Firm hires: Academics join university's Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion

The Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion at Anglia Ruskin University has welcomed two academics to its team. 

Angus Nurse joins as professor of law and environmental justice and becomes director of the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion. Dr Sebastian Smart joins as research fellow in the Centre, with a particular focus on human rights and artificial intelligence. 

Nurse, previously head of criminology and criminal justice at Nottingham Trent University, is one of the world’s leading academic voices on environmental harms and species justice. He has written six books, co-authored two and jointly edited two academic collections.

Smart is a former regional director of the Chilean National Human Rights Institution and has worked extensively for NGOs in Chile, the UK and Haiti, focusing on human rights issues including economic, social, and cultural rights and the impact of digital technology on human rights. He is also currently a research fellow in human rights and technology at Harvard University focusing on welfare state and algorithmic discrimination. 

Smart plays an active role in human rights policy and advocacy globally. He currently chairs the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ working group on business and human rights and is a member of the Advisory Network of the Freedom Online Coalition.

Nurse commented: 'Along with Sebastian, I am delighted to join the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion. The Centre is doing some seminal work to promote the important values of access to justice and inclusion across law and society, the digital economy and arbitration law, and criminal justice. I fully intend to ensure our work is at the centre of influencing policy and society.'