Profile
Biography
Dr Aisling Ryan
BCL (UCC), LL.M (TCD), Solicitor (Law Society of Ireland), PG Cert T&L (UCC), PhD (UCC)
Research Fellow
I joined York Law School as a Research Fellow in 2024. My research takes a socio-legal approach to public law and administrative justice. I am particularly interested in the everyday interactions that shape the relationship between individuals and the state. I was jointly appointed by the Administrative Fairness Lab and Institute of Mental Health Research at York to develop a research agenda on administrative fairness and healthcare.
Previously I worked in practice as a solicitor and later as an adjudicator of landlord-tenant disputes for the Residential Tenancies Board. I joined York Law School following completion of my PhD on administrative discretion at University College Cork.
Research
Overview
My research explores how people experience and understand the administrative state. Together with my colleagues in the Administrative Fairness Lab, we carry out empirical research on perceptions of different public sector services, processes and mechanisms. My research also aims to bridge the gap between theoretical and socio-legal understandings of public law, acknowledging the plurality of actors that bring about the 'animation' of law as a social phenomenon and expression of epistemic power.
Publications
Selected publications
Ryan A., 'The animators of administrative law: challenging the 'monopoly' of law's application' (2025) Public Law (forthcoming)
Ryan A., 'The potential of 'administrative justice' for Irish public law' (2025) Irish Judicial Studies Journal (forthcoming)
Meers J., Ryan A., and Tomlinson J., 'Perceptions of procedural fairness and space for personal narrative: an experimental study of form design' (2025) Journal of Law and Society (forthcoming).
Donson F., O’Donovan D, and Ryan A., ‘Ireland’s Distinct Constitutional Vision: The ‘Administration of Justice’ in Quasi-Judicial Bodies’ in Thomson S., Groves M., and Weeks G., (eds) Administrative Tribunals in the Common Law World (Hart Publishing 2024)
Ryan A., ‘The Form of Forms: Everyday Enablers of Access to Justice’ (2023) 32(5) Social & Legal Studies 690–713.
Ryan A., Book review, Doyle, Margaret and O'Brien, Nick, Reimagining Administrative Justice: Human Rights in Small Places. (2021) 84(2) Modern Law Review 410-427
Teaching
Undergraduate
I am currently in a full-time research role and not engaged in teaching. I have experience of lecturing Public Law (Grounds of Judicial Review) and Commercial Law. I have also tutored Introduction to the Legal System and Law of Equity: Trusts. In 2021 I graduated with a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education from University College Cork.
