School of Politics and International Studies

Professor Philip Norton Lord Norton of Louth’s Hull-based research has been responsible for the design and implementation of processes of post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) in the UK; influencing how Parliament reviews and assesses the effectiveness of legislation.

Prior to his research, legislatures gave assent to acts that had a binding effect, but rarely undertook subsequent reviews to ensure that the laws produced their intended effects.

UK Parliament explicitly followed Professor Norton’s design when instituting Westminster’s system of PLS in 2008. His research led to the creation of a holistic process whereby PLS was conducted in a transparent manner, requiring the Government to engage actively with the system. The process has led to many improvements in UK law, policy and practice.

Since 2014 every instance of PLS has followed Professor Norton’s recommendations, detailing the committee’s conclusions, reasons and evidence and highlighting areas where legislation fails to achieve its intended purpose.

Between 2014 and 2020, Parliamentary select committees have published 30 reviews into specific Acts. Professor Norton’s model has been adopted internationally including the national parliaments of Indonesia, Lebanon and Montenegro.

Collaborating with colleagues in Politics and International Studies, research by Professor Richard Barnes with colleagues at the University’s Marine and Maritime Institute has been pivotal in explaining how social, economic and political forces shape regulation in the fisheries sector.

Fisheries are a critical part of the UK and global economy – as recognised in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Fisheries policy was also at the centre of post-Brexit negotiations between the UK and the European Union.

Professor Barnes’ research has shaped domestic and international fisheries governance by providing expert evidence to stakeholders and Parliamentary committees. He also informed the post-Brexit policy position and legal instruments on fishing delivering public benefits. Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee adopted Professor Barnes’ advice that financial support must be linked to coastal community development and sustainable fishing.

Professor Barnes has also advised the World Wide Fund for Nature, influencing their policy position and enabling them to leverage change in fishing policy and practices around the world.

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Marine and Maritime Institute

Climate change not only poses a major threat to humanity, it requires innovative governance initiatives in order to tackle it. Such initiatives need to be delivered by a wide range of public and private sector bodies and work across different governance levels.

In this context, research led by Professor Rüdiger Wurzel specifically explored small-to-medium sized maritime structurally disadvantaged cities and their responses to tackling climate change. His interdisciplinary research team focused on cities including Hull in the UK, Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven in Germany, Esbjerg in Denmark and Eemshaven and Delfzijl in the Netherlands.

Researching leaders, pioneers and followers in multilevel and polycentric climate governance, Professor Wurzel found that these cities perceive climate change as both an environmental threat and opportunity for ecological modernisation. The findings enabled practitioners to gain a better understanding of ecological modernisation opportunities; encouraged a critical dialogue between academics and practitioners, and facilitated lesson drawing between structurally disadvantaged cities.

Professor Wurzel has delivered training on climate-related issues to policy makers based on his research expertise. He has also worked with the University’s Aura initiative collaborating with fellow researchers and industry to focus on offshore wind and other green economy issues.

Professor Raphael Cohen-Almagor’s research focuses on patient autonomy at the end of life. This is an increasingly pressing concern with the advance of technology and longevity of life, stronger opposition to medical paternalism, greater emphasis on personal autonomy and more people wanting to be able to decide their time of death.

His research focuses on debates around patients’ self-determination and their consolidation into public policies. His research has broadened the understanding of legislators, judges, practitioners and patient organisations in relation to patient autonomy and potential risks of abuse of euthanasia policies.

Professor Cohen-Almagor’s work has multinational and multi-jurisdictional impact. His recommendations have directly shaped UK and international legislation, initiative and policy in the field. These include the implementation of Israel’s Dying Patient Law in 2008; Israel’s policy on organ transplants, which was adopted by the Israel Ministry of Health in 2014; and end of life legislative initiatives in countries across the globe including Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

His research has also examined the patient-physician relationship in end of life decisions as well as the issue of organ donation in end of life decisions.