Our vision is to further develop our vibrant and inclusive, research-led community, contributing legal expertise at local, national, regional and global levels. We strive to provide an environment of internationally recognised research excellence connecting academic theory with practical applications to drive change.
We enjoy a supportive, dynamic and diverse research environment informed by five core principles: inclusivity, transparency, collegiality, equality, and efficacy and which brings together scholars from a wide range of specialist subject areas and academic backgrounds. We have a number of distinct research centres working in three principal areas: Commercial and Maritime Law, Governance and Human Rights, and Criminology and Criminal Justice. Our research environment is characterised by a commitment to research excellence, to generating diverse research impacts and to facilitating collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Our researchers are addressing both contemporary and future challenges facing our economy, society and environment. We work in collaboration with each other and a range of individuals in academic institutions and other government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.
Capital investment has enabled us to significantly improve our physical environment, enabling expansion into a modern second building and the creation of bespoke facilities, such as our new Legal Innovation Lab Wales, a £5.6M initiative supported by the European Regional Development Fund (2019-2023).
Our researchers published extensively during the period of REF assessment including 224 journal articles, 184 book chapters, 36 research reports and 23 books, geared towards a wide variety of end-users and readers. Our work enables us to participate in global networks in law, criminology and interdisciplinary contexts and to foster both national and international collaborations.
Our work involves and benefits a wide range of stakeholders including law and policy makers, the legal profession, and civil society. We contribute research that engages with pressing societal challenges from global perspectives to issues specific to Wales and the many different connections between them.
The impact of our work includes the transformation to policy and practices affecting the regulation and wellbeing of sex workers in Wales and the shaping of professional practice in services supporting students engaged with sex work on the UK. In the area of cyberterrorism research, our work assesses the threat posed by terrorists’ online activities and develops proposals for policy and practice. We have also contributed to and collaborated on research impact on Japanese knotweed control and to changes on the law to tackle education fraud.
Meet the law staff and post-graduate community
