Professor Linda Mulcahy Appointed International Adviser to New Socio-Legal Research Lab in Chile

Professor Linda Mulcahy has recently been appointed as an international adviser at the Laboratorio de Estudios Socio-Legales (Lab ESL), or Laboratory for Socio-Legal Studies, which was launched at the Universidad de O’Higgins, Chile, on 2 October 2025. The launch marked the formal creation of a new academic space based at the Institute of Social Sciences, dedicated to the interdisciplinary and critical study of law as a social phenomenon and to the development of a steadily emerging field in Chile.

The Lab brings together researchers from different fields, including law, sociology, criminology, public policy and geography. Its work focuses on how legality produces and is produced by different social and institutional spaces, and on how law participates in diverse forms of governance in Chile and Latin America. Its current areas of interest include socio-legal theory and methods, access to justice and public policy implementation, legal culture and everyday practices of legal institutions, vigilantism and security governance, environmental governance and territorial conflicts.

Emerging from the international collaboration developed in 2025 with colleagues from the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford and the Centre for Law and Society at Cardiff University, the Lab creates a platform for sustaining national and international collaboration. It institutionalises a network of researchers based mainly in regional Chilean universities. Professors Linda Mulcahy and Bettina Lange have recently made visits to Chile in the last year in order to discuss future collaboration and have also hosted a workshop in Oxford attended by a Chilean delegation. These visits were made possible as a result of a grant provided by the Chilean Government. Linda was also delighted to give the plenary lecture at the annual Chilean Law and Society Association in 2025. Discussing her appointment as an international advisor Linda said:

I am delighted to be able to continue to support Chilean scholars interested in socio-legal studies, and to work with them to bring a distinctly South American perspective to socio-legal scholarship. This initiative forms parts of our strategy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies to develop links with international research centres working in our field and to act as a resource for others.

Looking ahead, the Lab seeks to strengthen socio-legal studies in Chile and Latin America by consolidating an interdisciplinary and publicly engaged research agenda. It also aims to foster national and international collaboration, and contribute to teaching innovation and public debates on law, institutions and social conflict.

For further information about the work of the Lab, please contact Ignacio Riquelme Espinosa, researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences and coordinator of Lab ESL. You can also find more information about the Lab and its researchers on the Lab ESL website.

Photograph taken by Linda Mulcahy.