The first biennial conference of the network occurred on 30th June - 1st July 2016.

The programme for the plenary sessions can be found here, and for the parallel sessions here.

About the event

Mental disability law (including both mental health law and mental capacity law) in the UK has come into its own in recent years, and there is now a wide range of researchers active in the field, in a variety of disciplines. This conference is intended to bring these people together for the first meeting of what it is hoped will be an ongoing academic network.

The conference is sponsored jointly by the School of Law at the University of Nottingham and the Institute of Mental Health, a partnership between Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Nottingham. The conference will combine plenary and breakout sessions.

Plenary Speakers

What it means to be a service user and the political status it should secure

• Julie Repper, Programme Director, IMROC
• Liz Brosnan, Research Associate, Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway

The future of inspection and regulation

• Malcolm Evans, Chair, UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture
• Mat Kinton, National Mental Health Policy Advisor, Care Quality Commission
• Brenda Jones, Member of CQC service user reference panel
• Colin McKay, Chief Executive, Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland

Compulsion in psychiatry and the role of law in a non-discriminatory world

• Martin Zinkler, Clinical Director, Kliniken Landkreis Heidenheim gGmb
• Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK
• Looking Beyond the Human Rights Act: The future of human rights and mental disability
• Paul Bowen QC
• Cathy Asante, Scottish Human Rights Commission

Thank you to our sponsors