Professor Fiona de Londras

Established by Lady Barber in 1935, the chair of jurisprudence is one of two chairs of law funded by the Barber Trust at Birmingham Law School. It is traditionally held by an academic leading or engaged in exceptional public law research.

This is the first time a woman has been appointed to the post in its 89-year history.

Commenting on the appointment, Professor Warren Barr, Dean of Birmingham Law School, said: “I am delighted that Fiona has been appointed to this Barber chair.

“Given the prestigious nature of the appointment, the decision was made by a panel of experts and all panel members were extremely impressed with Fiona’s clear leadership in research, the interdisciplinary work and leadership.

“I am really looking forward to seeing what Fiona can bring to this role and I know that we will be celebrating her significant successes in the future.”

Professor de Londras said: “I am honoured to be appointed the Barber professor of jurisprudence. I acknowledge the outstanding work of my predecessors in the role, especially Professor Anthony Arnull KC, with whom I was lucky to work for many years.

“I am delighted to continue the work that Lady Barber began in the early 1930s when she established the Henry Barber Trust to fund professorships in law, fine art and music.

“Her vision of an interdisciplinary scholarly community was ahead of its time, and is one I am proud to contribute to through my ongoing work on national and international human rights and constitutional law.”

Professor de Londras has spent her professional and academic career working on the role of human rights in complex policy areas, initially focussing on counterterrorism before finding most acclaim for her work in reproductive rights and abortion law reform.

She was appointed as the inaugural chair of global legal studies at Birmingham Law School in 2015, and is the director of research and knowledge transfer for the College of Arts and Law.

Her research is fundamentally concerned with the role, impact and operation of constitutionalism and rights in ‘complex’ policy areas (i.e. areas in respect of which there are no ‘right answers’). In exploring these matters, her work concentrates broadly on terrorism/security and the law, (comparative) constitutional law, human rights law, and gender and the law.