Dr William Page

Dr William Page

Birmingham Law School
Teaching Fellow

Contact details

Address
Birmingham Law School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr William Page is a Teaching Fellow, whose teaching and research specialise in intellectual property, privacy and technology law. His current research examines the legal governance of live facial recognition surveillance across the public and private sectors, with a focus on transparent and accountable usage within public spaces.

Qualifications

  • PhD, School of Law, University of Reading (2026). 
  • MRes Law & Society, University of Reading (2021).
  • LLB Law (Hons), University of Reading (2020).

Biography

Dr William Page joined Birmingham Law School as a Teaching Fellow in September 2025. Alongside his teaching within the School of Law, he also teaches on the MA Digital Media and Creative Industries programme within the School of English, Drama and Creative Studies.

William completed his PhD in Law from the University of Reading in 2026, funded by a 1+3 Economic Social Research Council studentship, through a doctrinal training partnership with  the Southeast Network for Social Sciences. His doctoral research examined the regulation of live facial recognition (LFR) surveillance technology and how differing legal frameworks governing the police and private sector impacted the ability to access different public spaces. As part of his studentship, William completed an MRes in Law & Society (2020–2021), graduating with the highest overall grade across the Master's cohort in the School of Law. In 2020, he graduated from the University of Reading with a First Class LLB (Hons) in Law and was awarded the School of Law Prize for the best overall performance during the final year of study.

Before joining Birmingham, William held positions as Associate Lecturer and Lecturer at St Mary's University, Twickenham (2024), where he convened modules in Contract Law, Property Law, and International and Comparative Intellectual Property Law. He also taught as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Reading (2021–2022), where he was nominated by students for a Teaching Excellence Award. 

William's research interests sit at the intersection of emerging technologies and the law, with a particular focus on facial recognition, surveillance, policing and private security, and the regulation of artificial intelligence. His work has informed policy debate: he contributed to the Civil Justice Council's Report on Digital Disadvantage (2025) and has presented his research at national and international conferences. He also writes for broader audiences, regularly publishing on the Birmingham Law School Research and Scholarship Blog. In addition, in 2023, he was the youngest PhD researcher to have presented their research at the University of Reading’s prestigious Fairbrother lecture, where one PhD student from across the University is selected to give the annual public lecture.

At the undergraduate level, William teaches Law, Justice and Ethics, Land Law, Intellectual Property Law, and co-leads the Legal Communication and Writing module. At the postgraduate level, he teaches the Creative Industries and the Law module. In addition, they supervise dissertations across both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Teaching

Undergraduate teaching:

  • Intellectual Property Law
  • Land Law
  • Law, Justice and Ethics
  • Module Lead on Legal Communication and Writing
  • Dissertation Supervision

Postgraduate teaching:

  • Creative Industries and the Law 
  • Dissertation Supervision

Research

William's research centres on the regulation of live facial recognition (LFR) technology, situated within the broader regulatory landscape for surveillance, policing and private security, as well as the application of artificial intelligence systems in decision-making.

A core strand of this work examines how watchlists for LFR systems are constructed and governed towards law enforcement and private bodies. This involves a close examination of data protection and human rights, where subtle differences in the law’s scope and framing have significant impacts. In these instances, the differences shape who LFR systems can lawfully target, where the scope of such processing depends on whether a deployment is led by the police or a commercial entity.

Beyond academic outputs, William seeks to bring this research into policy and practice. In 2026, he responded to the Home Office’s consultation on biometric surveillance (see an overview of response), followed developments in litigation concerning police use of facial recognition, and writes regularly for the Birmingham Law School Research and Scholarship Blog.