Honorary Research Assistant Project

Criminal justice and family law.

David Conway graduated from our Bible and Contemporary World Masters programme in 2012 and has been a Solicitor in Northern Ireland in private, and more recently, public practice for over 20 years specialising in litigation, criminal and family law.

His postgraduate research considered the theological implications of the then Coalition Government’s ‘Big Society’ responses to urban deprivation for faith-based organisations.

The focus of his ongoing research will draw upon similar themes but will consider the ways in which the criminal justice and family law systems in Northern Ireland and Scotland radically differ in their approach to the needs of ‘troubled’ children.  Through a comparison between the N.I. and Scottish legal approaches, he aims to consider the qualitative differences of the two approaches, bringing the relational and societal challenges into dialogue with Christian theological perspectives.

This offers the School opportunities to influence criminological debate through engagement in public theology, by publication of scholarly articles, possible symposia involving stakeholders in NI and Scottish systems and contributions to consultation documents.