Lex Ferenda

Daithí Mac Síthigh, LL.B (Dubl.), PG Cert (Soc Sci) (Open)

Who am I? I’m a graduate researcher (PhD student) in the School of Law in Trinity College Dublin (the oldest university in Ireland!). Trinity, where I studied law and graduated in 2004, is my employer (as a research assistant) and I am a Foundation Scholar of the College. My research, though, is within the slightly more contemporary field of what is known as cyberlaw; in particular, I look at Internet governance, intellectual property, and the control of media and information flows across national and regional borders - my thesis is essentially about the regulation (in various forms) of online media (including broadcasting), with a focus on the EU and Canada (more, including links to papers, here). I participate in the EU Media Law group, and am supervised by Dr. Eoin O’Dell (and don’t forget his blog!).

What else do I do? My current home is the campus of TCD; in the past, I was employed by the library as a part-time library assistant. I also studied with the Open University. Currently, I hold a position as a research assistant in the School of Law, assigned to the Statutes Review project. I give tutorials in constitutional and administrative law and will teach on the Media Regulation module in 2008. My out-of-date official Law School page is here. Please poke me and remind me to update it.

Is that it? I also have a background in student representation; once upon a time, I was a full-time student rep, and also spent 18 months serving as a member of the Bologna Process Committee of ESIB, the association of students’ unions across Europe (now known as ESU, the European Students’ Union). I participated on behalf of ESIB/ESU in the European working group on the ‘external dimension’ of the Bologna process, and also followed developments in lifelong learning, doctoral studies and employability.

What’s this site all about? This website is mostly made up of my (sometimes infrequently updated) blog, which deals with topics related to those bits of my life set out above, as well as other general meanderings and wonderings. I use it as a shoebox, as a sandpit, and for various research-related purposes. My non-law interests include politics, music, baseball, radio, libraries and more - all get the occasional mention. I also post speeches, papers and presentations, where possible.

What’s happening now? In July, I went to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, attending the Summer Doctoral Programme in for Internet-interested PhD students put on by the Oxford Internet Institute. I’ll be giving two presentations in September - one at the Society of Legal Scholars annual conference in Durham (in the cyberlaw stream) and one at the second GikII conference in London. Our teaching year begins in October…