Samuel White

Accepting PhD Students

Willing to speak to media

20202024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Overview

Samuel White is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the School of Business and Creative Industries. He completed his LLB (Hons) at the University of Dundee before working in risk and compliance in the financial services sector.

In 2017 he returned to the University of Dundee to complete a PhD funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Samuel’s doctoral research addressed the protection of human rights within the UK, particularly examining the effect of international human rights treaties in the UK context.

Prior to joining UWS, Samuel was a postdoctoral researcher working on the Horizon 2020 funded Risk Aware Port Inspection Drone (RAPID) project

He has a particular interest in human rights (at the domestic and international levels), constitutional law, the interaction between domestic and international law, the legal protection of cultural heritahe and international criminal law. 

Since 2015, Samuel has been a director of the Scottish Legal Action Group, an access to justice charity.

Current research activities

Samuel is currently researching the use of international human rights treaties by domestic courts in the UK. He was recently awarded an RSE Small Research Grant to work with Susannah Paul to examine this use in Scottish courts, with a view to developing this use and furthering human rights protection in Scotland.

He is also engaged in research on the way in which human rights treaty bodies' decisions are enforced and how effective these mechanisms are. In particular, Samuel is researching the extent to which the UK complies with its human rights treaty obligations.

Samuel is developing research in the legal protection of cultural heritage, particularly in the context of armed conflict and has recently spoken and published in this field.

In addition to this research Samuel is a Rapporteur for the Oxford Reports on International Law where his work focuses on the decisions of the UN human rights treaty bodies.   

Desired research direction

Building on his PhD and work on the use of human rights treaties by the courts in England and Wales, Samuel is keen to broaden this research to the rest of the UK. In particular, he is interested in understanding the how and why courts do or do not use human rights treaties in order to provide guidance on how these treaties can be more effectively harnessed by lawyers.

Target collaborative organisations

Samuel is keen to hear from, and work with, human rights charities and organisations, with a view to applying his research in practical ways and strengthen rights protection in the UK.

Other areas of expertise available for knowledge exchange

Samuel has provided expert evidence on proposed reform to the Human Rights Act 1998. The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights recently cited evidence he had co-authored in their report on the Government's onging review of the Human Rights Act.

He is available provide expert input on issues of human rights law, and the protection of human rights in the UK.

Current teaching activities and interests

In the current academic year, Samuel will be teaching:

Advanced Public Law

Honours Dissertation

International Criminal Law

Legal Research Methods

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

External positions

Member, Constitutional Law and Human Rights Sub-committee, Law Society of Scotland

1 Jul 202330 Jun 2026

Director and Trustee, National Youth Orchestras of Scotland

Nov 2022 → …

Director and Trustee, Scottish Legal Action Group (SCOLAG)

Oct 2015Nov 2022

Keywords

  • K Law (General)
  • Constitutional Law
  • International Law
  • Human Rights Law
  • International Human Rights Law
  • European Convention on Human RIghts
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political RIghts
  • ECHR
  • ICCPR
  • UN Human Rights Treaties
  • Human Rights Act 1998
  • Parliamentary Sovereignty
  • International Criminal Law
  • Incorporation
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Protection of Cultural Heritage

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