Alyson Evans

Alyson Evans is a Lecturer in Scots Private Law at the University of Strathclyde's Law School, joining in January 2023. Her research focuses on Scots Family Law, children's hearings system reforms, and child protection in familial and non-familial contexts like sport. She holds a PhD in Law (awarded 2022) examining legal rights evolution in Scotland's children's hearings system. Prior to academia, she served as Head of Wellbeing and Protection at the Scottish Football Association, leading safeguarding initiatives including FIFA's Guardians program and developing Scotland's first Child Wellbeing and Protection Strategy for football. She has extensive experience in children's legal systems, including roles with the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and Children’s Hearings Scotland, where she authored the first Practice and Procedure Manual for panel members following the 2011 legislative reforms.

Education:

• Doctor of Laws (University of Strathclyde, 2022)
• Master of Laws (University of Aberdeen)
• Bachelor of Laws (University of Aberdeen)

Her research interests emphasize intersectional legal frameworks protecting vulnerable individuals, particularly children in both familial and organizational contexts. Recent work explores parental participation dynamics in legal proceedings and the applicability of historical judicial defenses to modern child protection cases. She currently leads the Academic Roundtable on Children's Hearings Redesign (2024–present), a knowledge-exchange project addressing systemic reforms. Teaching includes courses on Family Law, Sports Law, and Involuntary Obligations.

Grants & Projects:

• Principal Investigator for the Academic Roundtable on Children's Hearings Redesign (2024–ongoing)
• Contributor to FIFA’s Safeguarding Expert Group (2018–2023)

Labs/Teams: Active in cross-sectoral collaborations between academia, government, and sports organizations to advance child safeguarding and legal reform initiatives.