Ben Stanford

Lecturer in Law

School of Law
Faculty of Business and Law

Email: ben.stanford@coventry.ac.uk
LinkedIn Profile

Biography

I joined Coventry University in January 2017 as a lecturer in law, having recently submitted my PhD thesis which examined counter-terrorist hybrid orders (Control Orders, TPIMs, Temporary Exclusion Orders) and the right to a fair trial. I teach on a number of modules, primarily Human Rights and Civil Liberties and International Criminal Law. I have published some of my research and I have presented at various conferences. I am also the Law School’s Champion for Internationalising the Curriculum, so I am responsible for co-ordinating our incoming and outgoing Erasmus students.

As a student I spent a significant amount of my time studying abroad. For my undergraduate degree I spent an Erasmus year at the Charles University in Prague. For my postgraduate degree I spent one semester at Columbia University in New York and another semester at the University of Amsterdam. Whilst in Amsterdam I interned for a defence counsel who practises at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 

I have also benefited from some invaluable work experience in the third sector, having been a legal fellow for Rights Watch (UK), as well having worked with Peace Brigades International (UK) and the Human Rights Lawyers' Association in some capacity.

Qualifications

• PhD, Counter-terrorist executive orders and the right to a fair trial, University of Bedfordshire (2013-2017)
• LLM, ‘International Criminal Law’, University of Amsterdam, 2013
• LLB, ‘Law (International)’, Lancaster University, 2012

Research interests

I am interested in all matters concerning counter-terrorism law and policy, especially when human rights are at stake. More generally I enjoy researching contemporary legal issues concerning human rights which have political dimensions and social implications. For my PhD I conducted a socio-legal study into the implications of counter-terrorist executive orders and the right to a fair trial, which I hope to build upon in the coming years.

Selected outputs and publications

• Stanford, B. (2018) ‘Compulsory Voter Identification, Disenfranchisement and Human Rights: Electoral Reform in Great Britain’ European Human Rights Law Review 23(1)
• Stanford, B. & Vogelvang, E. (2017) ‘Weighing up the ICTY: The Trial of Ratko Mladić and the Future for International Criminal Justice’ Coventry Law Journal22(2) 58.
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘Voter ID Plans Could Disenfranchise Millions’ The Conversation. Available here.
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘Counter-terrorism and the Prospects of Human Rights: Securitizing Difference and Dissent’ (Book Review) European Human Rights Law Review 22(5) 525.
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘The Complexities of Contemporary Terrorism Trials Laid Bare’ Criminal Law and Justice Weekly 181(33) 594. Available from https://www.criminallawandjustice.co.uk/issue/Vol181-No33
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘The Reporting of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Theatrics’, London Conference in Critical Thought. Held 29-30 June 2017 in London, UK. See conference information at the Conference’s website
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘Once More Unto the Breach: The Deployment of British Soldiers Overseas and the UK’s Human Rights Obligations’ Coventry Law Journal 22(1) 80.
• Stanford, B. (2017) ‘To Helmand and Back’ Criminal Law and Justice Weekly 181(19) 322. Available from https://www.criminallawandjustice.co.uk/issue/Vol181-No19
• Stanford, B., and Ahmed, Y. (2016) ‘The Prevent Strategy: The Human Rights Implications of the United Kingdom’s Counter-Radicalisation Policy’. Questions of International Law 35. Available from http://www.qil-qdi.org/the-prevent-strategy-the-human-rights-implications/
• Stanford, B. (2016) ‘"Taking Blind Shots at a Hidden Target”: Assessing the Implications and Justifications of Closed Material Procedures’. Law and Culture Conference: (In)visibility. Held 5-6 September 2016 in London, UK. See conference information at the St Mary's University website.
• Stanford, B., Yiannaros A., and Nyombi C. (2016) 'TTIP Negotiations in the Shadow of Human Rights and Democratic Values'. International Company and Commercial Law Review  2 (9)  316-322.
• Stanford, B. (2015) 'The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military Perspective'. Utrecht Journal of International and European Law  31 (81)  100-103. Available from http://doi.org/10.5334/ujiel.dd
• Borelli, S. and Stanford, B. (2014) 'Troubled Waters in the Mare Nostrum: Interception and Push-Backs of Migrants in the Mediterranean and the European Convention on Human Rights'. Uluslararası Hukuk ve Politika – Review of International Law and Politics 10 (37), 29-69. Available from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=2431658

Teaching modules

• 387CLS International Criminal Law (Module Leader)
• 183CLS Nature of Law (Tutor)
• 382CLS Human Rights and Civil Liberties (Tutor)

Areas of expertise

• Domestic counter-terrorism law and policy
• Domestic and international human rights law, especially the right to a fair trial
• Emergency situations and derogations from human rights norms