Centre for Health, Law, and Society welcomes new Co-Director

Dr Sheelagh McGuinness

Outgoing Co-Director, Prof John Coggon (L) and current Co-Director, Prof Judy Laing (R)

Press release issued: 13 August 2019

The Law School's Centre for Health, Law, and Society (CHLS) is delighted to announce Dr Sheelagh McGuinness will be joining Professor Judy Laing as Centre Co-Director. Sheelagh will be taking over from Professor John Coggon, whose leadership for the last two years has helped enable the CHLS to establish strong foundations as a leading Centre for excellence in health law research.

The Centre for Health, Law, and Society (CHLS) was founded in 2017 to promote interdisciplinary and cross-sector perspectives on the impacts of law and governance on physical, mental, and social wellbeing, with Professors John Coggon and Judy Laing its initial co-directors.

Since its launch, the CHLS has successfully hosted an annual symposium in October each year, as well as welcoming visiting researchers from across the globe, holding termly visiting staff seminars and organising a range of cross-disciplinary health law related events and initiatives. CHLS staff have also pioneered teaching in the popular LLM in Health, Law, and Society programme in the Law School.

Professor John Coggon, whose term ended in August 2019 to make way for Dr Sheelagh McGuinness to take over as Co-Director with Professor Judy Laing, said:

“It has been a pleasure to serve as Co-Director of the CHLS over the last two years, and very exciting to see how much we have achieved in that short time. This is down to a great deal of hard work by everyone in the team. Within those efforts, Sheelagh's contributions have been inestimable. She was at the heart of the founding of the Centre, of the organisation of various events including the CHLS launch and our annual conferences, she has given so much to raising our online profile, and has been key in the introduction, development, and delivery of the LLM in Health, Law, and Society. The CHLS will lead to greater strengths with Sheelagh now joining Judy as Co-Director.”

Sheelagh has wide ranging research interests in health law and policy, particularly the regulation of reproduction and reproductive justice. Commenting on the role, she said:

“I’m really excited to join Judy as a Co-Director of the CHLS. The CHLS is a wonderful group of people undertaking inspiring teaching and exciting research!”

The third annual CHLS symposium, entitled Migration & Health: Overcoming Obstacles, is taking place on Wednesday 16 October 2019 in the University of Bristol Law School. There has been much critical scholarship, at both theoretical and practical levels, on the complex relationship between health and migration. This event will bring together a range of academics and activists, from across the university as well as externally, to highlight and discuss the challenges that current migration policies pose for accessing healthcare and health outcomes.

Further information and details of how to register for this free event can be found on our Event page: Migration & Health: Overcoming Obstacles.

Further information

The Centre for Health, Law, and Society (CHLS) promotes cross-disciplinary and cross-sector perspectives on the impacts of law and governance on physical, mental and social wellbeing. Based within the University of Bristol Law School, the CHLS comprises leading scholars whose work focuses on wide-ranging practical areas from within and far beyond health care systems, including clinical medicine, reproductive care, mental health, social care, and public and global health.