Mark Simpson joined the School of Law at Ulster University as PhD candidate in 2012. He was appointed Lecturer in Law in 2016 and Senior Lecturer in 2021.

Mark undertakes interdisciplinary research in social justice, with a focus on social security law in its social and political context. His book, Social citizenship in an age of welfare regionalism: the state of the social union (Hart, 2022), examines both the impact on social security law and the constitutional tensions that result when the welfare state ideology  of devolved governments conflicts with that of the UK Government. He is author or co-author of four research outputs and one impact case study (highlighted below) included in Ulster University's submission to the Research Excellence Framework 2021, which assessed 46% of the Law unit's outputs and 50% of its research impact as world leading.

Mark is currently involved in participatory research on universal credit in Northern Ireland, with Ruth Patrick (York) and Ciara Fitzpatrick (Ulster). Recent projects focused on the use of Scotland’s new devolved social security powers to protect the dignity of claimants (funder: Equality and Human Rights Commission) and legal issues associated with poverty and destitution (funders: Joseph Rowntree Foundation/Legal Education Foundation). Mark is also a co-convenor of the stream on Social Rights, Citizenship and the Welfare State at the Socio-Legal Studies Association’s annual conference.

Prospective PhD students with projects in the fields of Law and Social Justice (social security law/welfare reform, citizenship rights or poverty and destitution), Public Law (devolution or equality law) or human rights law (equality and socio-economic rights) are invited to make contact to discuss their ideas.

Previously, Mark studied Law with Politics at undergraduate level at Queen’s University Belfast, where he also completed an LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development.