MenuClose menu
Menu
  • Our Research
  • Events
  • News
  • People
  • Students Open submenu
  • Contact Us
  • CSLS Blog: Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies
  • CSLS Reports
Close submenuStudents
  • Current Students
  • Information for Applicants
  • Postgraduate Programme
Skip to main content
Multicolour gradient divider bar
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies
Back to faculty site
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies logo
  • Menu
    Our Research
    • Our Research
    • Events
    • News
    • People
    • Students
      • Current Students
      • Information for Applicants
      • Postgraduate Programme
    • Contact Us
    • CSLS Blog: Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies
    • CSLS Reports

The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

About the Centre

csls annual report cover

Find out more...

CSLS is dedicated to developing socio-legal studies by carrying out cutting-edge research and supporting policy developments, educating graduate students, and supporting the career development of postdoctoral researchers.

CSLS Team
CSLS Research
CSLS Postdoctoral Fellows
CSLS Associates
CSLS News
CSLS Events
Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies - the Centre's Blog
Socio-Legal Discussion Group
CSLS Visitors' Programme
Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute

Welcome to the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

For over fifty years the Oxford Centre has been at the forefront of research into the nature and role of law in society. Our researchers study law as a historical and culturally specific mode of social organisation that takes a variety of forms within and across societies.  Our expert staff bring together a wide variety of disciplinary expertise including law, sociology, anthropology, politics, international relations, human rights, economics, geography and art history to examine the interface of law and society.

Want to learn more?

Check out our latest annual report and explore the Archive of CSLS Reports.

csls annual report cover

 

Contact Us

Our Values

Blog: Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies

People in black and white
Participatory Research from an Anti-colonial Perspective

In this week’s Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies, Professor Linda Mulcahy talks to Dr Silvana Tapia Tapia about doing participatory research from an anti-colonial perspective. Listen to the full podcast here, which is part of the blog’s Talking About Methods podcast. If you would like to receive a summary of all Frontiers’ latest posts, please sign up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter here. 

Listen to the full podcast here
Somali streetview from vehicle
Exploring the Lived Experiences of Adolescent and Young Somali Women Through the Rivers of Life Methodology

Jacqueline Nakaiza reflects on her research on the lived experience of Somali women through the rivers of life methodology. Read the full post here, which is published as part of the blog’s Methodological Musings section. If you would like to receive a summary of all of Frontiers’ latest posts, please sign up to receive our bi-monthly newsletter here. 

Read the full post here
Cyber trails image
Shifting Dynamics in Medical Law: Invitation to join a network and mailing list

Bev Clough (Manchester Metropolitan) and Anna Nelson (Manchester) introduce a new research network which seeks to explore novel dynamics in - and approaches to - medical law. 

Read the full post here

Postgraduate Programme

Visitors' Programme

Information for Student Applicants

Our Graduate Students

"I set out to do an ethnography among Adivasi (tribes/indigenous communities) groups in the South Gujarat region of India. I wanted to understand the evolution of customary norms relating to kinship, land, and forests. Over the course of my fieldwork, I began to learn that the narratives framed around the past provide crucial groundwork towards an ethnography of the present.    

                                                                                                                                                  -Aastha Prasad

Current Students

Notes from the Field

News

08 April 2025

New Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies Report Launched, Showcasing Global Impact and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS) has released its latest bi-annual report, showcasing its global research and interdisciplinary collaborations. Outgoing Director Linda Mulcahy celebrates the report and her time at the Centre.

01 April 2025

Project Launch: Mixed funding models for free and early legal advice

The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies is excited to announce the start of a new two year Nuffield Foundation funded project which will explore ways of providing sustainable funding for the not for profit legal advice sector.

28 March 2025

Fernanda Pirie awarded Leverhulme Trust project funding for research on historic Tibetan law

Professor Fernanda Pirie’s three-year project (2025–2028) will explore Tibetan law through seventeenth-century texts, analyzing its unique development. With two post-doctoral researchers, she will trace its history from the seventh to the twentieth centuries. The study will offer insights into law, government, and religion.

Upcoming Events

28

May

2025

Socio-Legal Annual Lecture

Event time

17:00 - 18:30

Venue

Buttery Wolfson College

Speaker(s)

Professor Martti Koskenniemi

05

June

2025

Socio-Legal Discussion Group: The Politics of Legal Expertise: Extracting Gas in the Rovuma Basin, Mozambique

Event time

12:30 - 14:00

Venue

Manor Road Building - Seminar Room B

Speaker(s)

Ana Carolina Dall'Agnol

19

June

2025

Socio-Legal Discussion Group: Towards Measuring and Modelling Climate Change Litigation: Impact Evaluation and Litigation Scenarios in Australia and the United Kingdom

Event time

12:30 - 14:00

Venue

Manor Road Building - Seminar Room B

Speaker(s)

Nicholas Young, DPhil Student, Faculty of Law, Oxford University

People

Urania Chiu

DPhil Socio-Legal Studies

Nagi Koriki

DPhil Socio-Legal Studies

Dominik Krell

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow

See all people

Connect with us

@OxfordLawFac
On Facebook
On LinkedIn
On Youtube

Study here

  • Postgraduate courses
  • Undergraduate courses

Find out about

  • Cookies on this site
  • Our Accessibility Statement
  • Vacancies

Intranet

  • Information for current students
  • Staff Intranet

Contact us

The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford,

St Cross Building,

St Cross Road, Oxford OX1 3UL

Enquiries: See Contact us

Copyright University of Oxford

Privacy policy

Oxford login

Non-Oxford login

Link to homepage
Close menu