Ms Kirstie Best

LLB (Hons)

I graduated from University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1992, and worked at the University of Birmingham before taking up a post here in 1997.

My teaching interests primarily relate to human rights, particularly how the law attempts to resolve conflicts between different interests. For example, the conflict between the human rights of individuals in areas such as the corporal punishment of children and breach of confidence. I also look at the conflict between the individual and State interests in areas such as nationality and citizenship, and the anti-terrorism law and conflicts between States in relation to the use of international law to address human rights breaches.

I've presented papers and published on the competing interests of national security and individual rights. I'm a member of the Academic Advisory Team for the Radicalism and New Media research group, which is part of the School of Social Sciences.

As well as my role in coordinating the Law courses, I also sit on the School Learning and Teaching Committee. I have a particular interest in widening access to university and in enhancing learning and teaching through different modes of delivery. Since 2009, I've been a board member for the Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council.

Outside work, I like walking in the Peak District and along the North Norfolk coastal path. I also spend a lot of time sorting out my messy garden and slowly learning how to play the acoustic guitar.

Undergraduate:

• Child Law
• Civil Liberties & Human Rights
• European & International Human Rights
• Immigration, Nationality & Asylum Law

Postgraduate:

• Legal Context for Child & Adolescent Mental Health
• European & International Human Rights
• National Security, Terrorism & the Rule of Law

The balance between national security and human rights, the law on nationality (particularly deprivation of citizenship), equal access to higher education.

Other publications

• Fast Track Degrees, published as part of Transitions: Learning & Teaching Conference,  University of Northampton, May 2009
• Learning to Earn your Citizenship, Northampton Chronicle & Echo, August 2009