I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences where I also serve as Deputy Director for Postgraduate Teaching.

My research interests encompass information law and ethics, including intellectual freedom, and freedom of expression, freedom of access to information, digital citizenship, privacy, and the philosophy of information.  I have also extensively researched around public library policy and development in the UK.

I am Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded project, "Downloading a new normal: Privacy, exclusion, and information behaviour in public library digital services use during COVID", which runs from December 2020 to February 2022.    

Other recent research outputs have included a report in collaboration with Scottish PEN on the impact of government and corporate surveillance on Scottish writers, an exploration of how character building can be incorporated into information literacy education models, a white paper on digital ethics, and a paper on how the hollowing out of public library services has impacted the service in England.  

I am an affiliate member of the Centre for Internet Law and Policy in the Strathclye Law School.

I am author of The Public Library (Facet, 2009) and was Editor of Library Review between 2006-2011 as well as co-author of Librarianship: an introduction (2008), and A Handbook of Ethical Practice (2007).

BA (Hons) English Studies (Strathclyde)

MSc Information and Library Studies (Strathclyde)

MA Philosophy (Open University)

LLM Internet Law and Policy (Strathclyde)

PhD Computer and Information Sciences (Strathclyde)

MCLIP (Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) 

FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Academy)

FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts)

• Information law and policy, especially around issues regarding freedom of access to information and freedom of expression, and privacy.   
• Information ethics
• Digital citizenship
• Philosophy of information
• Public library policy and development

I was a Trustee and member of the Board of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) betweeb 2014 and 2016, and was also a member of CILIP's Policy Committee, and Ethics Committee.

I teach several modules at both postgraduate and masters level, including on the department's graduate apprenticeship schemes:

CS 955 - Information Law

CS 211 - Professional Issues in Computing 

CS 978 - Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues for the Information Society

CS 800 - Health Information Governance

CS 812 - Information Security Fundamentals (Graduate apprenticeship - MSc Cyber Security)

CS 255 - Professional Issues (Graduate apprenticeship - BA IT: Software Development)