Dr Seamus Byrne

Dr Seamus Byrne

Reader in Law

My profile

Biography

Dr Seamus Byrne is a Reader in Law at Manchester Law School. He is currently the Faculty Lead for the Faculty of Business and Law for the Institute for Children’s Futures at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is also Manchester Law School’s joint-lead for research impact. Prior to joining the Law School, Seamus held positions at Leeds Beckett University, the University of Liverpool, and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.  Seamus is also a qualified Barrister-at-Law, having been called to the Irish Bar in 2009. From 2009 - 2014, Seamus practiced  law full time in the areas of general civil, criminal, and family law. 

Seamus’s research expertise fall into two distinct areas; children’s rights law on the one hand, and the interface of sport and human rights law on the other. In relation to the former, Seamus is particularly interested in children’s socio-economic rights, including the right to education, and the law surrounding children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). With regards to the latter, Seamus is interested in the overlap of sport mega-event governance and human rights law, especially it’s impact on children’s rights. Further to this, his research interrogates the protection of children’s rights law within sport-mega event governance, the legal regulation of fan safety at sports events, and the wider interdisciplinary debates around the rights to play and leisure.  

In 2020, Seamus was appointed by the Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council to join the newly established Education Improvement Board (EIB).  The  aim of the Board is to develop, promote, and sustain the Education Improvement Plan for Liverpool so that all children and young people in the Liverpool area have access to good quality education. The Board ensures that there is a coherent oversight and leadership of education through collaborative strategic leadership, scrutiny, challenge and coordinated activity between partners and all relevant stakeholders at local government level. 

Seamus has considerable teaching experience and has previously taught Children’s Rights Debates, English Legal Systems, Contact Law, Company Law, Applied Company Law, Commercial Law, Advocacy and Legal & Employability Skills. Having also previously coordinated work placement modules, Seamus has a keen interest in experiential learning and the development of wider employability skills among the student body.

Interests and expertise

Children’s Rights law

Education and the Law

Human Rights Law

Human Rights and Sport

Disability and the Law

Research Methodologies

Get in touch

4.15 Sandra Burslem Building

Research outputs

Journal Articles 

Byrne, S (2024) “The Right to Leisure for Children with Disabilities: Towards Greater Awareness and Implementation”, International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-024-00171-3

Ludvigsen, J. L., & Byrne, S., (2024) “In the shadow of sport mega-events: A critical analysis of the nexus between evictions, displacements, securitized gentrification and children’s rights”, International Review of the Sociology of Sport. https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902241276258

Lee Ludvigsen, J. A., Tsoukala, A., Byrne, S., Rookwood, J., & Ross, W. J. (2024). A roundtable discussion on the politics of EURO 2024: a collective commentary. Soccer & Society, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2024.2383104  

Byrne, S. & Ludvigsen, J. L., (2023) “An Olympic Embrace: A Critical Evaluation of the IOC’s Commitment to Human Rights”, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, An Olympic embrace? A critical evaluation of the IOC’s commitment to human rights 

Byrne, S. & Ludvigsen, J. L., (2023) “The scope for greater alignment between the Council of Europe and the European Union in Sport through the Saint-Denis Convention”, Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, pp 1 – 6, https://doi.org/10.16997/eslj.1480

Byrne, S. & Ludvigsen, J. L., (2023)., “”Further towards the right to ‘safe leisure’: A case study of the Council of Europe’s 2016 Saint-Denis Convention”, Annals of Leisure Research,  https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2023.2232054

Byrne, S., & Alghrani, A., (2023), ‘Between Deterioration and Disposability: Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in England’, Child and Family Law Quarterly , Vol 35(2), p p 115 - 138. 

Byrne, S. & Ludvigsen, J. L., (2023) “The Duty of Engagement: An Analysis of the 2016 European Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Events”, Entertainment and Sports Law Journal 21(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/eslj.1410

Byrne, S., Ludvigsen, J. (2022) Olympic Planning, Profit, and Participation: Towards a Children’s rights-based Approach to Sport mega-event Research?. Int J Sociol Leis (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-022-00116-8,

Byrne, S., & Ludvigsen, Jan Andre Lee, (2022), ‘Sport mega-event governance and human rights: the ‘Ruggie Principles’, responsibility and directions’, Leisure Studies,  DOI: 10.1080/02614367.2022.2094998.  

Byrne, S (2022), Rethinking Children’s Rights? A Magna Carta for Children, (Book Review), Children & Society, (15 May 2022) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/chso.12591.

Alghrani, A., Byrne, S., & Tyfield, D. (2022). Education, Law and Diversity: Schooling for One and All? Legal Studies, 42(3), 554.

Byrne, S. (2020) Reclaiming Progressive Realization: A Children’s Rights Analysis, The International Journal of Children’s Rights, Vol.28(4) 748 – 777.

Byrne, S., Cairns, L., Davis J M, Konstantoni, K, Kustatscher, M & Johnson R, (2018) Children’s Rights to Education – Where is the Weight for Children’s Views? International Journal of Children’s Rights, 26 (2018), 38 – 60.

