Birmingham doctoral research student Kirsty Moreton has been named as the joint winner of the prestigious 'Best Poster Prize' in the 2014 annual conference run by the Society of Legal Scholars. The event took place during the Society's 2014 conference held at the University of Nottingham.
The title of the poster was 'Who Cares? - Can the Ethics of Care help judges to determine 'best interests' in mid-childhood healthcare decisions?'
The project examined the position of children in mid-childhood (age 8-14) in relation to the 'best interests' test used by the courts when considering decisions about their healthcare and questioned whether the test adequately addressed the needs and interests of the child and their family. It did this by detailing the unique features of mid-childhood combined with assessing the pitfalls of the best interests test in relation to this age group, as drawn from the results of a systematic review of the case law from 1990-2014. Finally it proposed, and tested by way of case study, a solution based upon the use of a framework grounded in the Ethics of Care, which could be used as an interpretative tool by decision-makers when assessing mid-childhood best interests.
The poster was judged on the strength of the research it presented, its visual impact and the use of the poster medium as a method to convey the work.
Kirsty Moreton: I am delighted to be named as the joint winner of the prestigious 'Best Poster Prize' in the 2014 annual conference run by the Society of Legal Scholars. The task of presenting my research in a visual manner afforded me an excellent opportunity to practice concision and clarity of argument, and acted as a means of communicating my research to a huge range of legal scholars. I am grateful for the funding support provided by Birmingham Law School PGR Research Support Fund and I would especially like to thank Professor Marie Fox and Dr Sheelagh McGuinness for all their encouragement.
Learn more:
- Kirsty's poster (PDF, 3mb)
- Doctoral research in Law at Birmingham Law School
- The Society of Legal Scholars