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Personal statement

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RESEARCH

Dr Neal's main research interests are in the broad areas of Healthcare Law and Legal Theory, and her current research focuses on conscientious objection in healthcare, abortion law, 'assisted dying', human rights (particularly Articles 9 and 10 ECHR), human dignity, and theories of property.

Dr Neal supervises a number of doctoral research students, and welcomes applications engaging with the law and ethics of conscientious objection, abortion, and/or 'assisted dying'; the nature of healthcare; the professional/patient relationship; and theoretical aspects of property.

Dr Neal has been Principal Investigator on two funded projects: the Accommodating Conscience Research Network (ACoRN) funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a British Academy/Leverhulme-funded project investigating pharmacists' perceptions of and involvement in the creation of professional ethical guidance.听

She was also a Co-Investigator on an ESRC-funded project exploring professionals' attitudes to conscientious objection, working with colleagues in Liverpool and Glasgow.

Dr Neal was a member of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee between 2016-22, and is currently a member of a GMC Advisory Forum. She has advised many professional bodies, especially around the issues of assisted dying and conscientious objection. In 2015, Dr Neal was the expert adviser to the Scottish Parliamentary lead committee scrutinising the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill. In 2024 she gave oral evidence to the committee scrutinising the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. In 2022 she gave evidence to the Scottish Parliamentary Committee scrutinising a petition to amend the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. She has also given oral evidence to the Irish parliament (on assisted dying law) and to the Isle of Man parliament (on abortion law), and has provided written evidence to the Westminster and New Zealand parliaments on assisted dying. She recently chaired the Advisory Board of the CORALE project ('Conscientious Objection after Repeal: Abortion, Law and Ethics'), based at Trinity College Dublin. She is a member of the editorial board of the bioethics journal The New Bioethics.

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SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS听

听Books & book chapters

• Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and the Right to Avoid Compelled Speech'听in A Evans and M Donnelly, Private Law Reform in a Changing World: essays in honour of Kenneth McK. Norrie听(forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press, 2026)
• 'A Right to Refuse to Kill? Human Rights and Conscientious Objection to "Assisted Dying" in the UK' in E Wicks and N Papadopoulou, Research Handbook on Human Rights Law and Health (Edward Elgar, 2025)
• 'The Idea of Vulnerability in Healthcare Law and Ethics: From the Margins to the Mainstream' in Bedford and Herring (eds) Embracing Vulnerability (Routledge, 2020)
• 'Conscientious Objection, "Proper Medical Treatment" and Professionalism: The Limits of Accommodation for Conscience in Healthcare' in J Adenitire (ed)听Religious Beliefs and Conscientious Exemptions in a Liberal State (Hart, 2019)
• 鈥楧iscovering dignity: unpacking the emotional content of killing narratives鈥� in H Conway and J Stannard (eds) The Emotional Dynamics of Law and Legal Discourse (Hart, 2016)
• Ethical Judgments: Re-writing Medical Law (Hart, 2016) (co-editor and contributor)
• 鈥楲ocating Lawful Abortion on the Spectrum of Proper Medical Treatment鈥� in S Fovargue and A Mullock (eds.) The Legitimacy of Medical Treatment: What Role for the Medical Exception? (Routledge, 2015) 124-141

Peer-reviewed journal contributions

• 'Is there a case for decriminalising abortion in Scotland? A Scots law perspective on R v Foster (Carla) [2023] EWCA Crim 1196'听(forthcoming, Juridical Review, 2026)
• 鈥楿K pharmacists' experiences and perceptions of conflict between personal ethical commitments and professional obligations, as set out in professional guidance鈥� (2022) International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 30(3): 241-246 (with S Fovargue)
• Is Conscientious Objection Incompatible with healthcare professionalism?鈥樷�� (2019)听The New Bioethics 25(3): 221-235 (with S Fovargue)
• 'Conscience as Agent-Integrity: A Defence of Conscience-Based Exemptions in the Healthcare Context鈥� (2016) Medical Law Review 24(4): 544鈥�570 (with S Fovargue)
• 鈥楧evolving Abortion Law鈥� (2016) Edinburgh Law Review 20(3): 399-404
• 鈥榃hen Conscience Isn鈥檛 Clear: Greater Glasgow Health Board v Doogan and Another [2014] UKSC 68鈥� (2015) Medical Law Review 23(4): 668-682
• 鈥楥ommentary: The Scope of the Conscience-Based Exemption in Section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967: Doogan and Wood v NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board [2013] CSIH 36鈥� (2014) Medical Law Review 22 (3): 409-421
• 鈥樷�淚n Good Conscience鈥� Conscience-Based Exemptions and Proper Medical Treatment鈥� (2015) Medical Law Review 23(2):221-241 (with S Fovargue)
• 鈥楻espect for human dignity as substantive basic norm鈥� (2014) International Journal of Law in Context, 10(1): 26-46