Find a PhD supervisor

Once you've identified the subject area you wish to research, you will need to find a supervisor for your project. All Doctoral Researchers are provided with a lead supervisor, who will act as the main source of academic supervisory support and research mentoring during your time as a Doctoral Researcher at the University.

Start your search

Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡ for supervisors below to see who you think may be a great fit for your research area. Once you have identified they are able to offer appropriate supervisory support, you can start to reach out to staff using the contact details provided on their profile. 

Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡ results for “criminal law”

Professor John Child

Professor John Child

Professor of Criminal Law
Head of Research (Law)

Birmingham Law School

John is interested in doctoral candidates in criminal law doctrine and theory, comparative criminal law, and/or criminal law and neuroscience.

John's previous successful doctoral students include:
* Rachel Gimson, ‘Captured red handed: the impact of social media on the evolving concepts of the criminal defendant and the presumption of innocence’ - Completed in 2016;
* Stavros Demetriou, 'Anti-Social Behaviour and Civil Preventive Measures: Creating Localised Criminal Codes?' - Completed in ...



Professor Chris Thornhill

Professor of Law

Birmingham Law School

Chris has supervised PhDs on many legal topics, including: Constitutional Reform in Kenya; Constitutional Reform in Egypt; the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in National Constitutional Law in South America; the Global Right to Food; the History of International Criminal Law; Military Law and Legal Reform in China; Constitutional Law and Populism in Poland and Brazil; Constitutional Reform in Scotland; Constitutional Reform in Turkey; Constitutional Reform in ...

Dr Marianne Wade

Dr Marianne Wade

Reader in Criminal Justice

Birmingham Law School

European Criminal Law
European Criminal Justice
Comparative criminal and criminal procedure law
Structural Developments in Criminal Justice
Terrorism – Phenomena and Responses
Trafficking Human Beings

Current doctoral students:

The Challenges Associated with Identifying Victims of Trafficking Human Beings – Matthew Davis
The Suitability of Trial by Jury for Trafficking in Persons Cases – Jack Murphy









Dr Emma J Breeze

Assistant Professor in International Criminal Law

Birmingham Law School

International Humanitarian Law (the law of armed conflict), International Criminal Law, Transnational Criminal Law (to include cross-border crimes, such as trafficking and piracy)
International law and global legal studies (to include conflicts, transitional justice, international criminal law)




Professor Alexander Orakhelashvili

Professor Alexander Orakhelashvili

Professor of International Law

Birmingham Law School

Professor Orakhelashvili has supervised or is currently supervising doctoral students undertaking research in the following areas:
• Aut dedere aut judicare as a customary rule
• The UN member states and individuals sharing international responsibility for the serious violation of international law committed during peace support operations
• Iran and Nuclear non-proliferation
• John Austin’s theory of law
• Implications of New Technology for Targeting under International Humanitarian Law






Dr Kirsty Moreton

Dr Kirsty Moreton

Associate Professor in Law

Birmingham Law School

Dr Moreton is interested in supervising Doctoral Students in the areas of healthcare law, particularly decision-making, child and adolescent healthcare, pregnancy and reproduction, and palliative care. She also has interests in criminal law relating to sexual offences, and intersections with medical law. Topics utilising feminist and care ethics are also of interest.
Previously supervised to completion:
- Wendy Suffield, ‘Reconsidering the Moral Status of the pre-conscious fetus: a multi-criterial, multi-level ...

Dr Tara Lai Quinlan

Associate Professor in Law and Criminal Justice

Birmingham Law School

criminal law, criminal procedure, terrorism, counter-terrorism, police, disproportionality in the criminal justice system, stop and search, jury diversity

Professor Kate Bedford

Professor Kate Bedford

Professor of Law and Political Economy

Birmingham Law School

I am happy to read PhD proposals in the following areas:
• Law and development (especially in Latin America)
• Law and political economy
• Gender, sexuality, and law
• Gambling regulation





Professor Natasa Mavronicola

Professor Natasa Mavronicola

Professor of Human Rights Law

Birmingham Law School

Professor Mavronicola is keen to supervise postgraduate research students whose research interests lie in the following areas:

torture and inhuman and degrading treatment
the right to life
the interpretation of human rights
LGBT* rights
the interplay between counter-terrorism and human rights
the relationship between human dignity and human rights
the intersections between human rights and criminal justice
the relationship of any of the above with legal philosophy








Dr Peter Coe

Dr Peter Coe

Associate Professor
Director of Research Impact

Birmingham Law School

Dr Coe welcomes expressions of interest for prospective PhD students in his areas of interest, and the field of Media Law more broadly.

