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Staff Profile

Dr Elliot Winter

Senior Lecturer in International Law / Director of Employability

Background

Overview

Elliot is a legal academic specialising in international armed conflict and global security law. He has informed UK Government and United Nations policy, presented expert verbal/written evidence to the UK Parliament and provided legal training for the armed forces. Elliot's research has been widely published in, and he frequently peer reviews for, leading journals. He has been asked by mainstream media to comment on developments in AI. Elliot has taught bachelor's, master's and doctoral candidates in the UK and US. He holds Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and now mentors and assesses colleagues' applications. Before entering academia, Elliot qualified as a lawyer and made court appearances for the UK and Scottish Governments.


Previous Positions

Visiting Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh

Research and Teaching Associate, University of Glasgow

Solicitor and Notary Public, Harper Macleod LLP

Researcher, Harper Macleod LLP


Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, Newcastle University

Master of Laws, Glasgow University

Diploma in Legal Practice, Glasgow Graduate School of Law

Bachelor of Laws, Glasgow University


Accreditations

Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Solicitor (Dormant), Law Society of Scotland

Research

Policy Impact

Elliot's principal research focus is the interface of artificial intelligence and warfare. His work has informed UK Government and United Nations policy formation and his model on ‘observation, recognition and judgement’ was adopted in a UK working paper to the UN committee on autonomous weapons. Elliot has given expert verbal/written evidence to the UK Parliament, specifically the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Weapons Systems, and his work was quoted in the final report of that Committee. He has also provided legal training for personnel in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Elliot has been quoted by The Guardian newspaper on the integration of AI into warfare.


Publications

Elliot has written for highly distinguished journals including the Journal of Conflict and Security Law (Oxford), International and Comparative Law Quarterly (Cambridge) and the Military Law and Law of War Review (Elgar). He won the '2024 Israel Law Review Prize' for best paper in the preceding year as judged by a distinguished panel including Professor Sir Malcolm Evans KC. He disseminates his research at conferences and via guest lectures in the UK and internationally. See the 'Publications' tab for full details.


Peer Reviewer Appointments

Elliot is a peer reviewer for the International Review of the Red Cross (Cambridge), Journal of Conflict and Security Law (Oxford), the American Journal of Legal History (Oxford), the Israel Law Review (Cambridge) and AI and Ethics (Springer). He has also carried out book reviews for Cambridge and Routledge. 


External Relationships

Elliot has relationships with parliament, government and the military. He is a member of the Advisory Board and an Academic Mentor for the Jurist Digital Scholars Programme. Elliot also has relationships with key non-governmental organisations including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research and the Conflict and Environment Observatory. He is a member of the invitation-only RAINCLOUD defence network.


Postgraduate Supervision

Elliot is available to supervise Ph.D and research-based LL.M students who have an interest in international law; especially where their projects focus on international armed conflict, military technologies or global security matters (e.g. cyber, environmental or space security). Please contact him directly with research proposals in the first instance. Current supervisees: Frances Nwadike, Hani Alotaibi, Aybuke Tezel and Feyza Gul Keskin.

Teaching

Subjects

Elliot teaches international armed conflict, global security and general public international law on the bachelor's and master's programmes. He creates curricula, delivers lectures and seminars, sets and marks exam papers and provides academic and pastoral support to students from undergraduates to Ph.D candidates. In the past, Elliot has taught world trade law, private international law, contract law, tort law, corporate law and criminal law.

Current modules: Law of Armed Conflict (LAW8135) (module leader), Global Security Law (LAW8230) (module leader), Public International Law (LAW8146) (contributor) and Private Law Remedies (LAW3253) (contributor).


External Teaching and Training

Elliot has taught international armed conflict law at Pittsburgh University and remains affiliated with that institution. He has provided legal training for personnel in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.


Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE Mentor and Assessor

Elliot holds Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE. He is also a mentor and assessor for academic colleagues applying for both Fellowship and Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.


Leadership and Citizenship

Elliot has supported scholarship through extensive leadership and citizenship roles. His current role is Associate Director of Education (Employability) / Director of Employability. His past roles have included (chronologically with most recent first):

- Deputy Chair of the Board of Examiners

- Strategic Lead for Employability

- Director of Career Placements

- Senior Tutor

- Faculty Executive Board Member

- Faculty Education Committee Member

- School Executive Committee Member

- Deputy Director of Excellence in Learning and Teaching

- Degree Programme Director (Undergraduate)

- Chair of the Board of Studies (Undergraduate)

- School Education Committee Member

- Directors of Excellence in Learning and Teaching Forum Member

- Student Staff Committee Member

- Deputy Degree Programme Director (Undergraduate)

- Examinations Scrutiny Committee Member

- Student Exchange Programme Panel Member

- Postgraduate Marketing Co-ordinator

- Athena Swan Steering Group Member


Awards and Nominations

- The Education Awards 2020, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Student Employability

- The Education Awards 2020, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Personal Support

- The Education Awards 2019, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching

- Teaching Excellence Awards 2018, Nominee for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching

Publications