Frances Hamilton

In January 2021 I was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Reading Law School where I am teaching EU law as well as validating a new first year option to be entitled Law and Society. My research is broadly in the area of Gender Sexuality and the Law. More specifically I have followed a doctrinal and comparative law-based methodology in looking at two closely inter-related questions (1) What role can the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union play in claims for the recognition of same-sex marriage? and (2) What further impact do pan-European courts’ approaches to same-sex marriage cases have internationally?’ In the future I am looking forward in continuing developing this research expertise together with expanding further into connected areas.

Prior to my present appointment I was a Senior Lecturer in Law at Northumbria University from 2009 - 2020 where I was Module Leader for Gender Sexuality and the Law (LLB) and Law and Society courses (Foundation). During my period at Northumbria University, I held numerous academic management and administrative positions relating to research and teaching including Equality Lead for Law (achieving Athena Swan Bronze in April 2020 as part of a Business and Law Faculty application) as well as being Programme Leader for the Advanced Legal Practice LLM and Head of Year One and Deputy Head of Programme on the Open Learning degree. At Northumbria University I acted as co-convenor of the Gender Sexuality and the Law Research Interest Group, where I co-organised over 20 international, national, and regional events, including international and national conferences, events designed to engage with local and national activists, a yearly seminar series, book launches and student focused events. Prior to this I was a qualified solicitor working in the City of London in firms Lovells LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP) and Reed Smith Richards Butler LLP.

The international profile of my work is demonstrated as I have published in the UK, Italy, Florida, California and New York with high quality publishers such as Routledge, and international multiple peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Homosexuality, the European Human Rights Law Review and the Journal of Transnational Law. My recently published edited collection (as lead editor) entitled ‘Same-Sex Relationships, Law and Social Change’ published in January 2020 by Routledge in London and New York includes contributions from an international team of leading Law and Sociology authors from 5 different jurisdictions (the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and the Republic of Ireland.) Following invitation, I have been appointed as Visiting Scholar at Pisa University Italy (postponed to 2022 due to coronavirus). I have spoken at international conferences including in Italy, Spain, US, Canada, forthcoming in France as well as across the UK. I also write for practitioner focused journals such as Family Law. Also following invitation, I am also acting as legal expert to a collaboration of Science Technology Engineering and Maths (‘STEM’) colleagues from Manchester, Northumbria and Loughborough Universities, conducting research into current resources and developing toolkits for LGBTQ+ academics and those working in STEM when travelling / working worldwide. I am assistant editor at the International Journal of Gender Sexuality and the Law.