Academic Profile

I studied law at the University of Hull, graduating with an LLB (Hons) in 1994. Having developed an interest in Jurisprudence as an undergraduate, and having taken some time out to work and travel, I came to Sheffield in 1998 to undertake the MA in Biotechnological Law and Ethics. I remained in Sheffield to complete a PhD on the morality of regulating genetic discrimination. I have been lecturing at the School of Law since 2002. I am actively involved in Research (see below) and Teaching Development and am responsible for the student-tutor programme in the School. I am the Programme Director for the LLM in Biotechnology, Law and Ethics. Mid Career Fellow of the British Academy and, outside of the University, I am the Chair of the Confidentiality Advisory Group for the Health Research Authority.

Qualifications

• Ph.D., University of Sheffield, 1999-2003 (awarded Oct, 2003)
• PCHE, University of Sheffield, 2002
• MA in Biotechnological Law and Ethics (with distinction), 1998-99
• LLB (Hons), The University of Hull, 1991-1994

Teaching and Learning

I am involved in a range of teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. I serve as an external examiner at the University of Edinburgh and I am interested in teaching development. My general approach toward learning and teaching is collaborative: I understand University to be a shared learning experience and I aim for my students to apprentice with me, as I learn with them.

Together with Dr Natasha Taylor, I introduced, designed, and delivered a student-tutor scheme, as well as a Guest Lecture Series, to the School of Law. Both of these were inspired by the idea that there was scope for a greater sharing of experience. This idea does, however, rely upon mutual engagement and I am an advocate of enquiry-based learning.

I was involved in the development and delivery of the HEFCE Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (HEFCE CETL) at the University of Sheffield and I sat on the CILASS (Centre for Inquiry Based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences) strategic advice committee. Outside of the University I have been involved in outreach and public engagement activity since 2003, including the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences in 2010, Researcher's Night in 2012 and the Festival of Science and Society in 2013.

The modules I teach are:

Undergraduate	Postgraduate and MA
Human Rights and Human Genetics (Convenor)	Health Research and Privacy (Convenor)
Jurisprudence A: Law and Morality (Convenor)	Principles of Bioethics and Biolaw - Contested Values in the Discovery Chain
Understanding Law (Convenor)	The Research Process: Ethics Day School

Research Interests

• Regulation of personal information with particular emphasis upon health information and common law duty of confidence and the Data Protection Act 1998.
• This specific research interests feeds into a more general interest in the authority of the law and the legitimacy of any demand to subjugate individual preference for the sake of common interest.
• I wish to challenge the rationality of any regulatory regime that presents individual interests as necessarily antithetical to the public interest and I seek to develop a concept of privacy that is capable of reconciling individual (privacy) interest with a broader (public) interest in privacy protection.

Areas of Research Supervision

• Data Protection and Information Governance
• Health Information and Genetic Data
• Public Interest and Private Interests in Privacy
• Relationship between Law and Morality

Key Publications

Taylor, MJ. Genetic Data and the Law: Critical Perspective on Privacy Protection, (Cambridge: CUP, Feb 2012)

Taylor, MJ. (2011) Health Research, Data Protection, and the Public Interest in Notification. Medical Law Review, 19(2), 267-303.

Taylor, MJ. and Townend, DMR. (2010) Issues in Protecting Privacy in Medical Research Using Genetic Information and Biobanking: The PRIVILEGED Project. Medical Law International, 10(4), 253-268.

Beyleveld D and Taylor MJ. (2008) Patents for Biotechnology and the Data Protection of Biological Samples and Shared Data. In Herveg, J, The Protection of Medical Data: Challenges of the 21st Century (Anthemis: Louvain-la-Neuve), p.127-148.

Taylor (2006) Data Protection, Shared (Genetic) Data and Genetic Discrimination. Medical Law International, 8(1), 51-77

Taylor MJ (2006) Durant in the Court of Appeal: Identifying a Better Approach. European Public Law Journal, 12(3), 461-486

View my full publication list

Key Projects/Grants

Title/Description:	Establishing the Public Interest in Research Access to Confidential Health Records
Awarding Body:	British Academy
People Involved:	Principal Investigator: MJ Taylor
Years Funded for:	September 2012 - September 2013
Amount:	£106,345

Title/Description:	RECODE (Policy RECommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe)
Awarding Body:	EU-FP7-2012 Science in Society
People Involved:	Principal Investigator: David Wright (Trilateral Research & Consulting) Other Investigators: Kush Wadhwa, Rachel Finn, Hayley Watson, Fanny Mazell (Trilateral); Sally Wyatt (eHg); Rodd Smallwood, Mark Taylor, Bridgette Wessels, Thordis Sveinsdottir (University of Sheffield); Susan Reilly (Stichting LIBER Foundation); Evi Sachini, Victoria Tsoukala (Greek National Documentation Centre); Stefano Nativi, Paolo Mazzetti, Lorenzo Bigagli (National Research Council of Italy); Peter Linde, Lasse Bourelius (Blekinge Institute of Technology); Jan-Peter Wissink, Jereon Sondervan (Amsterdam University Press).
Years Funded for:	2013 - 2015
Amount:	€738,270

Title/Description:	Privileged: Privacy in Law, Ethics and Genetic Data
Awarding Body:	EU, FP6-2003-Science and Society 9
People Involved:	Principal Investigators: Dr MJ Taylor (Sheffield University ); Assoc. Prof. David Townend (University of Sheffield (at time of award), University of Maastricht during project). Other Investigators: Professor Guilherme De Oliveira; Dr Helena Moniz; Dr Rafael Vale e Reis (University of Coimbra, Portugal); Professor Eugenijus Gefenas; Dr Indra Giraite; Dr Asta Cekanauskaite (University of Vilnius, Lithuania)
Years Funded for:	January 2007 to December 2009
Amount:	€738,270

Professional Activities and Recognition

• Chair, Confidentiality Advisory Group (Health Research Authority)
• Member, Health and Social Care Information Centre Code of Practice Drafting Group Consultant
• National Information Governance Board, Ethics and Confidentiality Committee (NIGB ECC) (previously the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG)), Vice Chair (Elect) (2011 - ), Member (2007 – ).
• NIGB Research Database Working Group, Chair (March to September 2010).
• External Examiner for University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh.
• External Evaluator, EUREGIO II (EU FP7) (January to July 2011)
• Member of Editorial Committee, Law, Innovation and Technology (Hart Publishing: General Editors Prof. Roger Brownsword and Prof. Han Somsen) (2009 - )