Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy

The Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy is an interdisciplinary Centre established in summer 2011 at the Law School at the University of Birmingham.

Health Law is a growing discipline looking at a wide spectrum of issues from the health care professional-patient relationship, the "public" dimension of health, and regulatory aspects of health care delivery. The nature of health care delivery is the subject of rapid evolution and new structural and scientific developments from the " new genetics" to "nanomedicine" give rise to new legal and regulatory challenges both in domestic law and at EU level.

CHLSP aims to foster dialogue and world leading research in this area and also to foster research led teaching through the development of postgraduate courses and doctoral students.

The Centre is based in the Law School and includes leading scholars from within the Law School and also members from across the University of Birmingham working in a range of disciplines. In addition draws upon a broader advisory board including those in the NHS and legal profession working in this area and input from the broader international community.

Health Law at Birmingham Law School is an active interdisciplinary research area and the School has a wide range of health law related modules on both the School’s LLB and LLM programmes. As a Centre we also strive to create as many spaces as possible for the exchange of ideas and academic debate. The Centre runs a seminar series, a ‘brown bag lunch’ programme, and a PhD Reading Group that provides an opportunity for our growing and engaged postgraduate community to present work in an informal setting.

Our group members present at national and international conferences and publish on both domestic and global platforms. The the depth of impact our research has beyond the Law School is evidenced by the fact that members of the Centre advise and assist a vast range of policy-makers including the Department of Health, UK Biobank, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Home Office.

The Centre has hosted a number of international academic visitors including Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown Law School Georgetown University Washington DC, Professor I. Glenn-Cohen, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Professor Scott Greer, University of  Michigan School of Public Health, Claudia Monge, Associate Professor at the University of Lisbon Law School and Professor  Ramiro Avilés Miguel Ángel, Universidad de Alcala, Madrid.

The Centre holds regular seminars involving external speakers from across the UK and from the international academic community.  It holds “Brown Bag Lunch” sessions for internal University of Birmingham speakers developing early stage work. In addition it hosts conferences and workshops.

The most recent Workshop “Health and Care Law: Addressing Health and Care Inequalities Workshop”  was held in June 2024. This involved some 11 papers presented by colleagues from  the Universities of Birmingham, Lancaster, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores, and York. It examined a range of issues including Inequalities and Health and Care delivery: Access, Structures and Safeguards, Justice and rights in health and care law and policy, Health Care Inequalities: a matter of reproductive choice and Autonomy, well-being and justice: inequalities and legal frameworks.

School Address:

Centre for Health Law, Science & Policy
Birmingham Law School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Director of the Centre: Professor Jean V. McHale

Follow us on X/twitter: @CHLSPBirmingham