European Law
About the Cluster
European Law research within the Law School is principally focused on the law and policy of the European Union, although there are also researchers studying regional international law regimes such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and European comparative law. The European Union poses key questions for academic legal research, both in terms of its overall institutional arrangements and also in terms of individual policy areas. Institutional debates center around the Union’s legitimacy and its relationship with the Member States, and have increasingly explored many of the features of constitutionalism found in federal systems worldwide. Although the EU only enjoys limited policy competence, many of the areas in which it does act – such as discrimination law, environmental law, and external relations law – have been the subject of wide-ranging research. This has included aspects such as governance structures, policy instrument choice and efficacy, enforcement and litigation.
Key Researchers
Staff in the School of Law are engaged in cutting edge and often interdisciplinary research in a variety of areas in the general field of European law, such as: EU constitutionalism; enforcement; rights; litigation strategies and social movements; EU employment and discrimination law; EU external relations law; EU intellectual property (IP) law; comparative law; and EU environmental law and policy.
The work of key researchers in the cluster can be viewed on their staff web pages:
The European Law Research Cluster has particular synergies with the Graduate Institute of Political and International Studies (GIPIS) with which it shares common research interests, particularly in the area of EU democracy and constitutionalism. The European Law Cluster also has close links with the Law School's International Law and Human Rights Research Cluster.
The Cluster also welcomes proposals from academics who would like to spend some time with us as a Visiting Scholar. Enquiries should be directed to Professor Chris Hilson.
Taught postgraduate programmes
The Research Cluster offers a major taught postgraduate programme: LLM European Union Law. For details of the programme, consult the programme specification. For information about entry requirements, admission and being a postgraduate student in the Law School at Reading, see the School's Taught Postgraduate web pages.
Postgraduate research students
PhD students associated with the Cluster have close contact with academic staff in the group. As well as the usual supervision arrangements, candidates are invited to participate in reading groups and seminars, encouraged to present conference papers and, wherever possible, given an opportunity to teach in the area. In every way, the Cluster aims to support candidates in a way that helps position them for their chosen career path on completion of their doctorate.
Postgraduate research proposals are welcomed in all areas of European and comparative law. Detailed information about postgraduate research and funding opportunities in Law can be found in the School's Postgraduate Research pages. Prospective candidates who wish to discuss their research proposal should start by contacting the School's Director of Postgraduate Research, Dr Lawrence McNamara.
Current students working in the area include:
Tim Moorhead
Tim is researching the significance of non-discrimination as a normative principle within European Community law with particular reference to the influence of European citizenship, created by the Treaty on European Union.
Clemens Rieder
Clemens' thesis is in the field of access to health services in European Union law. He has published a number of articles during his PhD studies and also presented at conferences, including: 'Case C-147/03, Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Austria, Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) 7 July 2005', 43 CMLRev (2006) 1711-1726; 'The EC Commission's New Adopted Baby: HealthCare', 14 Columbia Journal of European Law, (2007), 145-167; 'The Principal - Agent Model Applied in EU Health Care', Oxford Brooks Regional Doctoral Conference, 12 December 2007; 'Is Supranational Solidarity Dangerous for National Solidarity?', University of Sussex, 'Seeking Solidarity in the European Union', Modern Law Review seminar, 7 May 2008.
Candidates who have completed their PhD in recent years include:
Patricia Rosochowicz (2006)
'Deterring Cartel and Abuse of Dominant Position Activity in the European Union: A Comparative Study'
Evangelos Kaldellis (2001)
'The Right of Establishment of Companies in EC Law'
Contact us
Contact details for key researchers are available through the links above.
For postgraduate research enquiries, contact Dr Lawrence McNamara at l.mcnamara@reading.ac.uk.
For LLM European Union Law enquiries, contact the Law School's admissions officer, Mrs Sue Holsgrove at s.c.holsgrove@reading.ac.uk.