Dr Barbara Hughes-Moore

(she/her)

FHEA

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

As a writer, journalist, and lecturer in Law, my work in all its forms examines the interrelationship between law and the arts, and why literature and art matter for social justice and democracy. I am currently working on a monograph, based around my postdoctoral thesis, that casts the legal system as a Gothic 'monster' in the same mould as Mr Hyde and Dracula. I have been invited to present my research at national and international conferences in Oxford, Bologna, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberystwyth.

Research interests

• Criminal legal theory and the Law of Evidence
• Law and Literature
• Doubles fiction/Gothic literature
• Science Fiction and Fantasy
• Theatre, Television and Film
• Welsh Health Law and Devolution
• Genre Studies, Adaptations and Literary Transformations

Research Projects

Co-I, ‘HEAL: Health Ethics and Law for Post-Primary Students in Wales’, a course for post-primary students co-produced with Fitzalan High School Cardiff. Developing quality materials and activities for teachers and students enabling delivery of new Curriculum for Wales. Based on research project on health law under devolution in Wales and the UK. Co-led with Professor John Harrington (PI, Cardiff LawPl) and supported by ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (£23k award).

HEAL course materials for one term (year 9) completed, culminating in moot court (mock trial) focussed on ethical and legal controversies in organ donation involving Fitzalan students, Cardiff Law students and Company of Sirens actors. Project guided by HEAL advisory group (inc. Seren Network, Cardiff Council, Cardiff University LTA, Sherman Theatre). Participating in ESRC Festival of Social Science (2023) to translate and pilot select HEAL materials in Welsh language with Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf.

In 2021 I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the research team for the project ‘Towards a Welsh Health Law: Values, Governance and Devolution after COVID-19’, led by Professor John Harrington. Supported by the Welsh Government’s Sêr Cymru award and partnered with the Faculty of Public Health and Cardiff University, the project investigated whether Welsh health law can be 'invented' on the basis of 'values'. In collaboration with colleagues I work to produce briefings, blog posts and academic papers. Our first research output was published by the UK Constitutional Law Association in January 2021, and our first paper was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly in November 2021.

Research Funding

• ESRC IAA Rapid Response (£2,980.00) (June 2023)
• ESRC IAA (£20,774.75) (January 2022)
• ESRC Expression of Interest (£10,000.00) (June 2021)

Commissions

2023 Hijinx: Mischief with a Mission (Wales.com)

2020 ‘A Ghost of a Chance’, Sherman Theatre's A Christmas Carol.

Theatre Reviews

Alongside my academic work, I am also a published theatre critic and freelance journalist. As a member of Get the Chance, a South Wales-based social enterprise, I have reviewed numerous theatre productions at the Sherman Theatre, New Theatre, Wales Millennnium Centre and Chapter, and my reviews have been used in their promotional materials. I am regularly invited as a featured speaker on the Sherman Theatre's post-show discussion panels and was interviewed as part of their promotional campaign for Hedda Gabler in 2019. I have also interviewed theatremakers and actors such as Robert Wilfort (Gavin and Stacey) and Katie McGlynn (Waterloo Road, Coronation Street).

Teaching

• Criminal Law (co-convenor)
• Evidence (co-convenor)
• Law and Literature (co-convenor)

I assisted in the creation of the Law and Literature module at Cardiff University in 2015, one of the few of its kind in UK law schools at the time. I co-designed/-produced lectures and seminars with Professors Ambreena Manji and John Harrington and facilitated the collaboration between the school and Sherman Theatre Cymru, through which new productions were integrated into the module (Love, Lies and Taxidermy in 2016, The Cherry Orchard in 2017, Hedda Gabler in 2019, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2022), and arranged meetings and follow-on classes to be co-taught with the Sherman’s Community Theatre staff. The module curriculum forms the basis for The Arts Partnership/Cydweithred y Celfoedd, a pro bono/volunteering programme at the school which enables students to undertake professional placements with industry leaders in the arts and third sector.

