Catherine Hobby

Catherine Hobby

Senior Lecturer

Whistleblowing, Conflict Resolution, Human Rights

Department of Law & Criminology , Royal Docks School Of Business And Law

Catherine Hobby is a senior lecturer in Law at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London. She is the Joint Director of the Centre of Mediation and Conflict Management and the LLB Combined Degrees Course Leader as well as:

  • Programme Leader, LLB Business
  • Programme Leader, LLB Law with Criminology
  • Programme Leader, LLB Law with International Relations

Qualifications

  • MSc (London)
  • LLM (London)
  • LLB (London)

Areas Of Interest

  • Whistleblowing
  • Whistleblowing protection and employee voice
  • Workplace conflict
  • Employment law, human resource management and mediation
  • Human rights and equality
  • Human rights and equality within the workplace
Catherine Hobby

OVERVIEW

Catherine Hobby is a senior lecturer in Law at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London. She currently teaches Public Law modules at Levels 4 & 5, Equality & Human Rights at Level 6 and Advocacy on the LLM. Catherine has also taught undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the area of Human Resource Management.  Prior to joining the University of East London, Catherine completed her training contract and was admitted to the Law Society as a solicitor in 1991.  She then worked for the whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work, (now Protect), on its establishment and joined the university as a full-time lecturer in 1993.

With an LLM (University College London) specialising in Labour Law and MSc in Industrial Relations (London School of Economics), Catherine's research interests are in the areas of Whistleblowing, Human Rights, Employment Law, Conflict Resolution and Human Resources.

Catherine is also a qualified mediator and coach, as well as undertaken training in restorative practice.  She is the joint director of the University of East London Centre of Mediation and Conflict Management.

External roles

  • Catherine is a member of the Mediators Community of Practice Group and the Coaching Community of Practice Group.
  • She is also a member of the Law Society, the Industrial Law Society, the Institute of Employment Rights and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
  • Catherine also participates in the Civil Mediation Council's Academic Forum and the International Network of Mediation Clinics through her role as Director of the Centre for Mediation and Conflict Management.

Industry partners

In her role as a Director of the Centre of Mediation and Conflict Management. Catherine works with industry partners, including the Civil Mediation Council and Mediation in the Workplace, to fulfil the mandate of the Centre of Mediation and Conflict Management including, engaging with industry to build the Centre as a knowledge platform and provider of courses.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Most Recent Research 

Catherine's research interests include the legal protection of whistleblowing and the corporate response to the raising of public interest concerns. Her recent publications have explored the legal definition of 'worker' in the whistleblowing provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 about the gig economy and the importance of developments in whistleblowing case law to the regulation of worker rights. She is currently examining the business approach to human rights.


Previous Research

In her recent research, Catherine has collaborated on projects examining Workplace Conflict and considering the importance of employment law on Human Resource Management strategy and practice.  She has co-authored British Academy of Management and CIPD conference papers and also undertaken joint research into the freedom of work and human rights in the workplace.

Catherine has also explored the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on employment legislation and rights in the workplace, with particular regard to Whistleblowing and the right to freedom of expression.  She has published E-resources, conference papers and opinion pieces in this area for the Institute of Employment Rights (www.ier.org.uk).

As a qualified mediator and coach, Catherine has researched the area of mediation, conflict coaching and restorative practice.  She has a particular interest in the role of mediation and restorative practice in workplace conflict and Higher Education.

 

Research centres

  • Centre for Mediation & Conflict Management
  • Centre for Justice, Law & Society 

TEACHING

Subject Areas

  • Public law
  • Human rights
  • Equality
  • Employment law
  • Advocacy

Publications

Browse past publications by year.

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository