiner (with Professor Carl Stychin as external), for PhD examination of a Cardiff Law Candidate (September 2014; February 2016).
• External Examiner, University of Kent, LLB modules and Medical Law LLM (to May 2014).
• External Examiner, Sussex Law School (CPE/GDL Programme) (Feb 2009 – July 2012).
• Moderator/Examiner for Birkbeck Law School (July 2008 – June 2011).
• External Examiner on MJur Thesis, Durham Law School (2010).

Editorial Roles

• Co-editor (with A. Wrigley) of Ethics, Law & Society Volume V (2013, Ashgate Publishing).
• Editorial Board, The Journal of Medical Law and Ethics (Paris Legal Publishers).
• Editorial Board, Reproductive BioMedicine and Society (Elsevier Publishing).

Broader Citizenship

I regularly review for a variety of grant bodies, journals and publishing houses nationally and internationally. These include,

• The Wellcome Trust, British Academy, Legal Studies, Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Medical Law International
• Medical Law Review, LP Law Review (Malaysia), Australian Feminist Law Journal, Feminist Legal Studies, Accountability in Research, Int’l Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Science, Technology and Human Values
• Journal of Law and Society, Health Care Analysis, Journal of Forensic Economics, Journal of Legal Economics, Routledge Publishing, Glasshouse Publishing, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press? 

Odd Citizenship...

Under the heading of odd citizenship fall items such as being one of the founding members of the Academics for Pensions Justice and broader collaborative work with extraordinary groups across Cardiff University (including two grassroots staff groups, Frontline and Professors at Cardiff, and the Rethinking the University Lecture Series Group).and beyond. What binds together these kinds of activities is a keenness to see a radical transformation of higher education where the wellbeing of people  (existing and future) genuinely lies at the heart of what universities are about. Staff are not “costs” and students are not “tuition fee income” - continuing to use this lens for judging the value of people will strip universities of everything that is of enduring value. 

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At Cardiff School of Law and Politics I am a proud member of a number of vibrant and committed teaching teams that deliver  modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I have extensive experience of programme and module leadership, and the substantive areas of my teaching delivery include torts, healthcare, ethics and the law (of which we offer a wide provision of modules across undergraduate and postgraduate level), postgraduate skills and the dissertation module. I also provide guest lectures on Legal Foundations and make contributions to modules running in other schools.  

Funding

Principal Investigator, BA Small Grants application for £9,883 for project ‘Multidisciplinary Understandings of Legal Academia’ (awarded July 2015).

Principal Investigator (with Dr Lydia Hayes, co-investigator) of Cardiff University College for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Network Initiator Funding (Law, Experience and Practice: A network for interdisciplinarity in care research) £25,000 (awarded June 2015).

Academic Director (with Matthew Weait, Portsmouth) of the WG Hart 2016 Workshop at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, £3,000.

Principal Investigator for Cardiff University’s contribution to FP7 European Commission Science in Society Consortium Grant, ETHICSWEB (with Consortium of 11 Universities); total Cardiff grant, £25,000 (Project concluded 2012).

Projects

Multidisciplinary Understandings of Legal Academia

September 2015 – September 2017 - Funded by BA/Leverhulme Small Grant 

Building upon earlier work in respect of barriers to interdisciplinary understanding, but the critical importance of collaborative work for justice and effective regulation, this project forms the first part of a capacity building exercise in opening up key opportunities for lawyers to engage and collaborate with other disciplines. Funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grants Scheme, this project seeks to gain an understanding of how non-legal academics understand the variety of skill sets and expertise that lawyers have to bring, as well as their understandings of what legal academics do. The hypothesis is that in the absence of interdisciplinary engagement with lawyers or familiarity with legal studies, non-legal academics are likely to draw upon stereotypical ideas of lawyers and lawyering. The project involves a web-based survey, working with focus groups, and a strong dissemination programme in exploring with different groups the results of our survey. While useful as a potential tool for highlighting connections and disconnections between disciplines generally, my hope is to use the results as a foundation for better communicating the range of skills, interests and project work that goes on within the legal academy and creating opportunities for collaborative interdisciplinary work.

