University College Cork

Dr Samantha Morgan-Williams BCL (2012), LLM (2013) PGCert (2019) PhD (2021), PGDip (2022) MA TLHE (2023) is a graduate of University College Cork. She joined the School of Law as a Lecturer in 2022 having completed her postdoc at the Traveller Equality & Justice Project, Centre for Criminal Justice & Human Rights, UCC. 

The TEJP, which Samantha founded during her PhD, was awarded an IRC New Foundations Award 2018-2019 and a Rights Equality and Citizenship Award by the European Commission in 2020 ( REC Award 2021-2023). TEJP is an innovative collaborative project between a Law School and the Free Legal Advice Centre which has established Ireland's only 'live-client' clinic within an Irish Law School. Samantha received a 'President's Award for Excellence in Teaching' (Team Award) 2022 for her work with the TEJP Clinic Module. 

Samantha is considered an international expert on culturally-appropriate housing rights and has presented and published research on the effects of the recession on provision of culturally appropriate housing at a number of international conferences, including the ‘Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in a Multi-level Europe (TENLAW)’ and ‘European Housing Law Network’ Conferences (2016 & 2017). 

Samantha's research interests lie within human rights, accommodation rights, housing law and European human rights law, specifically interpretation of the ECHR and the role of the European Court of Human Rights in times of economic crisis. Samantha is also interested in the intersection between law and criminology, specifically criminal justice and cultural rights and denialism and 'othering' of rights holders.

Her work has been funded by the Irish Research Council, the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (SATLHE) and the UNIC Early Researcher Seed Fund. Samantha has also collaborated with Dr Fiona Donson on projects funded by the Irish Research Council (New Foundations), European Commission Rights Equality and Citizenship Award and other internal grants including the College of Business and Law, Learning and Teaching Grant 2023.

Samantha's research works across multidisciplinary themes but can broadly be defined as a human rights profile with criminal justice elements. This intersection of human rights and criminology is a niche field. All research interests are connected through the lens of access to justice for vulnerable or minority rights-holders, whether this is through non-discrimination, cultural or housing rights. She is an international expert in culturally-appropriate accommodation and access to justice for the Traveller Community. 

Samantha received funding from SATLHE (€14,597) for development of this work through the 'Student Led Co-Design of the ‘Courtroom Ethnography’ Module which supports current UCC Law students to co-design a novel ‘Courtroom Ethnography’ module. The students will engage in fieldwork to partner institutions in Sweden (University of Lund, University of Gothenburg) and Denmark (University of Copenhagen) with developed ethnography modules. In learning from their institutional student colleagues, students will then co-design a courtroom ethnography module with the PI and colleagues to be run in the academic year 2023/2024. This module will provide final year law students with the opportunity to complete court observation and observe hearings to develop critical legal skills and to better understand the operation of the Irish courts system and litigation.