Northumbria Law School has been awarded its first
Leverhulme award for a visiting professor to lecture and collaborate on
research at the University.
Professor Warren Brookbanks, from Auckland
University of Technology, is a globally-recognised authority in criminal law,
mental health law, criminal justice and non-adversarial justice. He is
co-author of New Zealand’s leading criminal law publication Principles of Criminal Law – a highly
influential text book referred to by legal academics and practitioners around
the world.
The Leverhulme Trust makes awards for the support of
research and education and is highly prized within the UK higher education
sector. Northumbria Law School’s success in receiving an award is a measure of
its growing reputation, and in particular the strength of research undertaken
by its internationally-leading Northumbria
University Centre for Evidence and Criminal Justice research centre.
As well as supporting collaborative research, the
£5,200 Leverhulme fund will facilitate a series of high-profile lectures by
Professor Brookbanks, hosted by the Centre
for Evidence and Criminal Justice. These will tackle areas such as concerns
around mental wellbeing in the legal profession, international developments in
fitness to plead, and cases of negligence in medical manslaughter. Professor
Brookbanks will also deliver a lecture for undergraduates on the ‘sexsomnia
defence’ – exploring the law around sexual behaviour in sleep. Students will
also be able to take part in question and answer sessions with him.
Professor
Brookbanks said: “It is a great privilege to be the recipient of a Leverhulme
Visiting Professorship. I am indebted to the staff at Northumbria Law School,
in particular Associate Professor Nicola Wake, for making this possible. I am
looking forward to engaging with people through the public lecture series and
meeting with Northumbria law students, in addition to working in
collaboration with academic researchers at Northumbria Law School.
Associate Professor Doctor Nicola Wake, who led the
Leverhulme bid and will be working closely with Professor Brookbanks, said: “To
have such an influential and well-respected visiting professor lecturing, and collaborating
on research and publications at Northumbria is hugely exciting for our
academics and a wonderful learning opportunity for our students. His writings
on areas like fitness to plead have informed law making and are what academics
and practitioners refer to when they need guidance.
“Attracting our first Leverhulme funding for a
visiting professor is also extremely prestigious. It confirms just how
significant the research we are undertaking here is considered – both in the UK
and internationally. Along with my
colleagues I am looking forward immensely to working with Professor Brookbanks
and to the insight he will bring to our subject.”
Professor Brookbanks will be based at Northumbria
Law School between January and April 2018. His first lecture on 10 January 2018
will be entitled ‘International Developments in Fitness to Plead’.
Discover
More: www.northumbria.ac.uk/law
