Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in:
- Constitutional law and theory
- Democracy and participation
- New technology
- Smart cities
- Algorithmic government
- The legal profession and judges
Public outreach & key achievements
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Professor Morison was a previously a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit, University College London, Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London (supported by a grant from the British Academy) a visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town, a research fellow at the Institute of Governance at QUB supported by a grant from the Royal Irish Academy, and in 2007-08 a Visiting Research Chair at the Law School in the Universiteit of Utrecht. He is a member of the Higher Education Academy and has been or is currently an external examiner for universities in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, as well as for a number of continental PhDs.
In 2005 Professor Morison was appointed to the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission and re-appointed for a further four years from 2008-12. He was an Independent Board Member of the Legal Services Agency which funds legal aid in Northern Ireland from 2013-18. In March 2009 he was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He served as a member of its Academic Board as well as the chair of the Academy's Ethical, Political, Legal and Philosophical Studies Committee from 2014 to 2018. In 2015 he led the RIA's Ethics and Opinion Series within the President of Ireland's Ethics Initiative and in 2016 organised the RIA's Constitutional Conversations series.
In 2018 he was invited to join the RIA's Policy Oversight Group, where he is currently chairing a review of Early Career Provision in Ireland, and he was co-opted to the RIA Council in 2018. A previous Head of the School of Law, he was also Director of Internationalisation until 2016, and in this role was a founder of the innovative Juris Doctorate (JD) degree which attracts students from across the world to QUB. 
He was appointed as the Law School's "REF Champion" in October 2016 and was Programme Coordinator for the Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on CyberSecurity (LINAS) which has been established to support pioneering research at the interface between the social sciences and electronic engineering & computer science, and remains on its managment group
Research students
| PhD area | Talking technology: Regulating and ensuring the safety of intelligent voice assistants |
| Name | James Sweeney |
| PhD area |
The constitution, citizenship and equality |
| Name | Lydia Griffith |
| PhD area |
Secure environments, legally compliant environments, safe environments: Understanding the dynamics for confidence with algorithmic decision making |
| Name | David Mark |
| PhD area | The human element in cybersecurity |
| Name | Louise O'Hagan |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD area | Smart city visions, narratives and problematization: Comparing smart Belfast and Smart Indore |
| Name | Dr Sejal Chandak |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2024 |
| PhD area | When should a computer decide? Judicial decision-making in the age of automation, algorithms and generative artificial intelligence |
| Name | Dr Tomas McInerney |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2024 |
| Current Position: | Research Fellow, UCL, London |
| PhD area | Freedom of expression in context of Nepal |
| Name | Dr Narayan Kandel |
| Years of study |
PhD awarded 2023 |
| PhD area | Public financial crimes: A critical analysis of the role of Kuwaiti criminal and regulatory agencies in the investigation process |
| Name | Dr Hamad Alfahad |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2020 |
| PhD area |
A critical analysis of the rights-based approach to development |
| Name | Dr Andrew Godden |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2019 |
| Current Position: | Professional Development and Training Lead, Law Society of Northern Ireland |
| PhD area |
Law on the horizon of algorithmic governmentality: Legal innovation, machine learning and 'semi-automated' justice |
| Name | Dr Adam Harkens |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2018 |
| Current Position: | Lecturer in Public Law, University of Strathclyde |
| PhD area |
Big data, surveillance and the digital citizen |
| Name | Dr Jennifer Cobbe |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2018 |
| Current Position: | Coordinator, Trust and Technology Initiative, Cambridge University |
| PhD area | Governmentality and the community experience in Belfast 1975-1995 |
| Name | Dr Avila Kilmurry |
| Years of study | PhD awarded 2009 |
| Current Position | Director of Community Foundation for Northern Ireland from 1994 to 2015; Honorary Professor of Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University |
Discover More
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice- CITI-GENS Doctoral Training Centre
- Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Algorithmic Solutions
Get ahead: tips on how to prepare your application to study for a PhD at QUB Law
Read our on the steps in our PhD applications process and how to present your research proposal.