Careers at the interface of science and law

Dr Julie Maxton DBE is the Executive Director of the Royal Society, the first woman in 350 years to hold the post. Before taking up her position at the Royal Society in 2011 Julie was Registrar at the University of Oxford, the first woman in 550 years in the role.

She is an Honorary Fellow of University College Oxford, a Bencher of the Middle Temple, a Freeman of the Goldsmith’s Company and a Board member of Sense about Science. In the past she has also been on the Boards of the Alan Turing Institute, Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford, Haberdasher Aske’s School (Elstree), Engineering UK, Charities Aid Foundation and The Faraday Institute.

Originally trained as a barrister at the Middle Temple, Julie combined a career as a practising lawyer with that of an academic, holding a number of senior academic positions, including those of Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Academic and other recognition Julie has received include a CBE (2017) and Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Huddersfield, Warwick, Canterbury, Hull and Bristol.

She is the author of several books and numerous articles concerned with trusts, equity, commercial and property law.

Anne Coxon is the Professor of Practice in Forensic Science and Deputy Director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee. Before coming to LRCFS in April 2023, Anne spent eight years at Forensic Science SA (FSSA) in Adelaide, Australia where, latterly, she was the Assistant Director Operations responsible for the delivery of forensic science and pathology services to the State of South Australia.  She has twenty years’ experience as a technical expert and science leader within the field of clandestine drug laboratories gained whilst working for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) in New Zealand. Anne holds a PhD in Pure and Applied Chemistry from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of South Australia in Adelaide.

James Beazley is a criminal intelligence analyst working for the Metropolitan Police in London. He currently works within the Serious & Organised Crime Command. James has worked on a range of criminal thematises including serious violence, firearm supply, and drug importation. James’ specialism, however, is the detection, prevention, and prosecution of sex crimes.

James wrote the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Problem Profile for Avon and Somerset Police and, last year, he co-authored the Met’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Problem Profile. James is a subject matter expert in sexual slavery and he runs workshops for constabularies around the UK in how to better tackle exploitative prostitution.

James’ work within the Police includes liaising with prosecution and defence lawyers and presenting evidence in Crown Court. Before working for the Police, James studied for a BSc in Physics and Philosophy at Bristol University.

Sang-hun (Sean) Yu is a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design while concurrently pursuing a PhD at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Before his academic career, he gained experience as an animator working on various animation projects and TV commercials, including his involvement in the Oscar-nominated animated feature film 'L'illusionniste' (The Illusionist), directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Sean is actively engaged in a collaborative VR project between Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the Leverhulme Research Centre in Forensics as part of his doctoral studies. One of his notable achievements includes the development of the Dundee Ground Truth Imaging Protocol, a systematic procedure for recording forensic scenes reconstructed in 3D rapidly and accurately.

Anne Coxon is the Professor of Practice in Forensic Science and Deputy Director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee. Before coming to LRCFS in April 2023, Anne spent eight years at Forensic Science SA (FSSA) in Adelaide, Australia where, latterly, she was the Assistant Director Operations responsible for the delivery of forensic science and pathology services to the State of South Australia.  She has twenty years’ experience as a technical expert and science leader within the field of clandestine drug laboratories gained whilst working for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) in New Zealand. Anne holds a PhD in Pure and Applied Chemistry from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of South Australia in Adelaide.

James Beazley is a criminal intelligence analyst working for the Metropolitan Police in London. He currently works within the Serious & Organised Crime Command. James has worked on a range of criminal thematises including serious violence, firearm supply, and drug importation. James’ specialism, however, is the detection, prevention, and prosecution of sex crimes.

James wrote the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Problem Profile for Avon and Somerset Police and, last year, he co-authored the Met’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Problem Profile. James is a subject matter expert in sexual slavery and he runs workshops for constabularies around the UK in how to better tackle exploitative prostitution.

James’ work within the Police includes liaising with prosecution and defence lawyers and presenting evidence in Crown Court. Before working for the Police, James studied for a BSc in Physics and Philosophy at Bristol University.

Sang-hun (Sean) Yu is a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design while concurrently pursuing a PhD at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Before his academic career, he gained experience as an animator working on various animation projects and TV commercials, including his involvement in the Oscar-nominated animated feature film 'L'illusionniste' (The Illusionist), directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Sean is actively engaged in a collaborative VR project between Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the Leverhulme Research Centre in Forensics as part of his doctoral studies. One of his notable achievements includes the development of the Dundee Ground Truth Imaging Protocol, a systematic procedure for recording forensic scenes reconstructed in 3D rapidly and accurately.