Garde, A., Byrne, S., Gokani, N., & Murphy, B., (2017) For a Children’s Rights Approach to Obesity Prevention: The Key Role of an Effective Implementation of the WHO Recommendations, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Vol 8. Issue 2, pp 327 – 341.

Book Chapters

Byrne, S (2023), ‘Children and Research: Rights, Methods and Ethics’, in Voula Marinos, Christine Tardif-Williams, Dawn Zinga, Rebecca Raby, and Shauna Pomerantz (eds.) ‘Conceptualizing Children and Youth: Contexts, Constraints, and Agency’ (University of Athabasca Press) (Book Chapter).

Byrne, S. (2022) ‘School Exclusions and Children with Special Educational Needs: Trends and Lessons from England’ in ‘New Trends and Promising Directions in Modern Education’ Mevlut Aydogmus, Huseyin Serce & Muhittin Calista (eds.) EU Erasmus+ Programme. (Book Chapter).

Stalford, H, Byrne, S & Yaqub N, (2022), ‘Human Rights, Children’s Rights and the Family, In Lamont, Ruth (ed.) Family Law, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press.

Garde, A., & Byrne, S., (2020) Ending Childhood Obesity: Taking the Best Interests of the Child as a Primary Consideration, In: Garde, Amandine, De Shutter, Olivier and Curtis, Josh (eds.) Ending Childhood Obesity: A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Human Rights and Economic Law, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Stalford, H., & Byrne S., (2018) Human Rights, Children’s Rights and the Family, In Lamont, Ruth (ed.) Family Law, Oxford University Press.

Byrne, S., (2017) Commentary on the re-written judgment in S v. Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal and Oxfordshire County Council In: Stalford, Helen, Hollingsworth, Kathryn and Gilmore, Stephen (eds.) Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments: From Academic Vision to New Practice. Hart, Oxford. 

Reports

Rickett et al, (2022) Psychology of social class-based inequalities Policy implications for a revised (2010) UK Equality Act: https://cms.bps.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-07/BPS%20Report%20-%20Psychology%20of%20social%20class-based%20inequalities%20-%20Policy%20implications%20for%20a%20revised%20%282010%29%20UK%20Equality%20Act.pdf

Byrne, S., Tyfield, D, & Alghrani, A., (2020) “Children, Disability and Service Provision: A Liverpool/Merseyside Perspective” Policy Report (available at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/4-liverpool-law-clinic/Liverpool,SEND,Report,Jan,2020.pdf )

Garde, A., Byrne, S., Murphy, B., & Gokani, N., (2018) “A Child Rights-Based Approach to Food Marketing: A Guide for Policy-Makers”, UNICEF.

Policy Briefings

Byrne, S. & Ludvigsen, J. L., (2024), “Paris 2024: A Missed Opportunity for Children’s Rights?, Policy Brief, Paris 2024- A Missed Opportunity for Children’s Rights? (mmu.ac.uk)

Horowicz, Edmund, Stalford, Helen and Byrne, Seamus (2023) Recruiting Children for Research: How, Where and Why? (Other). National Centre for Research Methods / European Children’s Rights Unit.

Alghrani, D., Byrne, S., & Tyfield, D., (2022) Submission of Evidence to House of Lords Post Legislative Scrutiny on the Children and Families Act 2014.

Alghrani, A & Byrne, S., (2020) The Impact of Covid-19 on children with special educational needs and disabilities, Written evidence submitted to House of Commons Education Committee on the Impact of Covid-19 on education and children’s services (available at https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/5816/pdf/

Byrne, S., (2020) The Impact of Covid-19 on Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Briefing Paper prepared for the European Children’s Rights Unit, University of Liverpool (available at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/2-research/ecru/Briefing,Paper,2,-,The,Impact,of,COVID-19,on,Children,with,SEND,-,Seamus,Byrne.pdf )

Internet Publications 

Byrne, S (2022), ‘Children and Disability: A Pandemic Reflection’,  https://www.childrightsecrnetwork.com/post/key-debates-in-children-s-rights-world-children-s-day-2022 (Internet publication).

Byrne, S. (2020) ‘Elijah Burke v The Minister for Education: The intersection of home-schooling, Covid19 and children’s rights’ COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory (6 November 2020) https://tcdlaw.blogspot.com/2020/11/elijah-burke-v-minister-for-education.html) (Internet Publication).

Byrne, S & Alghrani, A (2021) World Autism Month 2021 - Children, Autism and Education: Challenges and Opportunities https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/law-and-social-justice/blog/world-autism-month-2021/ (internet publication).

Byrne, S., (2018) The Enforcement of Children’s Rights: International and Domestic Impediments, SLSA Website: http://slsablog.co.uk/blog/blog-posts/the-enforcement-of-childrens-rights-domestic-and-international-impediments/ (internet publication).