Biography

Education and qualifications

• 2023 Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  
• 2015-2020 PhD in Law and Literature - Cardiff School of Law and Politics
• 2011-2014 LLB in Law, Second Class Honours, Division One - Cardiff School of Law and Politics

Honours and awards

Most Uplifting Staff Member, Enriching Student Life Awards (2023) (nominated).

Professional memberships

Founding Member of the UK Young Academy, 2023-2028

Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Academic positions

2023-present Founding member of the UK Young Academy

2023-present Deputy PGR Teaching Coordinator for Law and Politics, Cardiff University

2022-present Co-I, 'Health Law and Ethics for Post-Primary Schools in Wales' (ESRC IAA), with Professor John Harrington

2022-present Social Media Officer for Law, Cardiff University

2021-present Personal Tutor, Cardiff University

2021-present Beacon Away Country Mentor, Cardiff University

2021-present: Lecturer in Law, Cardiff University

2021 Postdoctoral Research Associate: 'Towards a Welsh Health Law', Cardiff University (funded by the Welsh Government's Sêr Cymru award)

2016-20 Graduate Tutor, Cardiff University

2016-20 Administrator/Social Media Manager, Centre of Law and Society

Speaking engagements

2023 Václav Havel European Dialogues 2023, co-organised by the UCL FRINGE Centre, the SSEES Study of Central Europe Seminar series, the Czech Centre London, and Cardiff University Centre of Law and Society

2017-present Sherman Theatre, Post-Show Panels, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2022) Hedda Gabler (2019), Lord of the Flies (2018), Tremor (2018), The Motherf**ker with the Hat (2018), and The Cherry Orchard (2017)

2022 University of Lincoln, Law Seminar Series: ‘“We Shall be Monsters”: Finding justice in law through literature’

2022 Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference, University of York: Jurisprudence of the Future Stream, ‘Autonomy, Agency and Guilt in Isaac Asimov’s Robot Fiction’

2021 FrankenLaw – Critical Legal Studies Conference, University of Dundee, ‘”Ten Thousand Times more Malignant than her Mate”: Critiquing Gendered Criminal Behaviour through the lens of Frankenstein‘

2021 Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference, Cardiff University: ‘Law and Society in an Age of Populism’: Socio-Legal Studies in Wales Stream, ‘Towards a Welsh Health Law (with Erin Thomas); Law Culture and Humanities Stream, ‘The Architecture of the Imagination: Constructing Law through Theatre’ (with Dr Lucy Gough)

2020 Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference, University of Portsmouth: ‘Law and Society in an Age of Populism’, Virtual Law and Literature Stream

2019 ‘Meet Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler’, Sherman Theatre Cymru

2019 Welsh National Opera’s Freedom Season: ‘The Nature of Crime and Justice’

2018 Frankenreads’ International Festival Celebrating 200 Years of Frankenstein: ‘“Of What a Strange Nature Is Knowledge”: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Frankenstein’. Here’s a preview of the talk (video credit: Laura Henderson-Gregory, Cardiff University School of English, Communication and Philosophy).

2018 Joint International Conference, Bologna: ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 1818-2018: Circuits and Circulation’

2018 Scottish Centre for Victorian and Neo-Victorian Studies Conference, Edinburgh Napier University: ‘Crime Fiction(s): Victorian and Neo-Victorian Narratives of Crime and Punishment’

2017 Aberystwyth Law School Postgraduate Conference: ‘The Interwoven Relationship of Law and Media’

2016 Society of Legal Scholars Graduate Conference, Oxford University

2015 Strathclyde Postgraduate Law Conference: ‘Considering Contemporary Challenges in Legal Theory, Legal Practice and Legal Methods’

Committees and reviewing

2018- Reviews Editor, Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840

Supervisions

I welcome inquiries supported by full proposals from prospective PhD candidates in any area of my expertise. In the first instance, I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of law and literature, criminal legal theory, Gothic literature and 'genre' fiction, and Welsh Health Law and Devolution.

Past projects

I am currently jointly supervising a PhD on climate change, rhetoric and children’s health rights.