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Frances Hamilton

Frances Hamilton portrait
  • Academic Lead
  • Deputy Director of Teaching and Learning
  • Member of School Management Committee
  • Module Convenor for EU Law and Law and Society

Areas of interest

Dr Frances Hamilton is an Associate Professor in the School of Law. She has a keen interest in the area of Gender Sexuality and the Law. In recent years Dr Hamilton have been pursuing several different projects including on (1) LGBTQ+ International Academic Mobility, (2) Tackling Gender Pay gaps and (3) European Court of Human Rights law and European Union law approaches to same-sex marriage recognition.

In 2024 Dr Hamilton (together with Tahlia Virdee) won the University of Reading impact prize for the development of the LGBTQ+ travel tool which enables employers and Universities to devise specific policy and practice considering LGBTQ+ student and staff engagement with international travel LGBTQ+ International Travel Tool (lgbtqtraveltool.com).

The international profile of Dr Hamilton’s work is demonstrated as she has published in the UK, Italy, Florida, California and New York with high quality publishers such as Routledge, and international peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Homosexuality, the European Human Rights Law Review, the International Human Rights Law Review, the Journal of Legal History and the Journal of Transnational Law. Dr Hamilton has published two edited collections with Routledge (as lead editor) in 2020 and 2023, leading international teams of academics and practitioners on the topics of ‘Same-Sex Relationships, Law and Social Change’ and ‘The Evolution of the Gender Pay Gap: A Comparative Perspective’.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Frances Hamilton welcomes expressions of interest for prospective PhD students in the following areas:

  • Treatment of LGBT persons before the European Court of Human Rights
  • European Union law free movement of persons and LGBT Persons
  • On the evolving concept of marriage
  • On the recognition of marriage across borders
  • More widely connected with the area of Gender, Sexuality and the Law

Teaching

Dr Hamilton is one of the Deputy Directors of Teaching and Learning at the Law School. She is co-lead for the core EU module. She has also developed and introduced the optional Law and Society first year module where she is also module convenor. Dr Hamilton also teaches on the optional third year Gender and Law module. Dr Hamilton was also part of the pilot projects testing the new technology prior to the introduction of Yuja Lecture Recording and Blackboard Ultra. She is passionate about equality of access and takes a close interest in tackling Awarding gaps in the Law school. 

Background

Frances Hamilton is an Associate Professor at the University of Reading Law School where she leading EU law and Law and Society modules. She also teaches on the optional Gender and Law module. She pursues research around the area of Gender Sexuality and the Law concentrating on three projects relating to (1) LGBTQ+ International Academic Mobility, (2) Tackling Gender Pay gaps and (3) European Court of Human Rights law and European Union law approaches to same-sex marriage recognition.  

Dr Frances Hamilton’s award winning impact work includes the development of the LGBTQ+ travel tool LGBTQ+ International Travel Tool (lgbtqtraveltool.com)  This has led to many positive responses including from over 30 universities nationwide and following invitation she has presented at the Universities Colleges Union, the International Trade Centre, the Universities Safety and Health Association and the Society of Research into Higher Education. She has held visiting positions at the University of Pisa and has a successful bidding record with funding achieved from the Journal of Legal History, the Socio-Legal Studies Association, the Society of Legal Scholars, University of Reading impact funding and Northumbria University VC Diversity and Inclusion funding. She is also appointed as a Gender Equality Expert on a project funded by Horizon Europe. Prior to joining Reading, she was a Senior Lecturer in Law at Northumbria University, where she taught Gender Sexuality and the Law and acted as co-convenor of the Gender Sexuality and the Law Research Interest Group where she co-organised over 20 international national and regional events. Prior to this Dr Frances Hamilton worked as a qualified solicitor in City of London firms Lovells LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP) and Reed Smith Richards Butler LLP.

Academic qualifications

Phd, LLM, Solicitor, FHEA, MA Cantab.

  • 2019 Northumbria University PhD
  • June 2012 Northumbria University Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Practice and Learning
  • June 2009 Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland LLM
  • March 2006 Law Society, England and Wales Qualified Solicitor
  • June 2003 Nottingham Trent University Legal Practice Course
  • October 2000 - 2001 Regensburg University, Germany Erasmus Exchange
  • 2002 Clare College Cambridge University BA Law

Awards and honours

  • 2024 University of Reading impact award
  • 2013 Team member of Northumbria University’s Student Law Office at the time Northumbria won the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for outstanding excellence.

Memberships and Appointments

  • External Examiner University of Central Lancashire (2019 – 2022)
  • Appointed Visiting Lecturer University of Pisa, Italy (2022)
  • Member of the Law Society
  • Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Publications

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