Professor David Townend

Overview

Dr David Townend is Professor of Health and Life Sciences Law and is Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the City Law School.

His expertise is in the nature of the key concepts of privacy, confidentiality, property and the public interest. He is also interested in the interplay between Law, Ethics and Manners, and in the potential of the application of the theory of politeness in governance. He explores these concepts in the practical areas of personal data protection (and particularly the use of personal data in health and life science research); patients' rights and the governance and regulation of healthcare; the operation of research ethics committees; and, ethics and justice in Equity and Trusts. His work is located in the socio-legal studies tradition, and much of his current empirical work concerns public engagement in relation to the understanding of the key concepts and practical areas he studies.

He works with data scientists, with medical researchers and with ethicists and philosophers. He is currently involved in two research projects that are developing apps in health care (CARRIER and DACIL), and one exploring the governance of Research Ethics Committees (iRECS). His is working on a monograph on reimagining data protection law, and on the application of Rawls’ Theory of Justice in Equity and Trust cases.

At City Law School, Townend teaches courses in Equity and Trusts, medical law, and research law and ethics. He is available to supervise PhD and Master's students in the areas of his research.

Townend is the Visiting Professor of Health Law at the University of Lincoln (since 2014). From 2014 to 2024, Townend was Professor of Health and Life Sciences Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University, and he has continued in a small part-time capacity in Maastricht since his appointment to City in September 2022. Townend's early career was spent at the Faculty of Law at the University of Sheffield, where he was also deputy director of the Sheffield Institute for Biotechnological Law and Ethics.

Townend has many international research collaborations, and has coordinated or worked on many research projects funded by major funding bodies. Townend was a member of the UK Department of Health Emerging Science and Bioethics Advisory Committee (ESBAC) (2012-2014). He is on the board of EUREC - the European Network of Research Ethics Committees.

Qualifications

• PhD cum laude, Maastricht University, Netherlands, September 2012
• MPhil, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, May 1995
• LLB, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, July 1988
• BKO (Dutch University Teaching Qualification), Maastricht University, Netherlands

Employment

• Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2023 - present
• Professor of Health and Life Sciences Law, City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2022 - present
• Professor of Health and Life Sciences Jurisprudence, Maastricht University, Netherlands, January 2014 - January 2024
• Associate Professor of the Law of Public Health and Care, Maastricht University, Netherlands, January 2008 - January 2012
• Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, July 2005 - December 2007
• Deputy Director of Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics (SIBLE), University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, January 2005 - December 2007
• Sub-Dean for Graduate Studies, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, September 2002 - December 2007
• Lecturer in Law, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, October 1991 - June 2005

1^stsupervisor

• Talha Boyraz, Research Student

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