Shweta Band
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+44 118 3786530
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Lecturer in Law
Areas of interest
Shweta joined the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Law School in 2015 and is currently a Teaching Intensive Lecturer in Law. She is a public lawyer, and her legal interests include law and religion, comparative constitutional law, role of courts in human rights protection, and law and society. Her teaching practice is informed by her legal knowledge and interest in nurturing a holistic student experience, particularly in using her enthusiasm for law in action as a pedagogic tool. Shweta is keen to contribute to the Diversity & Inclusion agenda at the Law School, with a particular interest in the ethnicity awarding gap, belonging and career progression.
Teaching
Shweta has a wide teaching experience on various LL.B. modules -
- Public Law 1 (LW1PL1)- Module Convenor
- Legal Skills (LW1LS)
- Law and Society (LW1LAS)
- Public Law 2 (LW2PL2)
- Religion and Law (LW2REL)
- Public Law 2 (LW2PL2)
- LLB Dissertation (LW3DUG)
- Freedom (University wide module)
- English Legal System (LW0LAW)
Research projects
Shweta is a part-time PhD Candidate (School of Law, ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø). Her thesis is titled ‘Deconstructing the Paradox in the Promise of Freedom of Religion: Lessons from India and the ECHR’. Challenging the current narrative of secularism, the thesis makes an argument to defend an interpretation of religious freedom as a constitutional right by shifting the focus from the domain of secularism to that of constitutional rights. The study further takes an alternate approach in developing on the academic discussion on religious freedom in India and juxtaposes the claim of equality in this debate. In the context of the religious freedom-equality conflict, this work claims that the equality-rights jurisprudence which features prominently in the western constitutional discourse on religious freedom is unsuitable for India.Background
Shweta Band is an experienced academic with over fifteen years of international experience in teaching on undergraduate law courses. She started her career qualifying as a Barrister with the Bar Council of India (2000), and after attaining the very competitive NET qualification for lectureship (2005), she moved to academia, first working as a Senior Research Associate at MIT-WPU School of Government- India’s first School of Training in Political Leadership and further, as a Lecturer in Law at Pune University (India).
Shweta joined the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø in 2015 as an International Support Tutor at the School of Law. In this role, she was responsible for providing academic and pastoral support to international students and collaborated with colleagues from the University (Careers, Study Advice, Library, and Well-being & Counselling) to design and facilitate weekly study and employability support sessions. Since 2016, Shweta has taught on a wide range of modules on the LLB degree course, first as a Sessional Lecturer, and now as a Teaching Intensive Lecturer in Law.
Academic qualifications
MA in Politics (Pune University, 2011), PG Diploma in Human Rights Law (National Law School of India University, 2004), LLM in Constitutional and Administrative Laws (University of Mumbai, 2003), LLB (Nagpur University, 2000).
Professional Qualifications
Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Academy, UK (AFHEA) Award (2000), NET Professional Qualification as Lecturer in Law (2005), Bar Council of India Qualification, 2000
Awards and honours
Funding
Shweta’s expertise lies in designing and delivering collaborative T&L projects based on the 3-Es for excellence: engagement, experience, employability. She has designed and successfully led various staff-student partnership projects at the Law School including BAME DI-lawgues Ethnicity Awarding Gap Project, Public Law Project on student-led workshop designing, GOALLS Project for weekly study and employability skills for international students and Legal Seagulls Project for pre-arrival and transition support for international students. She has received extensive funding from the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø for these projects:
- Partnerships in Learning and Teaching PLanT Funding, 2024
- Teaching and Learning Initiatives Funding, 2024
- Teaching and Learning Dean Funding, 2024
- Students Outcomes Funding, 2023
- Diversity & Initiative Funding, 2021
- UoR Internationalization Initiative Funding, 2016
- School of Law Internationalization Funding, 2015
Professional bodies/affiliations
- Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK
- Member of the UK Constitutional Law Association
- Law, Society and Justice, School of Law, UoR
- Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
- Member of the Society of Socio-Legal Studies Association
- Member of the Association of Law Teachers