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Miss Bethany Shiner

Senior Lecturer in Law

Bethany Shiner

  • School Faculty of Business and Law

  • Department Law and Social Sciences

  • Location London

Research activities

The Right to Freedom of Thought, Public law, the Human Rights Act 1998, military accountability

Edited books

The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought (co-edited with Patrick O'Callaghan) (CUP, 2025)

Book chapters

'The right to freedom of thought and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Examining the relationship in the case of the coercive and interrogational use of neurotechnology' in The Cambridge Handbook of Human Rights for the Mind: Emerging Technologies, Law and Philosophy edited by Emma Dore-Horgan, Sjors Ligthart, Gerben Meynen and Philipp Kellmeyer (CUP, forthcoming)

'Privacy 6.0: Privacy as Mental Integrity' with Patrick O'Callaghan in The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought: volume 2 (Palgrave, 2026)

'Introduction: Mapping and Implementing Legal Protection of the Right to Freedom of Thought' with Patrick O'Callaghan in The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought (CUP, 2025)

'The Right to Freedom of Thought in the United Kingdom' in The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought (CUP, 2025)

'The Right to Freedom of Thought under the American Convention on Human Rights' with Cláudio de Oliveira Santos Colnago in The Cambridge Handbook of the Right to Freedom of Thought (CUP, 2025)

Published peer-reviewed work

'The right to freedom of thought: an interdisciplinary analysis of the UN special rapporteur’s report on freedom of thought' with Patrick O'Callaghan et al [2023] The International Journal of Human Rights 

‘Ministry of Defence Impunity: The Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021’ with Tanzil Chowdhury [2022] 2 Public Law 289-310

‘The Right to Freedom of Thought in the European Convention on Human Rights’ with Patrick O’Callaghan, [2021] 8(2-3) European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance 112-145

‘A Distinct Right to Freedom of Thought in South America’ with Cláudio de Oliveira Santos Colnago, [2021] 8(2-3) European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance 245-270

‘Introduction to a Comparative Study of the Right to Freedom of Thought’ with Patrick O’Callaghan [2021] 8(2-3) European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance 107-111

Co-edited European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance Volume 8 Issue 2-3: Special Issue: Comparative Study of the Right to Freedom of Thought (2021)107-270 with Patrick O'Callaghan  

‘Big data, small law: how gaps in regulation are affecting political campaigning methods’ [2019] 2 Public Law 361-378


Current Teaching

Module leader: Public Law

Link Tutor: LLM SQE pathway


Biography

Bethany is senior lecturer in law has been teaching Public Law since 2015. She has taught English Legal System, Employment Law and Criminal Law. Bethany is completing her PhD at the University of Oxford on the right to freedom of thought under article 9(1) ECHR. 

Before joining academia, Bethany was a judicial review solicitor specialising in the Human Rights Act 1998. She was involved in the so-called ‘Iraq litigation’ which refers to hundreds of judicial review claims brought against the Secretary of Defence in regard to alleged human rights violations against Iraqi civilians and detainees during the Iraq war and occupation. 

Publications

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