Paul Quinn

Biography

Paul is active in pursuing a number of his research interests at LSTS, including in areas such as data protection, privacy issues and problems related to stigmatization and discrimination. With respect to the first of these, he has developed an expertise in privacy and data protection issues in the area of health care delivery. He is in particular interested in the evolving use of patient data in health care delivery and has published a number of articles on these issues . In addition in recent years Paul has been active a number or European research projects which have a strong focus on these themes. In doing so he has contributed to the state of the art in terms of what is permissible with patient health data in innovative healthcare contexts involving the use of mHealth and eHealth technologies. He is also interested on the role of the law in regulating scientific research, an interest that stems from his earlier scientific background.

Research Interest

Paul has also been active in research into issues associated with stigmatization and anti-discrimination approaches. He has been particularly active in developing a normative argument concerning the threats posed by stigmatizing expressions and language when used by the state. His PhD thesis was entitled “Stigmatizing Expressions of the State and the Problems they Pose for the Law”. It was concerned with the harm that such expressions can cause and the difficulties that legal systems may have in regulating such harms. This included inter alia problems that areas such as criminal law, administrative law and anti-discrimination law may have in tackling stigmatizing expressions and statements, in particular those made by the state and public officials. Paul takes a special interest in the clash of values that occur at the heart of democratic societies concerning issues such as freedom of expression, state neutrality and democratic accountability.