LEAP: Law, Experience and Practice: A network for interdisciplinarity in care research

September 2015 – April 2017 – Funded by Cardiff University College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Drawing in a broad range of scholars from across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, with engagement from the healthcare sciences, the LEAP network constitutes a reflexive learning forum. Interdisciplinary practice raises fundamental epistemic challenges which must be addressed in order to tackle complex social and regulatory needs. The LEAP network brings together different skills and know-how from across AHSS to develop collective expertise. Our aim is the future design of research which addresses questions of how to embed care within communities that are characterized by inequality, yet are increasingly deprived of caring resources in the context of demographic change and austerity. These communities may be spatially constituted, for example in de-industrialised towns or in private domestic households. They may be communities of occupational care providers/care-givers; or they may be communities characterized by individual disadvantage on the basis of age, race, disability or gender. The overarching aim of the network is to develop an interdisciplinary capability to enable research around care to translate into practice, capable of reaching and engaging intermediaries and end-users.

Led by Nicky Priaulx and Lydia Hayes, the LEAP network constitutes a strategic investment on the part of the Cardiff University College for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and will run across a two year period commencing in September 2015.

Event Organisation 

In conjunction with my role as Director of LawLab, PI for the LEAP network and my portfolio as Chair of Curriculum Review (Law) I have led a large number of workshops and events at Cardiff and beyond. These include, 

• Cross-disciplinary Collaboration Workshop, SEESHOP 2018, Cardiff University (2018).
• Valuing Expertise: Legal, Normative and Social Dimensions, 2016 W G Hart Legal Workshop (co-organised with Professor Matthew Weait, Portsmouth University), Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London (2016)
• Exploring Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity – Public Engagement Event sciSCREEN – showing of ‘Arrival’, Cardiff University (2017).
• The Future of Legal Academia: Transformations and Innovations (June 2017) (co-organised with Dr Lydia Hayes and Professor Russell Sandberg) – Two Day, Cardiff (2017).
• Theory Informing Practice – Practice Informing Theory – Exploring the Everyday of Medical Decision-Making, Cardiff (2017).
• Gender Matters: Exploring the Experience(s) of being a Female Academic in Higher Education (co-organised with Dr Katy Greenland), Caridff (2017).
• Building Interdisciplinarity: Project Plans and Ideas (February 2017) (lead organiser, with Dr Lydia Hayes, Dr Steve Smith and Professor Rob Evans).
• Connecting Research with Policy in Wales: Health, Disability & Social Care (November 2016) (lead organiser, with Dr Lydia Hayes).
• Practicing Collaborative Interdisciplinarity: Ways and Means, LawLab, 21 April 2016.
• Regulatory narratives around New and Emerging Technologies, LawLab, 19 February 2016.
• Choosing to Care and Caring to Choose: An Interdisciplinary Conversation (lead organiser with co-organisers, Dr Lydia Hayes (school of law and politics, Cardiff University) and Dr Dikiaos Sakellariou (school of healthcare sciences, Cardiff University), June 2015.
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Regulating Innovation (co-organised with A Krajewska), Cardiff University, Senate Chamber, February 2015.

I welcome enquiries from prospective students who are interested in the intersection between legal studies and theories of expertise/knowledge, and interdisciplinarity and law. 

Past projects

I have successfully supervised hundreds of projects at undergraduate and master's level, as well as successfully supervising three PhD students to completion, 2 in law (Dr Tom Hayes, 2016 and Dr Hephzibah Egede, 2016) and one co-supervised PhD student from the School of Social Sciences (Chris Goldsworthy, 2017). All three PhD students have successfully secured full-time work in Higher Education (Cardiff University, University of Buckingham, Oxford University).