LawPod

​Discussion of adoptee 'othering' in literature and law: personal accounts, Frankenstein's creature, and Ireland's latest attempt at enabling access to birth records.

Alice Diver (Lecturer, School of Law, QUB) in conversation with Professor Emily Hipchen (Editor of Adoption & Culture (adoptionandculture.org), Director of Nonfiction Writing, Senior Lecturer in English, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island ) about some of the themes underpinning her recent publication, “Monstrous Othering”: The Gothic Nature of Origin-Tracing in Law and Literature" (November, 2021).

The session opens with a brief discussion of their own respective experiences as 'mother and baby home' adoptees in the U.S. and Canada in the 1960's, before turning to an analysis of how the particular adoptee brand of 'fearful otherness' is often represented -and indeed perpetuated - in certain works of fiction e.g. Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights', and Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go.' In respect of achieving meaningful reform to law and policy, language is key. Ireland's controversial Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 - currently being debated - has similarly served to highlight how certain lingering biases of mistrust still attach to the adoptees' need to search for origins and (potentially uncomfortable) familial truths. Discriminatory barriers to accessing one's own information - and to achieving some form of contact with genetic relatives - still exist: the use of labels also continues to matter, as the recent controversy over the use of the term 'birth mother' within the legislation (since amended to 'mother') also evidenced.

Links: Insta @adoptionandculture

https://ohiostatepress.org/AdoptionCulture.html

@emilyhipchen link to book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-01071-7

​In this episode, Peter Lockhart from the Student Focus and Careers LawPod student team interviews Dr Deborah Wilson, QUB Subject Librarian for the School of Law, and the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics about the OSCOLA referencing.

​This episode was created by the Student Focus and Careers LawPod student team. Peter from the team interviews Dr Deborah Wilson, QUB Subject Librarian for the School of Law, and the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics about the OSCOLA referencing system.

They discuss the key principles of using OSCOLA and how to reference the main sources that students use. Deborah also shares her responses to the queries she is mostly frequently asked about OSCOLA.

You can find more information on Deborah's role and the resources the Library has for Law students here https://libguides.qub.ac.uk/law  and the guides to OSCOLA that Deborah refers to in this episode are here https://libguides.qub.ac.uk/c.php?g=282324&p=2605010

In this episode five law students and members of the LawPod team sit down and discuss how they achieve this balance. Check it out and find out how you can make the most of your time!

During your time at Queen's, it's important to maintain a healthy balance between academia and extracurricular activities. ​In this episode, five law students and team members of LawPod sit down to talk about how they balance getting good grades with a good extracurricular life. Whether it's sport or volunteering as a tutor, a life outside the law school can help to boost both your CV and your spirit. Check out the episode and find out how you can get the most out of your time!

Participants

Adam Kirk-Smith, Peter Lockhart, Mishka Farooqui, Lydia Millar

Interviewer: David O'SullivanEditor: Katherine Pittalis

In this episode, Dr Alessandro Corda, current Director of the QUB Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice(ICCJ), interviews four of the Institute’s former Directors - Prof Graham Ellison, Prof Shadd Maruna, Prof Kieran McEvoy and Prof John Jackson. They reflect on the first 25 years of research, policy, and community engagement at the ICCJ at Queen’s University Belfast. Guests share memories and discuss the past, present and future of doing Criminology & Criminal Justice work in Northern Ireland, the island of Ireland and beyond.

This special edition of LawPod focuses on cross-border, transnational application of competition law with special focus on the experience of developing countries and economies in transition.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Research Partnership Platforms facilitated a novel empirical study in this area designed and conducted by QUB academic—Dr Marek Martyniszyn. UNCTAD has now published the official project Report. This LawPod episode serves to showcase it and consider its broader consequences.

The episode is guest-hosted by Ms Teresa Moreira, Head of UNCTAD Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, who is joined by Dr Marek Martyniszyn (QUB) and further expert discussants: Prof. Alexey Ivanov, Director of BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre at the Skolkovo – Higher School of Economics, in Moscow, Russia;  Prof. Imelda Maher, Sutherland Full Professor of European Law, Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin; and Prof. Qianlan Wu, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, bringing together a range of perspectives from all over the world.

In this episode, ICCJ Director Dr Alessandro Corda interviews Dr Rachel Killean, Dr Eithne Dowds and Prof Anne-Marie McAlinden about their recently published edited collection ‘Sexual Violence on Trial: Local and Comparative Perspectives’ (Routledge, 2021).

