Samuel White is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the School of Business and Creative Industries. He joined UWS as a Lecturer in Law in 2021 before his appointment as Senior Lecturer in 2023. He is Unit Lead for Law, Director of the Social Change Through Law Research Group, and a member of the Senate Appeals Committee.

Samuel completed his LLB (Hons) and PhD at the University of Dundee. His doctoral research was funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. This doctoral research addressed the protection of human rights within the UK, particularly examining the effect of international human rights treaties in the UK context.

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

Samuel holds appointments to both the Law Society of Scotland Constitutional Law and Human Rights Sub-committee and the Scottish Government Human Rights Incorporation and Implementation Oversight Board. Since 2025, Samuel has chaired the board of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland (NYOS), having been a member of the board since 2022.

Samuel is currently researching the human rights protection in the UK, in particular seeking to measure the impact of incorporation on the effectiveness of human rights protections and on UK compliance with treaty obligations. He is also engaged in researching public attitudes towards human rights and what drives these attitudes.

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

The other central strand of Samuel’s present research is the protection of cultural heritage in the context of international criminal law, with a particular focus on the work of the International Criminal Court in the field.

Building on his existing research, Samuel is keen to develop research which understand public attitudes to human rights and the apparent disconnect between the current political discourse on human rights and public attitudes to these rights. 

In the field of cultural heritage law, Samuel is currently developing research to support an expansion of the scope of protection offered to cultural heritage by international criminal law.

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.

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

In the current academic year, Samuel will be teaching:

Foundations of Rights

Foundations of Law

International Criminal Law