Shaping the future of law, AI and technology
AI and other technologies are evolving rapidly, with equally swift adoption by governments and across all aspects of society. Within this fast-moving environment, law and legal research becomes essential, as an enabler of development, as well as a mechanism for the safeguarding of human rights.
Protecting the public from ‘lawless AI’
Regulating for human rightsProfessor Karen Yeung’s research is proposing new testing methods and legal guardrails for AI technologies, such as live facial recognition, that would protect against human rights violations and Orwellian state practices.
Who owns our digital afterlife?
Pioneering new digital estate lawDr Edina Harbinja is collaborating with the European Law Institute to create the world’s first model law that tackles the complex issues of who owns or can access our digital assets, personal data and online profiles after we die.
Getting under the skin of medical devices and the law
Championing data rightsProfessor Muireann Quigley is working with diabetes groups on a digital rights charter to help people take control of their medical devices’ data and better personalise their insulin delivery.
Digital constitutionalism
Birmingham Law School Annual Lecture November 2026
On 12 November 2026, Justice Natalia Ángel Cabo, vice president of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, will deliver the BLS Annual Lecture. The annual lecture explores the rapidly evolving intersection between constitutional law and emerging technologies through the lens of recent landmark decisions of the Colombian Constitutional Court.
Our researchers working on this mission
Our researchers working on this mission
- John Child co-directs the Criminal Law Reform Now Network, which is advocating for reform of hacking offences within the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
- Pete Coe's research on the Online Safety Act 2023 interrogates its efficacy in tackling an array of anti-democratic harms, such as false information and hate speech, and the extent to which it protects children.
- Hailemichael Teshome Demissie studies how to regulate new technologies with a focus on people.
- Angela Eggleton is an interdisciplinary researcher focussing on the regulation of emerging technologies.
- Stefano Faraoni researches how an AI system uses dark patterns and hypernudges to manipulate individuals into entering into a contract, impairing their ability to self-determine their thoughts, and the effects on the validity of such a contract. Stefano’s research has been used as a legal basis in a lawsuit against Meta and TikTok in Italy before the Milan Court, seeking to prevent the use of persuasive technologies on minors and avoid risks to their life and mental health.
- Natasha Gooden's research focuses on public international law and tech advancements. She looks closely at cyber operations, conflict, and human rights.
- Edina Harbinja specialises in digital rights, post-mortem privacy, digital remains, and the regulation of emerging technologies. Her work drives international legal and policy innovation in digital legacy and technology governance.
- Laura Holden studies environmental law, ethical science, new technology acceptance, and risk assessment.
- Allison Holmes explores the interaction between technology and law enforcement, and how the relationship between these two areas raises complex issues of rights, values, and ethics.
- Anthea Hucklesby conducts research that combines theory and practice at every stage of the criminal justice process. Her work has focused on electronic monitoring (tagging) and pre-trial detention and bail.
- Argyro Karanasiou’s research spans a wide range of areas ranging from wearable tech and regulation of health data to Brain-Machine-Interfaces and embodiment, which all share a common underlying theme of re-conceptualisation of autonomy in an era of rapid automation.
- Maureen Mapp researches relational law, gender and pluriversal justice in the physical and digital world.
- Jean McHale’s work examines the legal, ethical and regulatory challenges in relation to robotic surgery. This is an important and rapidly developing area which the NHS is investing in, and which leads to important issues both in relation to surgical robots operated by clinicians and the issue of the development of robots being able to undertake surgery autonomously.
- William Page researches the extent to which live facial recognition surveillance can be used responsibly by law enforcement and retailers. William’s work strongly advocates that future laws should seek to remove arbitrary distinctions between retail and police uses of facial recognition, to ensure the rights available to members of the public do not depend on who is watching them from behind the camera.
- Muireann Quigley's research focuses on law, regulation, and policy relating to bodies, biomaterials, and biotechnologies.
- Shahab Saqib is exploring AI of Unordinary Prudence: Using critical AI chatbots for pedagogy.
- Mohammad Shahabuddin is an international commercial lawyer. His research looks at how social norms and legal rules affect trade transactions moving from paper to digital formats. He aims to improve digital platform design and legal policies to make them more trustworthy and effective.
- Lisa Webley's research focuses on the regulation, education, ethics, and professionalism of the legal profession.
- Karen Yeung has extensive expertise in the legal, ethical and democratic implications of the ongoing digital transformation, including AI governance.
- Chen Zhu researches intellectual property law, with a focus on music copyright. He also looks at computational legal research methods.
Press and media
Press and media
Other projects
Other projects
- The Institute for Data and AI is a nexus for collaborative research and education at the University of Birmingham.
- Everyday Cyborgs 2.0
Law’s boundary work and alternative legal futures.
Embedding our work on responsible AI in our teaching
Our work on responsible AI and technology is embedded into activities across the School. For example, students on our second year, Legal Solutions module, are working to devise solutions to real-world challenges set by employers, such as ‘How can Generative AI assist with access to justice?’ In developing their solutions, they are required to think critically about the role that Generative AI could and should (or should not) play.
In 2026, CEPLER hosted its first ever ‘Legal Tech and Innovation’ careers week for students, welcoming practitioners based in law firm innovation teams, lawyers advising on AI in practice and entrepreneurs working with global law firms on the development of AI tools.
We have drawn on the research expertise of our academic staff to produce a bank of introductory videos on Generative AI, its use in the legal profession and the associated benefits and risks. These are available for all of our students to access via our online ‘Skills Academy’ at any time.