Sara supports early-stage scientist-founded companies that are engineering biology in the UK, Europe and elsewhere, to identify and protect their IP, and come up with a solid IP strategy.

These companies operate across all sectors, including food, therapeutics, agritech, materials, chemicals and oil manufacture.

Sara is proactive in the engineering biology community, being appointed to the UK Government’s DSIT Engineering Biology Steering Group, in addition to being the vice chair role of the Bioindustry Associations’ Engineering Biology Advisory Committee (EBAC), co-founding the Women in Synthetic Biology and east midlands based BioAmass networks, and mentoring on a number of different programmes.

Dr Alex Shattock is a barrister at Landmark Chambers specialising in environmental law, public law and human rights. He has assisted many of the major environmental NGOs in the UK, and has been involved in numerous environmental legal challenges to the government and the fossil fuel industry. His work covers a wide range of topics, which often have a technical or scientific aspect: such as carbon emissions, sewage and agricultural pollution, genetically modified organisms, pesticide licensing, biodiversity, and urban planning. He has a PhD in public international law.

Kate Beaujeux has over 30 years of experience in the area of pharmaceutical development. She is a chemist by training and has been working in Regulatory Affairs for over 25 years. Kate studied for a post graduate qualification in Regulatory Affairs and delved in to the, then new, Pharmaceutical legislation in the EU as part of her dissertation. Kate’s “Regulatory Radar” is focused on spotting where there is ambiguity in legal framework or where one interpretation is taken as the only meaning of the law when it is actually less restrictive than it has been implemented. Kate spends time with Pharmaceutical legal experts to ensure that the position is correctly worded and she enjoys this partnership between science, established process and the legal position.

Sara supports early-stage scientist-founded companies that are engineering biology in the UK, Europe and elsewhere, to identify and protect their IP, and come up with a solid IP strategy.

These companies operate across all sectors, including food, therapeutics, agritech, materials, chemicals and oil manufacture.

Sara is proactive in the engineering biology community, being appointed to the UK Government’s DSIT Engineering Biology Steering Group, in addition to being the vice chair role of the Bioindustry Associations’ Engineering Biology Advisory Committee (EBAC), co-founding the Women in Synthetic Biology and east midlands based BioAmass networks, and mentoring on a number of different programmes.

Dr Alex Shattock is a barrister at Landmark Chambers specialising in environmental law, public law and human rights. He has assisted many of the major environmental NGOs in the UK, and has been involved in numerous environmental legal challenges to the government and the fossil fuel industry. His work covers a wide range of topics, which often have a technical or scientific aspect: such as carbon emissions, sewage and agricultural pollution, genetically modified organisms, pesticide licensing, biodiversity, and urban planning. He has a PhD in public international law.

Kate Beaujeux has over 30 years of experience in the area of pharmaceutical development. She is a chemist by training and has been working in Regulatory Affairs for over 25 years. Kate studied for a post graduate qualification in Regulatory Affairs and delved in to the, then new, Pharmaceutical legislation in the EU as part of her dissertation. Kate’s “Regulatory Radar” is focused on spotting where there is ambiguity in legal framework or where one interpretation is taken as the only meaning of the law when it is actually less restrictive than it has been implemented. Kate spends time with Pharmaceutical legal experts to ensure that the position is correctly worded and she enjoys this partnership between science, established process and the legal position.

Dr Julie Maxton DBE is the Executive Director of the Royal Society, the first woman in 350 years to hold the post. Before taking up her position at the Royal Society in 2011 Julie was Registrar at the University of Oxford, the first woman in 550 years in the role.

She is an Honorary Fellow of University College Oxford, a Bencher of the Middle Temple, a Freeman of the Goldsmith’s Company and a Board member of Sense about Science. In the past she has also been on the Boards of the Alan Turing Institute, Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford, Haberdasher Aske’s School (Elstree), Engineering UK, Charities Aid Foundation and The Faraday Institute.

Originally trained as a barrister at the Middle Temple, Julie combined a career as a practising lawyer with that of an academic, holding a number of senior academic positions, including those of Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Academic and other recognition Julie has received include a CBE (2017) and Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Huddersfield, Warwick, Canterbury, Hull and Bristol.

She is the author of several books and numerous articles concerned with trusts, equity, commercial and property law.