Core Staff
Professor Wayne Martin
Director
Email: wmartin@essex.ac.uk
Dr Matt Burch
Deputy Director
Matt completed a PhD in philosophy at Rice University and taught at the University of Arkansas for five years before coming to Essex in 2013. He has published articles on philosophical method and the phenomenology of agency. His current research focuses on issues in moral psychology with an approach that draws from the resources of both empirical psychology and the phenomenological tradition.
Email: mburch@essex.ac.uk
Professor Sabine Michalowksi
Sabine joined the School of Law in 2000. She graduated from Hamburg, qualified as a lawyer in Berlin, and holds a Diploma in Comparative Law awarded by the University of Paris II and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. Sabine’s research interests include end of life decision making, in particular the controversial issue of assisted dying. For the EAP, Sabine contributes to research on the Mental Capacity Act and compliance with the UNCRPD and the Mental Health and Justice project. She is also Director of the Essex Transitional Justice Network.
Email: smichal@essex.ac.uk
View CV/Bio
Dr Emily Fitton
Emily deals with administrative and logistical matters relating to the project, and contributes to research outputs.
Email: efitto@essex.ac.uk
Dr Aaron Wyllie
Aaron trained as a social worker at Monash University (BA, PhD) in Australia, and is currently the Programme Lead for the BA Social Work at the University of Essex. Aaron’s current research explores older peoples’ experience of home in community and care home contexts. For the EAP, Aaron contributes to the Human Rights in Care Homes” project.
Caroline Bald
Caroline is a registered social worker qualifying at University of Glasgow (MSW) in Scotland, and is currently the Programme Lead for the MA Social Work at the University of Essex. Caroline’s current research explores brain injury social work, human rights and social work education curricula. Caroline is the Director of the 2022 Autonomy Project Summer School.
Hannah Atkinson
Hannah is a qualified Speech & Language Therapist and a lecturer at the University of Essex. Hannah’s areas of expertise are acquired communication and swallowing disorders in adults. She has previously worked in a range of healthcare settings, including acute general wards, acute stroke units and community stroke rehabilitation. Hannah’s areas of interest include acute stroke management, dysphagia associated with neurological disorders, as well as the role of Speech & Language Therapists in facilitating mental capacity assessments for people with communication needs.
Affiliates
Dr Thomas Hartvigsson
Thomas was a Senior Research Officer within the Mental Health and Justice Project working within the Insight Workstream. He earned his PhD in practical philosophy from the University of Gothenburg. He wrote his dissertation on decision-making competence and the relationship between the right to make decisions and moral responsibility. He also has a broader interest in ethical questions pertaining to the family.
Dr Sándor Gurbai
Sándor worked at the Autonomy Project for more than two years on the Insight Workstream of the Wellcome-funded Mental Health and Justice Project. He is currently Impact Manager at Validity Foundation – Mental Disability Advocacy Centre, Hungary. He is also a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Centre, School of Law, University of Essex, UK and Assistant Professor at the Institute for Disability and Social Participation, Faculty of Special Needs Education, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary. He holds a PhD from Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Hungary) in law and political sciences. He has experiences, inter alia, in human rights monitoring of places of detention, and conducting advocacy at national, EU, Council of Europe and UN levels. Sándor’s interests are in human rights and disability studies.
Dr Katherine Furman
Katherine is a Philosophy Lecturer at University College Cork, where she directs the MA in Health and Society. Previously she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Durham University’s ‘Knowledge for Use’ project. She completed a PhD in Philosophy at the London School of Economics in 2016.
Dr Jaime Lindsey
Jaime is a lecturer in the Law School at the University of Essex. Her work focuses on healthcare law and ethics. She is particularly interested in the legal regulation of healthcare and the meaning of health and care expertise. Jaime’s interests in healthcare law span a range of areas including mental capacity, clinical negligence, reproduction, new technologies and professional regulation. Jaime has used socio-legal methods to explore these areas.
Dr Gareth Owen
King’s College London
Gareth leads the Mental Health, Ethics and Law research group in the Department of Psychological Medicine at King’s College London. He is Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s and a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow. He also practices as a consultant psychiatrist in a home treatment team in Lambeth. Gareth’s work focuses on decision-making capacity and he has collaborated with the EAP on several research projects.
Professor Jill Stavert
Edinburgh Napier University
Jill is Professor of Law in the Business School of Edinburgh Napier University. Her research focuses on European and national human rights law and mental health and she works with a number of public and voluntary sector organisations and regulatory bodies in the field of mental health, incapacity and human rights. Jill is part of the core research team for the EAP Three Jurisdictions project and works with the EAP on issues of CRPD compliance and human rights law.
Adrian Ward
TC Young Solicitors
Adrian is an international expert in adult incapacity law. He was closely involved in the law reform process leading to the Incapacity Act, as an external expert engaged by the Scottish Law Commission and as principal spokesperson for the Alliance which campaigned for the legislation. Adrian is a prolific legal author, whose many books and articles have spanned more than three decades. His books include the current standard Scottish texts on adult incapacity law. Adrian has been convener of the Mental Health and Disability Committee of the Law Society of Scotland since 1989 and works with the World Health Organisation and several European Governments. He was awarded an MBE “for services to the mentally handicapped in Scotland”. Adrian works with the EAP on mental health law and is a member of the core research team for the Three Jurisdictions project.
Alex Ruck Keene
39 Essex Chambers
Alex is an experienced barrister, writer and educator. His practice is focused on mental capacity law and he provides specialist advice and representation, as well as training for front line professionals. Alex writes extensively in the field, editing and contributing to leading text books and to the 39 Essex Chambers Mental Capacity Law Newsletter. He is the creator of the website www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk, providing resources and expert commentary on some of the most difficult mental capacity issues. Alex is also a Visiting Lecturer and a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at King’s College London. He has collaborated with the EAP on several projects, most recently the Three Jurisdictions.
Dr Margot Kuylen
Margot is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in the ethical, social, and legal aspects of health. She is affiliated with the Essex Autonomy Project (University of Essex) and the Mental Health, Ethics and Law group (King’s College London). In November 2021 she joined the British Medical Association to work on their COVID-19 inquiry. Previously, she worked as a Senior Research Officer on the Human Rights in Care Homes project and taught Philosophy at the University of Essex.
Dr Vivek Bhatt
Vivek is Assistant Professor at the University of Utrecht. He previously worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the “Human Rights in Care Homes” project. His research focused on the implications of decision-making in care homes for international, regional, and domestic human rights law, particularly the rights to life and non-discrimination.
Vivek holds a PhD in Law from the University of Edinburgh, where he was the recipient of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Studentship. He also holds an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and a Master of International Law from the University of Sydney. Vivek has previously worked as a university teacher of international law and international relations at the Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde. His research focuses on international human rights law, particularly as it relates to global health, security, and violent conflict.
Research Students
Vivienne Ashley (PhD 2014) Research topic: Great Expectations – Autonomy, Responsibility and Social Welfare Entitlement
Margot Kuylen (PhD 2019) Research topic: Disruptions of Agency in Self-Oppression
Bryan T. Reuther Research topic: Dissociation and Being in the World
Danny Shipsides Research topic: Making Sense of (Non)Adherence
John J. Sykes (MPhil 2021) Research topic: Evidence in Neurophenomenology
