Dr Danielle Watson

I research at the intersection of the law and vulnerable people, with a keen focus on the impact of the law on people with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community. This interest stems from my PhD on human rights and disability law.

Since completing my thesis, this has broadened to include interactions between equality law and Trusts law. I consider myself a specialist on both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Equality Act 2010.

I joined Leicester Law School in 2023. Prior to this, I worked as a Postgraduate Teaching Associate at the University of Nottingham.

I gained my LLB in Law in 2016 and LLM in International Human Rights Law in 2017, both from the University of Leicester. In 2018, I completed an MA in Social Science Research (Socio-Legal Studies) at the University of Nottingham.

In 2024, I received my PhD from the University of Nottingham after completing my doctoral thesis on international human rights law and disabilities.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am the module convenor for the undergraduate Gender, Sexuality and the Law module, and deputy module convenor for the undergraduate Equity and Trusts modules. I am also the Co-Lead for the Law School's Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team, the Deputy for Student Mooting and Advocacy, and I organise the Law and Gender Research Cluster.

Externally, I am a stream convenor for the Disability Law and Social Justice stream within the Socio-Legal Studies Association.

My research uses a queer and intersectional framework to analyse different areas of law. Within the fields of 
disability and mental health, I am currently developing several research projects stemming from my doctoral 
thesis. In my thesis, I analysed alternative models of disability within the context of the Convention on the Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), formulating a new approach to disability through the lens of identity. Within 
equality law more broadly, I am interested in the interactions between protected characteristics under the 
Equality Act 2010, particularly disability, sex, gender reassignment, and sexual orientation. 

In 2025, I was part of a successful external funding bid to organise an online symposium on Disability and 
Neoliberalism, which has resulted in a planned Special Issue in the International Journal of Disability and Social 
Justice.

Current projects include:

• How the law interacts with Dissociative Identity Disorder (on personhood, integration, and capacity for 
  medical care)
• The promotion of reproductive and sexual autonomy for disabled people
• Current legal considerations for gender diversity in adult social care
• The relationship between disability and sex under the Equality Act
• The function of the Presumption of Advancement for LGBTQ+ families

• Watson D, ‘W v Gender Recognition Panel: On biological determinative factors and prospective parenthood’ 
  (2026) Family Law 274.
• Watson D, ‘The CRPD is Here and queer! A lesson in queering human rights law’ (2025) 25(2) Human Rights Law 
  Review 6
• Watson D, ‘A necessary conversation: understanding rehabilitation within a holistic right to health for persons with 
  disabilities’ in E. Wicks & N. Papadopoulou (eds) Research Handbook on Human Rights Law and Health (Edward 
  Elgar 2025)
• Gronholm PC, et al, ‘Assessing the Priority of Human Rights and Mental Health: The PHRAME Approach’ (2023) 
  9 BJPsych Open 56.

I welcome approaches from prospective doctoral candidates on projects utilising Queer Theory and Intersectionality to critically analyse the law. I am particularly interested in queer approaches to Medical Law, Mental Health, Disability Law, LGBTQ+ issues, and Human Rights.

Undergraduate

• LW2370 Equity and Trusts (deputy module convenor)
• LW3370 Equity and Trusts (Advanced) (deputy module convenor)
• LW3511 Wills and the Administration of Estates
• LW3531 Gender, Sexuality and Law (module convenor

Equality Law, particularly within Trusts, Disabilities, Mental Health, and the function of the Equality Act 2010.

I have presented at numerous conferences. A non-exhaustive list of papers includes:

• “Keeping a Sheep in the Garden: On Disability Rights and Novel Ideas” - SLSA Conference, Derry, April 2023
• “Deus Ex Machina: Video Games and the Future of Cybernetic Augmentation” - SLSA Conference, York, April 2022
• “Here and Queer: How the CRPD uses a queer commentary perspective to protect minority rights” - SLSA Conference, Leeds, April 2019
• “Gender Queer: The Right to Gender Identity in the European Court of Human Rights” - Nottingham ENQUIRE Conference, March 2019