Rate My Professor Donna McNamara

Dr Donna McNamara is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Justice at the University of Newcastle, part of the College of Human and Social Futures. She joined the University in January 2020 as a Lecturer and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer. Prior to her current role, McNamara held the position of Assistant Professor in Law at Dublin City University’s School of Law and Government from September 2018 to September 2019. She also served as a PhD Researcher and Associate Lecturer at the same institution from September 2014 to August 2018. Additional appointments include an International Research Fellowship in Disability Law at the Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University, from July to September 2016, and External Examiner at Cork Institute of Technology from November 2015 to November 2018. Her academic qualifications comprise a PhD in Law from Dublin City University (2018), an LLM in Health and Care Law from University College Cork (2014), and a BCL in Law and Society from Dublin City University (2013).

McNamara specialises in international disability law, with research exploring access to justice, legal capacity, non-discrimination, healthcare law, and children’s rights, particularly for those in alternative care forms. Her fields of research include international humanitarian and human rights law, access to justice, and welfare, insurance, disability, and social security law. She has secured 14 research grants totalling $348,165, including lead investigator roles in projects such as a human rights evaluation of the health requirement under Australian migration law ($9,997, 2023), the human right to education in the Australian context ($4,656, 2023), and policing social welfare ($5,000, 2022). Key publications feature ‘Ensuring Universal Access: The Case for Medicare in Prison’ (Alternative Law Journal, 2023, with Linnane D and Toohey L), ‘The Blurred Distinction Between Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Medical Interventions for Intersex Children in Australia’ (Australian Journal of Human Rights, 2022, with Duggan K), ‘Policing in the Age of the Asylum: Early Legislative Interventions in the Lives of Persons with Disabilities’ (Disability Studies Quarterly, 2021), and ‘The “Necessity” of Austerity and its Relationship with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Case Study of Ireland and the United Kingdom’ (Human Rights Law Review, 2021, with O’Sullivan C). She teaches and coordinates courses including Health Law, Evidence Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Child Law, and Competitive Mooting. McNamara has presented her research at international conferences and contributed to policy advising for human rights organisations in Ireland.