Morag McDermont worked 16 years in the UK social housing sector, in both local government and the voluntary sector. IN 2004 she submitted a PhD thesis that examined the how the social housing sector had been regulated and was involved in its own regulation. She joined the University of Bristol LAw School in 2004 teaching pulic law and because part of the team which developed the MSc in Socio-Legal Research. Her experience in the public and voluntary sector led to an interest in finding ways in which diverse publics and communities could be more engaged in decision-making that affected their everyday lives. She developed a programme of reserach that examined the role voluntary sector advice agencies such as Citizens Advice supported citizens in engaging in the legal system. IN 2012 she led a partership of multi-disciplinary academics and community organisations in putting together a reserach programme that would examione how communities at the margins could be more involved in regulatory decison-making. This programme of reserach, Productive MArgins: REgyulating for Engagement, ran from 2013-2018. Following on from this, with Joanna Holmes, Cheif Executive of Wellspring Settlement, one of the partners in Productive MArgins, she set up the Social Justice Project and has been involved in developing the University of Bristol's microcampus at Barton Hill, both projects that develop ways collaborative working between the University of Bristol and the diverse communities of Bristol. In 2020 Morag and Dr Helen Manchester (Education) set up the Bristol City Fellows, a programme knowledge exchange aiming to ensure communities at the margins become key knowledge producers in the city.