Rate My Professor Ruth Costigan

Professor Ruth Costigan is a Professor of Law at Swansea University’s Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, specialising in Criminal Evidence Law. As one of the founding members of the Law School, she possesses extensive experience in learning and teaching innovation, scholarship, curriculum development, student experience, and management. In her current role as the School’s Director of Student Experience, she works alongside students and colleagues to uphold consistently excellent standards of education, engagement, and professional development. Her expertise encompasses criminal evidence law and Human Rights Law, with particular emphasis on UK law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Key research interests include identification evidence from CCTV and associated risks of injustice, protection of journalists’ sources, and determining “functions of a public nature” under the Human Rights Act 1998.

Professor Costigan authored Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press) and co-authored Civil Liberties & Human Rights with Richard Stone (Oxford University Press). Selected publications feature “Identification from CCTV: the Risk of Injustice” in the Criminal Law Review (2007, pp. 591–608), “Protection of Journalists’ Sources” in Public Law (2007, pp. 464–487), and “Determining ‘functions of a public nature’ under the Human Rights Act 1998: A New Approach” in European Public Law (2007). Her commitment to excellence in teaching is evidenced by prestigious awards, including the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2015, a ‘lifetime award’), Swansea University Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards (2015 and 2012), the inaugural Swansea University Distinguished Teaching Award (2002), and multiple nominations for LawCareers.Net Law Lecturer of the Year and other honours. She delivers modules on Human Rights Law, Criminal Evidence, and Criminal Evidence Law and Psychology, integrating psychological insights into legal principles concerning witness competence, identification evidence, and confessions.