Dr Louise Hatherall

• PhD in Law, University of Bristol, 2021
• MSc in Socio-Legal Research Methods, University of Bristol, 2016
• LLB, University of Kent, 2011

I am a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham Law School and broadly interested in socio-legal empirical research, and particularly how this can explore the intersections between health technologies, patents, regulation, and the public. I obtained my MSc in Socio-Legal Studies (2016) and PhD in Law from the University of Bristol (2021), both funded by an ESRC 1+3 grant. I also hold an LLB from the University of Kent (2011). 

I work on a number of projects at the University of Birmingham. I am a Research Fellow on the Wellcome funded Everyday Cyborgs 2.0 project with Professor Muireann Quigley. I am a collaborator on the Coproducing a Diabetes Data Rights Charter (which has received funding from BIIF, AHRC, and the Nightscout Foundation) and the IAS funded Psychedelics and Regulatory Decision Making project.  I am a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) and an alumni affiliate of the Centre for Technomoral Futures, both at the University of Edinburgh. I was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within CBSS working on the ‘Trustworthy Autonomous Systems: Making Systems Answer’ project and the Subject Lead for the Foundations of Law and Politics programme at the University of Bristol.

I have previously taught on the intercalculated Bioethics, Law, and Society programme at the University of Edinburgh. At the University of Bristol, I delivered teaching on core foundational Law modules (including Constitutional Law, and Introduction to Studying Law). I have also delivered guest lectures on Intellectual Property Law and Socio-Legal approaches to research.

I am an active member of several networks, including the Socio-Legal Studies Association, Patent Scholars Network, NELSIP, and the Empirical Legal Research Network. Between 2021 - 2025 I acted as External Examiner for the International Foundation Programme at the University of Reading.