Kieran Walsh

Kieran Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Family and Child Law at the School of Law, University of Portsmouth. He holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham on the Irish child protection system and previously practiced as a barrister in Ireland while serving in academic and governmental roles, including work with the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. His research focuses on legal responses to domestic abuse, child protection, and international family law, with an emphasis on historical and sociological frameworks. He currently teaches Family and Child Law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervises research students in related areas.

Education: BCL from University College Cork, legal training at King's Inns, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. He moved to Portsmouth in 2014. His current projects include a monograph on Irish child protection law (Routledge, 2020) and an empirical study on domestic abuse and child contact orders under the Children Act 1989.

Research interests span family violence, legal regulation of domestic abuse, cross-border family law, and the intersection of modernity and risk perception in legal frameworks. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to family law and child welfare. He is available for media inquiries via email and emphasizes timely engagement with journalists.

Teaching includes Family Law, International Family Law (LLM), and previously Constitutional Law in Ireland. He has also trained solicitors on international family law through the Law Society of Ireland.