What I Talk about when I Talk about Global Law

In this contribution I attempt to sketch what I mean when I talk about ‘global law’, finishing up with a brief consideration of what I think our responsibilities are, as legal scholars, when we engage in such talk

Psychosocial influences on vaccine responses

Interdisciplinary work between psychologists and immunologists has shown that factors like stress could be the trigger that lead to the development of a bout of illness. By studying the response to vaccination, we can examine immune function in the context of the rest of the body in a clinically meaningful way. This technique has been used to demonstrate consistent relationships between stress and the response to influenza vaccination and other vaccines, as well as links between other factors, such as social support and personality, and vaccination-induced protection against disease. There are several ways the vaccination response can be used to understand more about how stress influences immunity. In addition, specific types of stress and other factors that influence our immune response appear to differ across different populations, which emphasises the importance of taking a life course approach to studying these relationships

New label no progress: institutional racism and the persistent segregation of Romani students in the Czech Republic

The over-representation of Romani children in special schools in the Czech Republic is well documented and widely condemned. In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights found the state guilty of discrimination against Romani children on the basis of disproportionate placement of children in remedial special schools. In 2015 high numbers of Romani children are still being misdiagnosed with Special Educational Needs and offered a limited and inappropriate education. This article explores the challenges which continue to hamper their successful inclusion in the Czech education system. Using Critical Race Theory as a lens to examine the Czech case, problems with the current policy trajectory are identified. The article shows that institutional racism persists in the Czech Republic, shaping attitudes and practices at all levels. Policy makers demonstrate little recognition of ingrained educational inequalities and Roma continue to be widely perceived as ‘others’ who must learn to adapt to Czech ways rather than as citizens who are entitled to services on their own terms

The Vaccination Model in Psychoneuroimmunology Research: A Review

This chapter explores the reasoning behind using the vaccination model to examine the influence of psychosocial factors on immunity. It then briefly discusses the mechanics of the vaccination response and the protocols used in psychoneuroimmunology vaccine research, before giving examples from the research literature of the studies examining relationships such as the association between stress and vaccination response. It also explores the ways the vaccination model can be used to answer key questions in psychoneuroimmunology, such as the following: “Does it matter when stressful life events occur relative to when the vaccine is received?” “What are the effects of prior exposure to the antigen?” “Do other psychosocial factors influence vaccine response besides stress?” Finally, it briefly considers the mechanisms underlying psychosocial factors and vaccination response associations and the future research needed to understand these better, and indeed to use current and future knowledge to improve and enhance vaccine responses in key at-risk populations

The Romani claim to non-territorial nationhood : taking legitimacy-based claims seriously in international law

Defence date: 3 July 2006Examining Board: Prof. Neil Walker (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Michael Keating (European University Institute) ; Prof. James Tully (University of Victoria) ; Mr. Stephen Tierney (University of Edinburgh)First made available online on 14 May 2018This thesis does not, however, take Catholics or English Asians as its focus, but the most disadvantaged and marginalised group in Europe: the Roma. The daily discrimination and violence Roma face in Europe and beyond is well-documented. It is not, however, the subject of consideration here. Rather, it is the claim of the Romani movement that the globally scattered groups of Roma constitute a nonterritorial nation that is the subject of this thesis. I first encountered the claim to nonterritorial nationhood in a document submitted as part of the Romani delegation to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism. The incongruence of this claim with the centrality of territory to political organisation and, consequently, to international law was striking. Yet, enquires made with my colleagues and with a wider circle of Romani leaders about the nature of this claim elicited confusing answers. This thesis project began, therefore, with the simple aim of understanding the claim itself: what was being asked for? How was a non-territorial nation to be understood? What was the claim intended to gain for those in whose name it was being made? In addition to questions internal to the nature of this particular claim, the second aim of this research was to take an external perspective. I wanted to understand how such a claim would be received: to whom was the claim being made? What consequences flowed, or could flow, from the status of being a non-territorial nation