Francesca Uberti

Francesca is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. Her current research project investigates the phenomenon of ‘pseudo-law’ in the UK, looking into how critical groups of citizens are making use of fringe interpretations of historical legal texts and legalistic formalities as a way of challenging sovereign authority. 

Francesca's research interests lie at the intersection of law, technology and citizenship, with a particular focus on the relationship between law and resistance to sovereign power. More broadly, her work engages with media and social theory, digital activism, healthcare law and policy, and the interconnections between expertise, public accountability and trust in information societies. She holds a PhD in Law (Socio-Legal Theory) from the London School of Economics, where she was in receipt of the ESRC - Rena Field Scholarship. Her doctoral research explored mediated vaccine-critical activism, looking into how online vaccine critics invoke and re-interpret legal concepts and institutions in ways which support their claims. Her academic background is in law and anthropology, holding degrees from Bocconi University (Milan) and the LSE, where she read the MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society.

In addition to her research work, Francesca also enjoys teaching, having previously taught Introduction to the Legal System, Legal Research and Writing, and Medical Law and Ethics seminars at the LSE.