Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott

Dr Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and St Antony’s College, where his research is funded by the British Academy. He previously worked at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, part of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, where he was a research fellow and a member of its equality, diversity and inclusion committee.

Richard has provided evidence to the Scottish Government, the UK Government, and the UK Parliament, and has worked on cases before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the London Court of International Arbitration, the UK Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. He also served on the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute Task Force on Drones. 

His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and reported on in the press, including newspapers such as The Herald and The Times, as well as being referred to by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament.

He is the author of State Responsibility for Non-State Actors: Past, Present and Prospects for the Future (2022).

Recent publications

• ‘Managing Misinformation on Social Media: Targeted Newsfeed Interventions and Freedom of Thought’ (2023) 21 Northwestern Journal of Human Rights 109-184.
• ‘The questionable necessity of a new human right against being subject to automated decision-making’ (2023) 31 International Journal of Law & Information Technology 114-143 - with Elena Abrusci. 
• ‘AI: we may not need a new human right to protect us from decisions by algorithms - the laws already exist’ (The Conversation, 10 October 2023) - with Elena Abrusci.
• ‘Automated Decision-Making and the Challenge of Implementing Existing Laws’ (Verfassungsblog, 5 October 2023) - with Elena Abrusci.
• ‘The Algorithmic Management of Misinformation That Protects Liberty’ (Tech Policy Press, 23 August 2023).
• ‘YouTube Updates its Policy on Election Misinformation’ (Verfassungsblog, 8 June 2023).   
• ‘Recalling an Outlier for Gauging Russian Responsibility in its Relationship with the Wagner Group’ (Opinio Juris, 28 April 2023).
• ‘Reconciling Social Media Business Models with Human Rights Safeguards’ (Oxford Business Law Blog, 27 April 2023).