Professor Anthea Hucklesby

Professor Anthea Hucklesby

Professor of Criminal Justice

Birmingham Law School

Anthea has supervised research students in many aspects of criminal justice in the UK and internationally. She welcomes applications from UK and international students interested in any area of criminal justice including, but not limited to, electronic monitoring, pre-trial detention and bail, police powers, courts, prisons, community sentences, technologies and private and voluntary sector involvement in criminal justice.

Dr Jason Haynes

Dr Jason Haynes

Associate Professor of Law
Deputy Head of Postgraduate Research & PGR Mentor

Birmingham Law School

Anti-Human Trafficking Law
International Investment Law
Sports Law



Dr Adnan Nadir

Dr Adnan Nadir

Honorary Associate Clinical Professor
Consultant Cardiologist and Senior Lecturer

Department of Cardiovascular Sciences

Dr Nadir has supervised cardiology and interventional cardiology fellows from around the world both clinically and mentoring them to write thesis and publish in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Zsuzsanna Nagy

Dr Zsuzsanna Nagy

Senior Lecturer
Interim Department Head of Education

Department of Inflammation and Ageing

Zsuzsanna is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following area:

  • The role of cell cycle related molecules in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Zsuzsanna Nagy directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research ...

Dr Paul Nankivell

Dr Paul Nankivell

Senior Clinical Lecturer
Honorary Consultant ENT/Head & Neck Surgeon

Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences

  • Currently co-supervising 2 PhD students
  • Has supervised BMedSc and MSc students

Professor Parth Narendran

Professor Parth Narendran

Professor of Diabetes Medicine
Honorary Consultant Physician

Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy

Parth has supervised over 10 MD and PhDs on the subject of diabetes and immunology

Dr Miguel Navarro-Cía

Dr Miguel Navarro-Cía

Reader in TeraHertz Science and Engineering
Head of the Metamaterials and Nanophotonics Group
Associated with the School of Physics and Astronomy and the School of Engineering (Department of EESE)

School of Physics and Astronomy

Current PhD students

Primary Supervisor

  • D. Feng, Surface scattering and propagation through inhomogeneous media, University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, UK.
  • E. J. Magaway, Terahertz hyperspectral imaging for tribology, University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, UK.
  • Y. Farahi, Terahertz medical imaging, University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, UK.

Secondary Supervisor

  • E. Gaggs, Macroscopic metasurfaces for quantum systems, University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, UK
  • R. Fakhteh, Reconfigurable metasurfaces using new materials and structures, University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, UK.
  • C. Sumner, Nanophotonic cavities for Raman ...

Dr Aditya Nayak

Dr Aditya Nayak

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow

School of Chemical Engineering

Aditya provides supervision for some Masters and PhD students within the group.

Dr Amy Naylor

Dr Amy Naylor

Senior Research Fellow
Deputy Theme Lead for Rheumatology

Department of Inflammation and Ageing

Amy currently supervisors doctoral researchers undertaking the following projects:

  • An organotypic model of the bone remodelling process
  • Targeting the novel CD248-MMRN2-CLEC14A signalling pathway in age-related bone loss
  • The ageing bone – a novel peptide as an inducer of bone repair
  • Formulation of a novel suspending medium for immobilised culture and tissue processing
  • Characterising the therapeutic potential of a novel peptide in age-related bone loss, skeletal remodelling and repair
  • Development of ...

Dr Georgiana Neag

Dr Georgiana Neag

Research Fellow in Skeletal Ageing and Inflammation

Department of Inflammation and Ageing

Georgiana is interested in co-supervising postgraduate projects (MRes, MSci, PhD) in the area of Multi-modal volumetric imaging, Ageing and Inflammation associated Bone Loss, Postnatal Bone Development. These projects will also be supervised by Prof. Adam Croft.

Professor Catherine Needham

Professor Catherine Needham

Professor of Public Policy and Public Management

Health Services Management Centre

Catherine would welcome PhD students interested in aspects of the following: 

  • Social care systems
  • Personalisation and coproduction in social care
  • Public service reform, focused on the UK, or putting the UK in comparative perspective. 

Dr Susan Neilson

Dr Susan Neilson

Associate Professor

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Sue is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Palliative and end of life care
  • Bereavement support
  • Nursing
  • Research using qualitative methodology

If you are interested in studying in any of these subject areas please contact Sue on the contact details above or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Dr Sándor Zoltán Németh

Dr Sándor Zoltán Németh

Associate Professor

School of Mathematics

Sándor is supervising postgraduate students in Optimisation on Manifolds, Convex Optimisation, Equilibrium Systems, Ordered Vector Spaces and Multicriteria Decision Making.