Rebecca ZAHN

My main research interests and specialisation lie in the fields of European Law and Labour Law (particularly European, national, and comparative labour law). I am particularly interested in trade unions and their role in empowering and protecting vulnerable workers.

I am currently working on an historical labour law project, funded by a British Academy Small Research Grant, which examines the interactions between exiled German trade unionists and British trade unions during World War Two. In this context, I am interested in different labour movements' understandings of the distribution of power in the workplace and trade unions’ potential in empowering workers in workplace decision-making

I have published widely in the field of (European) labour law including a monograph entitled New Labour Laws in Old Member States (CUP, 2017). The book was reviewed in the Edinburgh Law Review, the Industrial Law Journal (2018) 47:2 and (2018) 43(3) European Law Review where it was described by Professor Tamara Hervey as ‘socio-legal EU scholarship of the very best sort […] a rich and theoretically informed novel account of the law in practice; and inspiration for future legal developments. Beautifully produced and exquisitely written, it is a joy to read and a model for all to emulate.’

My contribution to the field of labour and employment relations research was acknowledged in 2018 when I was a runner up of the International Labor and Employment Relations Associations’ (ILERA) Luis Aparicio Prize for emerging scholars.

I have also published doctrinal work on the contract of employment (with David Cabrelli, University of Edinburgh) which was cited with approval by Lords Hope, Wilson and Sumption in the Supreme Court decision Société Générale v Geys [2012] UKSC 63. I am currently (together with David Cabrelli) examining the relationship between domination-based conceptions of social justice and labour law.

I am a case and comment editor for the Juridical Review (the Law Journal of the Scottish Universities) and an editor of Green's Employment Law Bulletin. I am on the Research Committe of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the management board of the Scottish Universities Legal Network on Europe (SULNE) and am one of the lead academics in the Civil Society Brexit Project, funded by the Legal Education Foundation until 2022, which helps civil society organisations in Scotland to prepare for Brexit consequences for themselves or their service users.

I joined the University of Strathclyde in 2015 from the University of Stirling where I held a lectureship in law.

I received my Ph.D in Law from the University of Edinburgh in 2011. My PhD thesis was awarded the European Trade Union Confederation’s Brian Bercusson Award for the best PhD thesis to have been submitted in European Labour Law between 2006 and 2010.