Dr Michelle Weldon-Johns

Contact info

m.weldon-johns@abertay.ac.uk

+44 (0)1382 30 8149

Biography

I am currently a senior lecturer in law with a particular interest in employment law and work-family rights. I am the Programme Leader for the LLB (Scots) Law programme. I lead on the delivery of teaching in Employment Law and Legal Philosophy and Human Rights. My main research interest is employment equality law, particularly work-family rights. I have a keen interest in working fathers and atypical working families. This is reflected in my book, ‘Assisted Reproduction, Discrimination and the Law’, which also includes a comparative analysis with reference to the EU and US approaches. This is also reflected in my current research project 'Regulationg the Boundaries of Work-life Conflict'. I have also undertaken some research on the potential implications of Brexit for Scotland in the employment law context.

I was awarded my undergraduate degree, LLB (Hons), in 2004 from the University of Strathclyde followed by my PhD in 2010, also from the University of Strathclyde. Prior to joining Abertay University in 2008 I was law tutor and research assistant at the University of Strathclyde.

I am one of the Lead Voices for Pregnancy and Maternity and the co-chair of the BLSS Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team.

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Teaching
Research

I am a senior law lecturer on the LLB programme and I am the LLB Programme Leader.

I am currently the module tutor for:

LAW305 Legal Philosophy and Human Rights
LAW307 Employment Law
LAW425 Private International Law

I also deliver guest lectures in:

SOC408 Human Rights

I supervise projects, dissertations, and PG research in:

Employment Law
Discrimination/Equality Law
Human Rights
Legal Philosophy
Private International Law

Interests

My research is currently centred around the boundaries between work and private life. This has primarily focused on the work-family employment rights of working parents and other carers, examining the boundaries between employment law and family law as they relate to care in this context. This includes examining: the role of working fathers within work-family legislation and their engagement with work-family rights in practice; the relationship between more atypical working family models and work-family legislation, in particular whether it needs to adopt a different understanding of the family, and; the employment and equality protections and rights for those engaged in assisted reproduction.

The focus is primarily UK and European legislation, but also includes comparative perspectives, including Sweden and the USA.

Additional current research projects involve other areas of employment law. These include: equality law; and the future development of labour law in Scotland.

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More Information

Funding

I have been awarded several grants totalling over £8000 from the Clark Foundation for Legal Education. This enabled four students and one member of staff to attend the International Law Week delivered by the Universities of EPHEC and KHLeuven in Belgium.

I have also secured and supervised students on Carnegie Vacation Scholarship grants.

Esteem

I am currently involved in the following external roles:

Co-director of the FAWN network
Convenor of the Society of Legal Scholars Labour Law Conference Section
Scottish Universities Law Institute (SULI) board member
Juridical Review board member

Invited seminars:

University of Stirling seminar series 2018-19, 'Assisted reproduction, from infertility, to disability, to contemplating pregnancy? Challenging the boundaries of equality law', (March 2019).
University of Stirling guest lecture series 2010-11, 'EU work-family policies – challenging parental roles or reinforcing gendered stereotypes?', (March 2011).
International Law Week 2010, Universities of EPHEC and KHLeuven, Weldon-Johns, M., 'Work-family policies: individual rights or expensive luxuries in credit crunch economies?', (December 2010).