Core Staff

Wayne studied philosophy both in the UK and in the USA and taught for twelve years at the University of California, San Diego, before coming to Essex in 2005. He is director of the EAP and leads the research team here. Wayne’s philosophical interests are diverse – he has worked extensively on philosophical issues from the post-Kantian idealist tradition and phenomenology; he has published one book of Fichte and another on the phenomenology of judgement, and has published articles on the history of symbolic logic, Dutch Still Life painting, Stoicism, deontic logic and the paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder. He is currently working on a monograph with the working title The Patient Agent: Autonomy and the Regulation of Care.

Email: wmartin@essex.ac.uk View CV/Bio

Fabian is co-director of the EAP and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford, and completed a PhD in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. For the EAP his work has covered the intersection of ethics, politics and the law, as well as the intersection of ethics, law and psychiatry. Fabian is currently preparing a broader project that looks at the social causes of illness and disorder.

Email: ffrey@essex.ac.uk View CV/Bio

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

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 View CV/Bio

Becky provides practical project management and communications support for the EAP.

Email: autonomy@essex.ac.uk

Viv completed her doctoral thesis as part of the Essex Autonomy Project. Her PhD research was particularly concerned with a tension within autonomy – between the idea of non-intervention, freedom to choose and responsibility for our own actions on one hand, and on the other, socioeconomic rights and effective choices. Prior to her research, Viv worked for many years in the social welfare sector providing legal advice and assistance to people who were homeless or badly housed.

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.

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 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 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 an Honorary Research Lecturer at the University of Manchester 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.