Dr Nóra Ni Loideain
Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of the Information Law & Policy Centre
B.A., LL.B., LL.M. (Hons) (National University of Ireland, Galway); Ph.D. (Cantab)
IALS - 5th Floor
Research Interests
Dr Nora Ni Loideain is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Law and Director of the Information Law & Policy Centre at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. Her research focuses on EU law, European human rights law, and technology regulation, particularly within the contexts of privacy and data protection.
She has published on topics including AI Digital Assistants, facial recognition, national security surveillance, and cross-border transfers. With her work being cited by leading institutions including the BBC, the United Nations, and the UK House of Lords. Her book on EU Data Privacy Law and Serious Crime is forthcoming (Oxford University Press).
In 2024, Nora was appointed joint Editor-in-Chief of leading law journal International Data Privacy Law. She advises and consults on the regulation of AI and emerging technologies. With recent work in the area law enforcement and intelligence for the Alan Turing Institute and was co-author of the following report: The Future of Biometric Technology for Policing and Law Enforcement (Alan Turing Institute 2024).
Previously, she has held lecturing positions at King’s College London and the University of Cambridge. Prior to her academic career, Nora was a Legal and Policy Officer for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of Ireland and clerked for the Irish Supreme Court. Nora holds BA, LLB, LLM (Public Law) degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a PhD in law from the University of Cambridge.
Additional Interests
In 2019, she was appointed to the UK Home Office Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group (BFEG). This group provides independent expert advice on the ethics and law underpinning biometrics and forensics policy development for public security and policing in the UK. In 2024, she was appointed to the Academic Advisory Group on Generative AI of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Office of the Police Chief Scientific Advisor.
Nora is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, Associate Fellow of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) at the University of Cambridge, and Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge. She has previously been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian National University and the University of Cape Town.
Other Information
Eliza Boudier is the main contact for Nóra. Eliza's details are as follows,
Email: eliza.boudier@sas.ac.uk
Tel: +0207 862 5849
Publications
Articles
‘Entering the next phase’ (2024) 14(2) International Data Privacy Law 87 (co-author with O. Lynskey)
‘Enabling the use of health data for research: developing a POPIA Code of Conduct for research in South Africa’ (2021) South African Journal of Bioethics and Law (co-author with C. Staunton et al) (open access)
‘Regulating health research and respecting data protection: a global dialogue (2020) 10(2) International Data Privacy Law - Special Symposium Issue on Health Research and Data Protection in Africa 115 (Editor and author)
‘Alexa to Siri and the GDPR: The Gendering of Virtual Personal Assistants and the Role of EU Data Protection Law’ (2020) 36 Computer Law and Security Review (co-author with R. Adams)
‘A port in the data-sharing storm: the GDPR and the Internet of things’ (2019) 4(2) Journal of Cyber Policy 178
‘Addressing Indirect Discrimination and Gender Stereotypes in AI Virtual Personal Assistants: The Role of International Human Rights Law’ (2019) 8(2) Cambridge International Law Journal 241 (co-author with R. Adams)
‘Safeguarding the future of genomic research in South Africa: broad consent and the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013’ (2019) 109(7) South African Medical Journal 468 (co-author with C. Staunton et al)
‘Ethical and practical issues to consider in the governance of Data Sharing for Genomic and Human Research Data in South Africa: a meeting report’ AAS Open Res 2019, 2:15 (co-author with C. Staunton et al)
‘An Unstoppable Force and an Immoveable Object? EU Data Protection Law and National Surveillance’ (2018) 8(1) International Data Privacy Law 1 (co-author with C. Kuner et al)
‘Children and Digital Rights’ (2018) 23(1) Communications Law 1 (co-author with P. Wragg)
‘Cape Town as a Smart and Safe City: Implications for Governance and Data Privacy’ (2017) 7(4) International Data Privacy Law 314
‘The End of Safe Harbor: Implications for EU Digital Privacy and Data Protection Law’ (2016) 19(8) Journal of Internet Law 1
‘EU Law and Mass Internet Metadata Surveillance in the post-Snowden era’ (2015) 3(2) Media and Communications – Special Issue on Surveillance: Critical Analysis and Current Challenges 53
Book Chapters
‘Brexit’ in E Kosta and F Boehm (eds), The EU Law Enforcement Directive (LED): A Commentary (Oxford University Press 2024)
‘Lawfulness and Police Use of Facial Recognition in the UK: Article 8 ECHR and Bridges v South Wales Police’ in R Matulionyte and M Zalnieriute (eds), Facial Recognition in the Modern State (Cambridge University Press 2024)
Sample chapter available on SSRN
‘The Approach of the European Court of Human Rights to the Interception of Communications' in Ni Loideain, EU Data Privacy Law and Serious Crime (Oxford University Press 2022) (forthcoming)
