Dr Maria O'Neill

£500 from the Society of Legal Scholars Research Activities Fund towards the costs of research being conducted in London into human trafficking/ modern slavery, awarded April 2016, with work being undertaken September/ October 2017.

Lead co-ordinator to a University of Abertay based team who were appointed contractor to the Committee of the Regions, third choice, after an open and competitive tendering process under Committee of the Regions Multiple Framework Service Contract CDR/ETU/52/2001, Area of Freedom Security and Justice (contract signed November 2011, for one year, and renewed thereafter for three more years).

£5,000 paid over 3 years, for UACES funding to set up a research network entitled "Policing and European Studies" to be based at Abertay, March 09.

Scottish Institute for Policing Research PhD Studentship, full time over three years, for a project entitled “Scottish Based Anti-money laundering operations: Inter-agency Co-operation across jurisdictions”, awarded April 2008, to commence September 2008, £60,000 over three years

Maria acted as consultant to RAND Europe's consultancy contract with the European Parliament "The Cost of Non-Europe in the Fight against Terrorism", Many 2017 to January 2018.

Maria has acted as external evaluator to the European Commission's DG Justice's JPEN and JCIV funding calls in 2012 and 2013.

Maria's submission to the House of Lords consultation on a potential UK opt-out from the EU's AFSJ measures was extensively referenced in the House of Lords European Union Committee inquiry into EU police and criminal justice measures: The UK’s 2014 opt-out decision (13th Report of Session 2012-13, HL Paper 159). This is available at  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldeucom/159/159.pdf .

National reports

1.The Irish National Report under the Grotius Programme 2000/GR/109; National means of implementation of third pillar instruments, (for the European Commission), on the the Implementation of Directive 91/308/EEC on Money Laundering and Regulation 3677/90 on Psychotropic Substances in the Republic of Ireland.

2. The UK National Report on “Répercussions de L’OMC sur la PAC et sur le droit rural national, notamment en vue de L’Agriculture Écologique”, as the Agricultural Law Association's (UK) delegate to the CEDR (European Council for Agricultural Law) Congress 2003 in Almeria, Spain.

PhD students

Maria is currently available to supervise post graduate research students within her areas of research interests.

Five of her PhD students have been awarded their PhDs.

Her first PhD supervisee addressed comparative contract law. He graduated with his PhD in Summer 2010.

Her second PhD supervisee addressed the "Legal challenges for Developing Countries Exports of Agricultural Food products to the EU". She graduated in Summer 2013.

Her third PhD supervisee addressed the issue of "Scottish based anti-money laundering operations: police inter-agency co-operation across jurisdictions". This was a hybrid law/ criminology PhD, and was funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (http://www.sipr.ac.uk). This student graduated in Summer 2013.

Her fourth PhD supervisee addressed the issue of forced labour in Saudi Arabia and the UK/ EU. This student graduated in Summer 2016.

Her fifth PhD supervisee covered "The principle of subsidiarity and police and judicial cooperation in the fight against sexual exploitation: prostitution in a diverse EU common market". This student was co-supervised by Dr. Michelle Weldon Johns, and graduated in 2021.

A further student has been awarded an LLM by research for a thesis on "EU environmental crime and punishment", and another, conducted at another University, undertook research on the title "European Institutions: a target for espionage".

Recent Knowledge Exchange includes: 

1. “Combating Human Trafficking with Reflexive Law”, December 4, 2018, Volume 11, Issue 56 Global –E Journal,  http://www.21global.ucsb.edu/global-e/december-2018/combatting-human-trafficking-reflexive-law

2.  “The transnational crime of human trafficking: taking the Canadian human security approach”, Amicus Curiae, Issue 109, Spring 2017 (published May 2018), pp.20-24.

3. “Trafficking in Human Beings; An ongoing problem for the EU’s law enforcement community,” SIAK Journal 1/2012, pages 43 – 54. (Seitschrift für Polizeiwissenschaft und Polizeiliche Praxis, Bundesministerium für Inneres, Republik Österreich. (Also publised in their International Edition for 2013.)

Outreach

Maria's submission to the House of Lords consultation on a potential UK opt-out from the EU's AFSJ measures was extensively referenced in the House of Lords European Union Committee inquiry into EU police and criminal justice measures: The UK’s 2014 opt-out decision (13th Report of Session 2012-13, HL Paper 159). This is available at  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldeucom/159/159.pdf .

Maria also gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee when they were examining the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill 2015 (on the 10th March 2015) http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/84356.aspx.