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School of Law

Luiza Tavares da Motta

Luiza’s research interests are interdisciplinary. Her doctoral research is dedicated to the analysis of the rhetorical role of verb tenses in law reports from the House of Lords in the legitimation of judge-made law throughout the nineteenth century.

Luiza Tavares da MottaThis is carried out by also establishing relations between law and literature in the emotional experience of reality, considering especially Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The aim of Luiza’s research is to call attention to otherwise considered “neutral” aspects of law-making such as grammatical categories and temporality, and ultimately understand how language shapes the law.

Here what Luiza has to say about her experience doing her PhD at Queen Mary:

“My experience as a PhD student in the school of law at Queen Mary University of London has been most satisfying. During the academic year 2022-2023 I had the opportunity to deliver tutorials in Jurisprudence, thus expanding my knowledge on the subject as well as providing me with valuable experience teaching.

During the same academic year, I had the honour of being the representative for my cohort, which allowed me not only to understand and communicate the needs of students as well as creating important space for the development of a community among students.

In my role as PhD student representative for the school of law, I have also had the opportunity to organise an international conference which counted with over 20 paper presentations in a wide range of subjects, promoting discussions on relevant and contemporary themes on Law, Society, and Inequality. Finally, considering the interdisciplinary reach of my research, I have also had the honour to organise, along with a colleague from the History department, from 2022 onwards, the Law and History Research Group, in which early-career researches across law and history come together to present and discuss their research interests.

This experience highlights the school of law’s commitment to the creation of community within academia along with the personal development of each of its students.”

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