“A Bridge too Far? The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and Human Rights Law” in L. Edwards (ed), Law, Policy and the Internet (2nd ed., London: Hart, 2018)
“Surveillance of Communications Data and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights” in S. Gutwirth, R. Leenes, P. De Hert and Y. Poullet, (eds.), Reloading Data Protection (Dordrecht: Springer, 2014)
“Assessing the Evaluation of the EC Data Retention Directive”, in C.M. Akrivopoulou and N. Garipidis, (eds.), Human Rights and Risks in the Digital Era (Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2012)
“Implications of the EC Data Retention Directive for Data Protection and Privacy”, in C.M. Akrivopoulou and A. Psygkas, (eds.), Personal Data Privacy and Protection in a Surveillance Era: Technologies and Practices (Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2011)
Book Reviews
Rosemary Jay et al, Data Protection Law and Practice (5th edition) (Sweet & Maxwell 2020), Society for Computers and Law (SCL) December 2021 (open access)
Review of R. Jay, Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2017) (2017) 22(4) Communications Law 140
Review of S.B. Wicker, Cellular Convergence and the Death of Privacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) (2014) 4(3) International Data Privacy Law 243
Review of C.T. Marsden, Internet Co-Regulation: European Law, Regulatory Governance and Legitimacy in Cyberspace (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011) (2012) 71(2) Cambridge Law Journal 457
Evidence to Policymakers and Public Engagement
UK Parliament, Biometric data: Misuse, use, and collation (Research Briefing 2024) (see report here).
Alan Turing Institute Report, The Future of Biometric Technology for Policing and Law Enforcement: Informing UK Regulation (March 2024) (with S Stockwell, M Hughes, C Ashurst)
Policy Report, Making “Digital Streets” Safe? Progress on the Online Safety Bill (June 2023) with E Harbinja)
Home Office, Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group Principles (Version 1.2, 2023) (with C Raab)
Expert witness to House of Lords EU Security and Justice Sub-Committee inquiry on Post-Brexit UK-EU Security Cooperation, policing, and data protection law (12 January 2021) (see video here).
Biometrics & Forensics Ethics Group, Issues Arising from Public-Private Collaboration in the Use of Facial Recognition Technology, Home Office, January 2021 (available here) (contributing author)
Published evidence in House of Lords European Union Security and Justice Sub-Committee Report: Beyond Brexit: policing, law enforcement and security (26 March 2021) (see report here)
Submission of evidence, Joint Committee on Human Rights: The Government’s response to COVID-19: human rights implications (4 May 2020), available here.
Submission of evidence, Joint Committee on Human Rights: The Right to Privacy (Article 8) and the Digital Revolution (19 June 2019), available here.
Submission of evidence, UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy, Consultation on ‘Gender Perspectives on Privacy’ (September 2019), see here (co-author with R. Adams)
Technology and Democracy Project, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, Written evidence to Public Committee on revised Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB64) (published 14 April 2016)
ILPC, Report of Expert Working Group on Investigatory Powers Bill, Findings Published in Joint Committee Report on Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (HL Paper 93) (published 11 February 2016)
Technology and Democracy Project, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, Written Evidence to Joint Committee on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (published 10 December 2015)
Other Publications
'Raising standards for global data-sharing' (2021) Science Vol.371 133
(co-author with E.S. Dove and J. Chen)
Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group (BFEG) Report, ‘Should we making use of genetic genealogy to assist in solving crime?’ (Home Office 2020) (co-author with Mark Jobling & Denise Syndercombe Court et al).
‘The Coronavirus (Safeguards) Bill 2020: Proposed protections for digital interventions and in relation to immunity certificates’ (2020) LawArXiv: https://osf.io/preprints/lawarxiv/yc6xu (co-author with L. Edward et al).
‘Irish data watchdog ‘must show Europe the way’ The Irish Independent, 29 November 2019, available here (interview with L. Kelly).
‘Gendered AI and the Role of Data Protection Law’, Talking Humanities, 10 October 2018, available here (co-author with R. Adams).
“Greater Power Should Come with Greater Accountability: Revisiting the Roles of Data Controllers and Processors”, Seminar Paper, Data Management and Use: Governance in the 21st Century, British Academy and Royal Society Report, October 2017
“National Mass Communications Data Surveillance and the Law: Advocate General’s Opinion in Watson and Tele2 Sverige”, CRASSH Blog, University of Cambridge, 9 August 2016
“The UK Investigatory Powers Bill – one step forward, two steps back” (Online article) Open Democracy, 17 November 2015
“Is the EU really about to outlaw mass metadata surveillance?” (Online article) Wired Magazine, 28 April 2014
"The Draft EU Data Protection Package: A history of the EU’s privacy reform efforts and a look forward to the finish line" (Online article) International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), 5 December 2013