Events
Find out about upcoming and past events at ManReg.
ManReg (incorporating the Public Law Seminar Series PLSS) events
ManReg has two seminar series: a public law seminar series (PLSS) and a more general seminar series (ManReg). This year, our events are set out below.
If you would like to attend any of our events online or in person, please contact fae.garland@manchester.ac.uk or Carolyn.abbot@manchester.ac.uk.
Semester 1
- Robert Thomas (Manchester), “The Impact of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman on Special Educational Needs and Disability in England”(PLSS) 1 October 2025.
- Nabil Khabirpour (Cambridge), “A Tale of Two Cases and a Story Yet Untold: Access to Justice and Legal Advice under the Civil Limb of Article 6(1) ECHR” (PLSS) 15 October 2025.
- Shiling Xiao (Manchester), “Book Launch: Judicial Review in Greater China” (co-hosted with Manchester Asian Law Group) (PLSS) 29 October 2025.
- ManReg PGR Event 29 October 2025.
- Andrew Harding (NUS), “Common Law Transplantation and the Interface with Customary Law in SE Asia” (co-hosted with Manchester Asian Law Group) (PLSS) 5 November 2025.
- Ricardo Buendia (Manchester), “Exacerbated domination: how platforms and AI are changing the world of work” (ManReg) 19 November 2025.
- David Feldman (Manchester/Cambridge), “Book Launch: Key Ideas in Constitutional Law” (PLSS) 26 November 2025.
- Paul Wragg, (Leeds) “In Defence Of Mutual Autonomy: Conceptual Doubts About Horizontal Online Free Speech Rights” (ManReg) 3 December 2025.
Semester 2
- Duncan Wallace (Melbourne), “A History of the Hardial Singh Principles” (PLSS) 4 February 2026.
- Liam Davies (Liverpool), “Viewing birth registration as a (normative) ‘tactic’” (ManReg) 25 February 2026.
- Javier Garcia Oliva (Manchester), “R v Brown and Common Law Rights” (PLSS) 4 March 2026.
- Ayako Hatano (Oxford), “Regulating Hate Speech in Japan: Developments, Debates, and Challenges” (PLSS) 16 March 2026.
- Neil Cobb (Manchester), “Can England’s Lawyers Think Like Machines” (ManReg) 18 March 2026.
- Lewis Graham (Manchester), “Our Conservative Supreme Court” (PLSS) 25 March 2026.
- Michael Gordon (Liverpool), “Political Responsibility as a Constitutional Principle” (PLSS) 15th April 2026.
- Ruth Lamont (Manchester), “Life in Parliament as a Researcher” (ManReg) 29 April 2026.
Past events
Semester 1
- Robert Thomas (Manchester), “Administrative Justice” (PLSS)
- Javier Garcia Oliva (Manchester), “The Very Troubled Life of the Troubles Legacy Act” (PLSS)
- Paolo Sandro (Leeds), “Legally Unlimited After All? Reevaluating the Scope of the Legislative Power of the UK Parliament in Light of the Ouster Clauses Saga” (PLSS)
- Ben Yong (Durham), “The Efficient Secret? The Civil Service in Public Law” (PLSS)
- Sebastian Payne (Kent), “‘From a View to a Death’: Legal Foundations of the Intelligence Services and Military Deployments” (PLSS)
- Phil Handler (Manchester), “Malice Aforethought in England: 1785-1907" (ManReg)
- John Cotter (Keele), “Impeachment as an EU Law Concept” (ManReg)
Semester 2
- Leonid Sirota (Reading) and Guy Baldwin (Manchester), "Throwing Away the Key? Whole Life Sentences in Comparative Perspective" (PLSS)
- John Adenitire (QMUL), “Against Religious Freedom” (PLSS)
- Luke Graham (Manchester), “Charity and Statutory Powers to Alleviate Destitution” (PLSS)
- Shiling Xiao (Manchester), “Two Faces of Chinese Constitutional Review: Commitment to Law and the Ruling Party” (PLSS)
- Krisztina Rozsnyai (ELTE), “Saving Hungarian Courts from the European Level: Mission Impossible?” (PLSS)
- Daniella Lock (KCL), “UK National Security, Private Actors and the Law” (PLSS)
- Stephanie Barclay (Georgetown), “Reflections on the US Constitution and the Role of the Judiciary” (PLSS)
- Fae Garland (Manchester) and Mitch Travis (Leeds), “A Gold Standard in Intersex Rights? Reconciling Healthcare and Human Rights in Malta” (ManReg)
- Carolyn Abbot (Manchester) and Maria Lee (UCL), “Philanthropy and Environmental Law” (ManReg)
Semester 1
- Robert Thomas (Manchester), “The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman’s Report into Personal Independence Payment and Collective Administrative Justice" (PLSS)
- Alison Young (Cambridge), “Populism – UK Style” (PLSS)
