Kajsa E Dinesson
Thesis title: Mind the gap: An empirical study of terrorism offences, law-making, and discretion
Contact details
- Email: k.e.dinesson@sms.ed.ac.uk
PhD supervisors:
Background
Kajsa joined the University of Edinburgh as a PhD researcher in 2020, working on broad and vague terrorism offences. Her research interests include criminal law, criminal process, and evidence; criminal law theory and socio-legal empirical work; and mental health and disability law's intersection with criminal law including vulnerable defendants.
In 2023 Kajsa joined the University of York as a lecturer in law.
Kajsa is a co-convenor for the Virtual Criminal Law Group.
Qualifications
BA Politics, Philosohy, Economics, University of York
LLM Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, University of Edinburgh
Associate Fellow with the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) – awarded February 2023.
Undergraduate teaching
Tutor in Criminal Law (ordinary), Evidence (Ordinary), and seminar leader in Advanced Legal Writing (Hons).
Guest-lecturer on 'Introduction to Global Crime and Justice' (UG) in the 2022/2023 academic year.
Postgraduate teaching
Guest-lecturer on Terrorism for 'Global Crime and Insecurity' (MSc) in the 22/23 and 23/23 academic years.
Knowledge exchange
Early findings from PhD research have been contributed to a 2022 briefing paper on criminal offences relating to terrorism in the UK, supplied by Dr Andrew Cornford to the Independent Commission on Counter-Terrorism Law and Policy. Accessible here: Criminal Offences Relating to Terrorism — University of Edinburgh Research Explorer
Completed a fixed-term internship, Nov 2021- Feb 2022, in the Violence against Women and Girls (VWAG) team with the Justice Analytical Services for the Scottish Government. Conducted independent research and analysis to inform policy development in conjunction with the Scottish Justice Strategy.
Dinesson, K. 2022. ‘Evidencing terrorist intent – The ambiguities of circumstantial evidence and mind-set material’ (Social & Legal Studies blog, 12 September 2022) <https://socialandlegalstudies.wordpress.com/2022/09/12/evidencing-terrorist-intent-the-ambiguities-of-circumstantial-evidence-and-mind-set-material/>
Dinesson K. E. (2022) '(Un)reasonable excuses – On R v Dunleavy, R v Copeland, and Section 58' Modern Law Review. Forthcoming in print, early access is available online (open access) at: http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12721
Dinesson K. E. (2022) ‘Preventing Harm: The “Collection of Information” Offence in Commentary, Case Law and Data’, Criminal Law Review, issue 6.
- Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) annual meeting, University of Ulster, April 2023
Conference presentation titled “Terrorist minds: Mental states and risk in terrorism prosecutions”.
- Crime Justice and Society Seminars, University of Edinburgh, April 2023
Seminar series presentation titled “Preventing harm – A zemiology of counter-terrorism” with co-author Dr Francesca Soliman.
- ‘Prevent, Surveil and Protect: The fight against terrorism’, March 2023
Panelist in a roundtable chaired by Professor Clive Walker (Leeds University), along with Prof. Helen Fenwick (Durham), Dr. Tom Pettinger (Warwick), Associate Prof. Jessie Blackbourn (Durham) and others. Full-day event funded by the SLSA and organized by the University of Sunderland, delivered online.
- Virtual criminal law group, Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, March 2023
Work-in-progress paper presentation titled “Prosecutor, Law-maker: Understanding Prosecutorial Power”.
- Law School Research Seminars Series, University of York, Nov 2022
Invited speaker, presentation titled “Terrorist minds: Findings from a triangulation on terrorism prosecutions”.
- EuroCrim annual conference, University of Malaga, September 2022
Conference presentation titled “Intention - prosecutors’ law-determining function in UK counterterrorism, a challenge and an opportunity”.
- Awarded ‘Best academic poster’, Edinburgh Law School PGR event, April 2022
Poster presentation titled ‘Defining the law: clarifying the prohibitions of broad and vague terrorism offences through an analysis of police, prosecutorial and judicial practices’
- Virtual Criminal Law Group, Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Oct 2021
Work-in-progress paper presentation titled “Preventing Harm: The “Collection of Information” Offence in Commentary, Case Law and Data” at the joint Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities Virtual Criminal Law Discussion group, subsequently published in the Criminal Law Review (Oct 2021)