A University of Ulster PhD student has become the first in Northern Ireland to receive a prestigious Modern Law Review (MLR) Scholarship.
Orla Drummond from Londonderry — who is based at the universities Magee campus — will receive a bursary of £5,000 per annum.
She will also be invited to the Modern Law Review Chorley Lecture and Modern Law Review dinner held at London School of Economics, where she will be an ambassador for Law and Society research at Ulster.
With a roll call of previous awards going mainly to Oxbridge and LSE candidates, Orla’s achievement is testament to the high quality of research and supervision at Ulster’s School of Law.
“It is a great honour to be awarded the MLR Scholarship and I was surprised and delighted to hear that I had been successful,” she said.
“My PhD is entitled, Inclusive Justice? A Comparative Examination of the Participatory Nature of Special Educational Needs Tribunals in Northern Ireland and Wales.
“The research examines children’s right to participate in legal process, as guaranteed by Article 12(2) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“I’m extremely grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from my husband and family and also my supervisors, Grainne McKeever, who is a reader in law and Dr Eugene Mc- Namee, head of the School of Law,” Orla added.
Speaking about the award, Dr McNamee said: “Orla’s work has generated an original perspective on a long-standing problem of access to justice for children with special educational needs, and will prove to be an invaluable contribution to current political developments in education and tribunal reform.”
Ms McKeever, who is also the research coordinator for law and society research, added: “The need for law to address a range of problems that are current within our society is part of the remit of law and society research and Orla’s PhD is indicative of this focus on the day-to-day issues of legal reform — administrative justice, child protection, schooling and education — which provides an opportunity to influence policy makers and to shape legal developments.”