The podcast focuses on the main themes of the book, which provides a contemporary critical examination of the investigation, prosecution and cultural contexts of sexual violence by drawing on Northern Ireland as a case study as well as on experiences from other jurisdictions across the UK and the island of Ireland.

(Content warning - this episode discusses sexual violence).

Veteran climate change negotiator, Ian Fry, revisits the Glasgow Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention and the Paris Agreement (COP26).

In this special LawPod edition, veteran climate change negotiator, Ian Fry, a former representative of the island nation of Tuvalu and the Alliance of Small Island States, revisits the Glasgow Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention and the Paris Agreement (COP26), which took place between 31 October and 13 November 2021. Dr Peter Doran, of QUB Law School, and a senior writer/editor for the IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at UN environmental negotiations, review the highlights of the Glasgow COP, examine the background to some of the big issues, and consider the growing gap between the incremental progress of UN-sponsored responses to the climate emergency and demands for radical system change from civil society.

Ian Fry has been at the heart of the UN climate negotiations process for several decades, including negotiations leading up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and played an important role acting as negotiator for the pacific island state of Tuvalu. He takes a close interest in the fate of the small island states and the Least Developed Countries in the negotiations. Dr Doran describes the importance of the small island states as “the conscience of the UN climate change negotiations process”, the indigenous and most exposed people and cultures for whom a failure to achieve climate justice raises the very real prospect of their extinction.

 “Madam President, The fate of my country rests in your hands.” Ian Fry, Lead Negotiator for Tuvalu, reduced the ill-fated Copenhagen COP in 2009 to silence as he brought proceedings to a halt in a heartfelt plea for a legally binding agreement.

​In this episode LawPod Director Lauren Dempster talks to PhD candidate Nikhil Narayan about his research exploring the role of guarantees of non-recurrence in transitional justice. Nikhil has an Advanced LL.M. (cum laude) in Public International Law (Specialization: Peace, Justice, Development) from Leiden University (Leiden, the Netherlands); a J.D. from Columbia University Law School (New York, NY, USA); and, a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA, USA).

Prior to joining QUB in 2019, Nikhil was a practicing international human rights and transitional justice advocate in the field, living and working in countries undergoing armed conflict, post-conflict transition or humanitarian emergency across South and Southeast Asia, East and Horn of Africa and Middle East & North Africa (MENA).

Among others, Nikhil served as Senior Legal Adviser and South Asia Head of Office for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ); and, as Project Director and Senior Peace Fellow for the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG). Nikhil has also taught international human rights and transitional justice at law schools in the US and India, including at the George Washington University School of Law (Washington, DC, USA). Nikhil has published extensively on these topics as well. Nikhil’s full bio can be found at his LinkedIn page Links to selected recent publications can be found at his SSRN page.

​Sara Fegan & Rosalie Rothwell from Allen & Overy join Tamara Duncan to discuss gender diversity in law, as well as give their top tips for females starting their own legal journey.

www.allenandovery.com

Participants​

Sara Fegan - Senior Associate Solicitor at Allen & Overy

Rosalie Rothwell - Legal Professional at Allen & Overy

Tamara Duncan - Masters in Law Student at Queen's University Belfast

TeamInterviewer and Editor - Tamara Duncan

Researcher and Editor - Ruby Sturgeon

Dr Peter Doran and Dr Rachel Killean are joined by French Jurist Valérie Cabanes in a wide-ranging discussion about the rights of nature, biocultural rights, ecocide and more.

Valérie is an international lawyer with expertise in international humanitarian law and human rights law. Since 2006, she has been involved in defending the rights of indigenous people. She started a thesis in Legal Anthropology in northern Quebec with the Innu people and then became involved in the defence of their ancestral territory in the face of large hydroelectric dam projects. In 2011, she also opposed such industrial projects in the Brazilian Amazon, in particular, the Belo Monte dam, by preparing reports debated in the United Nations Human Rights Council or the European Parliament. In 2013, she participated in the launch of a European citizens' initiative proposing a European directive on the crime of ecocide.

https://www.rightsofnaturetribunal.org/judges/valerie-cabanes/

https://valeriecabanes.eu

Dr Peter Doran

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/peter-doran

Dr Rachel Killean

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/rachel-killean

Articles

From ecocide to eco-sensitivity: ‘greening’ reparations at the International Criminal Court

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642987.2020.1783531

Criminalising ‘Ecocide’ at the International Criminal Court   https://ejni.net/resources/student-working-papers/