- Ruth Lamont (Research Impact Co-Ordinator) and Robert Thomas (Co-Director of Research), Impact/Grant-Writing Event (ManReg)
- Javier Garcia Oliva (Manchester) and Helen Hall, (Nottingham) Book Launch: Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights: Insights from Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia (Toronto University Press, 2023) Speakers: Professor David Feldman (Birkbeck), Sebastian Payne (The Constitution Society)
- Elena Pineros (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos) “Legal Protection of Minors from a Comparative Perspective: Controversial Issues Regarding Gender Identity”
Semester 2
- PhD and Early Career Researchers Event/Policy@Manchester Training Event (ManReg)
- Colin Mackie (Leeds), “Multinational Enterprises, NGOs and the Mediation of Environmental Disputes: an empirical study” (ManReg)
- Margherita Pieraccini (Bristol), “Commons, Commoning and Environmental Regulation” (ManReg)
- Jacob Rowbottom (Oxford), “Private censorship and free speech at work” (ManReg)
- Guy Baldwin (Manchester), “The Constitutionality of Citizenship Deprivation: Comparing Australia and the UK” (PLSS)
- Luke Graham (Manchester), “Inhuman or Degrading Punishment and the Administrative State" (PLSS)
21 November 2018, Williamson 4.07 at 1.30pm
Dr Senthorun Raj, Keele University
'Alleviating anxiety and cultivating care: Young trans people in the family court of Australia'
27 September 2018, University Place, Room 3.213
Karen Jaehrling, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
'German public procurement regulation and its interplay with European regulation and case law: obedient anticipation, implementation one-to-one or testing the waters?'
11 October 2017, Williamson 4.07, approx. 2.00pm
Professor Joseph Jaconelli (University of Manchester)
'"Let him have it Chris" - What is the basis of incitement liability?'
7 November 2017, Roscoe 3.4, 2.00pm
Professor Diane Crocker (Department of Sociology and Criminology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Regulating campus 'rape culture': Lessons from complexity theory
29 November 2017, Williamson 4.07, 1.30pm
Professor Marius Smit (North-West University, South Africa)
Religion and public schools in South Africa: the Ogod case
Professor Smit analysed an important recent High Court decision in Johannesburg on an issue of relevance to other jurisdictions, including those in the UK: do public schools act unlawfully by promoting only one religion and no others?
6 December 2017, Williamson 4.07, 1.30pm
John Stanton (City University)
Metro-mayors and devolution deals: Democracy, accountability and localism
John argues that important questions need to be considered in relation to the new office of metropolitan mayor, particularly in light of local government’s changing constitutional function, as to whether these mayors are sufficiently accountable and whether their positions are democratically appropriate within the existing central-local relationship.
7 February 2018, Williamson 4.07, 1.15pm
Professor Dave Cowan (Bristol University)
Regulating housing tenures after Grenfell
The Grenfell fire and its dreadful consequences have generated very many issues. Some are regulatory. Dave Cowan focuses on housing tenure, which is the subject of a Shelter project.
2 July 2018, Williamson 4.07, 1.15pm
Professor Paul Kibel, Professor of Law at Golden Gate University, USA,
"A waterway repurposed": the Manchester Ship Canal.
This presentation offered legal perspectives on the development of the Manchester Ship Canal.
- Graham Smith (ManReg), Combating impunity for human rights abuse.
- Malcolm Oswald (UoM), How should citizens contribute to public policy-making? A case for citizens' juries.
- Dr Aleksandra Jordanoska (ManReg), Corporate managers as regulatory actors: regulating individuals for corporate crime in the financial markets.
- Dr Kate Gleeson (Macquarie University, Law School), Obstacles to justice for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
- Prof Rafael Valim (Catholic University of Sao Paulo), Brazil: the state of exception in contemporary constitutionalism.
- Prof Margot McDermont (Bristol) and Martin Innes (Cardiff), Productive margins: regulating for engagement.
- Brexit, regulation and society.