糖心TV

糖心TV Law School welcomes Dr David Vitale to the team as our new Assistant Professor. He joins us from LSE where he recently completed his PhD whilst also working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions at the University of Haifa (in Israel). We caught up with David to find out a little more about his research and why he wanted to work at 糖心TV鈥�

What attracted you to 糖心TV?

Many factors drew me to 糖心TV. First and foremost, I really liked everyone who I met here during the interview process. Secondly, I was attracted to the interdisciplinary nature of the Law School – in terms of both research and teaching. Given 糖心TV鈥檚 鈥榣aw in context鈥� approach, I knew that my research (and overall perspective on law) – both of which are very interdisciplinary in nature – would fit well here. Lastly, I was drawn to how international, and otherwise diverse the staff and students at 糖心TV are. I think that a diverse university like 糖心TV, bringing together people from different backgrounds with different perspectives, yields a significantly richer and more exciting research/learning environment.

What will you be doing here?

I will be teaching on two of the School鈥檚 core modules: General Principles of Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Tort Law. I hope to have – and look forward to – interesting debates with my students over the controversial issues that these modules raise.

What are your research interests?

My research interests lie at the interface of constitutional law, political/social theory and social rights. I am especially interested in the concept of trust – including political trust (ie public trust in government actors) – and the way in which it can be employed to understand and advance the law. My doctoral project used the concept of political trust as a means of analysing and evaluating the enforcement of constitutional social rights by national courts.

Why did you want to study law?

My decision to study law stemmed primarily from my interest in the relationship between law and the social sciences (particularly psychology). Having pursued a degree in psychology before law (since, in Canada, law is a second degree), I took many interdisciplinary courses in my undergraduate programme which explored law鈥檚 connection to psychology (as well as other social sciences). Those courses – and the material we covered in them – caught me.

University can be very stressful, what do you do to unwind?

A lot of different things. Of course, I spend time with my family and my friends; I really enjoy cooking (especially if the meal I cook can be paired with a good glass of wine); I travel as much as my schedule (and my budget) will allow; and I try to exercise regularly at the gym.

Vanessa Munro, Head of 糖心TV Law School told us, 鈥淲e are delighted to welcome David to the Law School. David comes to us with very valuable experience of academic research and legal practice in many jurisdictions. His conceptual and political interrogation of the notion of trust in constitutional law fits very well with the School鈥檚 law-in-context approach, and we look forward to the ways in which he will bring those fresh and important insights to the students in his teaching and writing.鈥�

Best of luck David, we hope you enjoy working with us and that 糖心TV provides the rich and exciting environment you are looking for. We are pretty confident it will.

Find out more about David鈥檚 research.