About the Cluster 

The Law in Societies Cluster provides an opportunity for Fellows of Wolfson, external speakers and a mixed academic and public audience to explore various facets of law and legal phenomena.  It is an interdisciplinary scholarly platform that brings together those with an interest in the rules, both formal and informal, by which social order has been organised at different times and in different cultures and in different contexts by initiating exchanges between lawyers, political scientists, sociologists, human geographers, anthropologists, historians and philosophers to generate new ideas and debate solutions.  

Programme of Events 

The Law in Societies Cluster arranges a variety of events. These include one public lecture a term: an autumn lecture focusing on a topic which lies at the interface of law and political science; a winter lecture on a law and humanities theme; and a summer lecture given by an eminent international scholar and organised in partnership with the Centre for Socio-legal Studies.  

In addition there will be panel discussions, ‘author meets reader’ sessions, and a series of podcasts accessible through a Cluster website which involve short summaries of the key ideas to emerge from the public events in which invited speakers will be interviewed.  As opportunities arise, we also anticipate arranging film screenings and reading groups. 

The Cluster sponsors a multidisciplinary graduate students’ discussion group in the College to support students from a variety of fields of knowledge whose projects touch upon socio-legal issues broadly defined. The group provides an opportunity for them to discuss their work with others who are also doing cutting-edge research but using different ideas and methods.    

Cluster Conveners 

The Cluster is co-convened by Dr Marina Kurkchiyan, Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, and  Professor Linda Mulcahy, Fellow of the College Governing Body  

The core partner outside the College is to be the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. To learn more about the academic events run by CSLS, visit their event page here. 

The Centre would warmly welcome anyone interested in those events.

If you wish to join our mailing list, please let us know by e-mailing to    lawinsocieties@wolfson.ox.ac.uk