Profile

Dr Robert Herian
Associate Professor
Amory B2423
I am an Associate Professor of Law. My current research focuses on interdisciplinary and theoretical analyses of law, technologies, systems, and data. My teaching focuses on equity and trusts, and law and technology.
Research interests
- Law, technology, and data
- Law and psychoanalysis
- History and development of the law of equity
- Law and literature
- Critical legal theory, philosophy, and jurisprudence
Research supervision
I'm interested in supervising PhD projects that explore one or more of my research topics, including intersections of technology, data, property, equity, contract, critical theory, and political economy.
Research students
- Bratu, I. Lex Technica as a New Legal Order (with The Open University, in progress)
- Lewis, M. Consent as a legitimising factor for the processing of personal data and ‘big data’ for the purposes of profiling and risk analytics within the General Insurance industry (with The Open University, in progress)
External impact and engagement
- Member/contributor All Party Parliamentary Group Blockchain (@appg-blockchain) examining policy development and regulation of distributed ledger technologies.
- Expert panel member, author, and contributor to the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum
- Co-founder of Law, Information, Future, Technology (LIFT) research cluster with The Open University Law School
- Co-founder of the Equity and Trusts Research Network (ETRN) with The University of Kent Law School.
- Member of the AHRC funded Law and the Human Network at University of Kent Law School.
- Member of the Open University research group on blockchain technology: OpenBlockchain
Modules taught
- LAW2041 - Equity and Trusts
- LAW2155 - Jurisprudence
- LAW3188 - Internet Law
Biography
My current research focuses on interdisciplinary and theoretical analyses of law, technologies, systems, and data. I often present research at domestic and international conferences and publish in legal and non-legal peer-reviewed journals, edited collections, and via online portals including The Conversation and Critical Legal Thinking. I also work on developing technology policy with UK and EU governments.
I am author of three books Regulating Blockchain: Critical Perspectives in Law and Technology (Routledge, 2018), Data: New Trajectories in Law (Routledge, 2021), and Capitalism and the Equity Fetish: Desire, Property, Justice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)
My further research interests include the law of equity, legal histories, civil justice, psychoanalysis, literature, and language drawing upon critical theories, philosophy, and traditional jurisprudence. I'm co-founder of the Law, Information, Future, Technology (LIFT) research group with The Open University Law School, and the Equity and Trusts Research Network (ETRN) with the University of Kent Law School.
For a full list of conference papers, working papers, and publications, please follow my ORCID link.