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Staff profile

Overview

Gemma Davies

Associate Professor

Affiliations
Affiliation
Associate Professor in the Durham Law School

Biography

Associate Professor of Criminal Law | Director, Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice | President, European Criminal Law Association (UK)

Gemma Davies is internationally recognised for her research on transnational and European criminal law. Her work reshapes how states cooperate to investigate and prosecute crime across borders, advancing a model of transnational criminal justice that bridges theory, policy and practice.

Working at the intersection of criminal law and public international law, she currently focuses on extradition, mutual legal assistance, criminal jurisdiction and the operation of Part Three of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). A former practising barrister, Gemma combines rigorous legal analysis with empirical research and close collaboration with policymakers and practitioners. Her research has informed legislative and institutional reform in the UK and Ireland, shaped government policy, and strengthened international cooperation in criminal justice while promoting accountability and the protection of fundamental rights.

Leadership and Appointments

Gemma holds senior leadership roles that often connect academic research with practice and policy. She serves as President of the European Criminal Law Association (UK) and Director of Durham’s Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice where she leads initiatives to strengthen international collaboration and evidence-based reform.

As a Committee Member of the Criminal Law Reform Now Network (CLRNN), she led the Law Commission-commissioned International Cooperation and Extradition Scoping Review (2025) shaping national debate on how the UK’s criminal cooperation frameworks should evolve. She also sits on the advisory board of the Transnational Criminal Law Review and is National Lead External Examiner for Advocacy at the Bar Standards Board, supporting the integrity of professional legal training.

Gemma was awarded a Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) Fellowship (2023–24) to examine Brexit’s impact on criminal justice in Scotland and she previously founded and chaired the AHRC-funded UK–Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network (2018–20), bringing together judges, prosecutors and academics to strengthen cross-border collaboration. She also serves as an advisor to the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations, contributing expert analysis on justice and security cooperation.

Major Publications and Research Contributions

Gemma co-edited UK–EU Police and Judicial Cooperation Post-Brexit: Implementing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (Hart 2025), the first comprehensive analysis of post-Brexit criminal justice cooperation. She also led the International Cooperation and Extradition Scoping Review (CLRNN 2025) which identified critical gaps in UK extradition, jurisdiction and mutual legal assistance law. Professor Penney Lewis, Commissioner for Criminal Law at the Law Commission, described the report as ‘a serious, thorough and most importantly useful piece of work which will help to set the terms of the debate for law reform in this area.’

Her earlier report, UK–EU Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters under Part Three of the TCA: The Impact on Scotland (Scottish Parliament 2024), analysed how the TCA operates within Scotland’s distinct legal system. Audrey Nicoll MSP, Convenor of the Criminal Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, commended it as “an invaluable oversight into the state of the post-Brexit Scottish-EU criminal justice system.”

Across more than twenty-five peer reviewed articles, book chapters and policy papers, and ten funded projects Gemma advances a vision of transnational criminal law as a system of shared governance - balancing security, accountability and fundamental rights within an increasingly interconnected legal order.

Policy and Impact

Gemma’s work under the theme of Enhancing the UK’s International Cooperation in Criminal Matters Post-Brexit has directly influenced policy and practice. It has strengthened the Scottish Government’s response to post-Brexit criminal justice challenges, informed the UK Government’s preparations for the 2026 review of the TCA, and culminated with the production of the Scoping Review on International Cooperation and Extradition. Building on her earlier UK–Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network, this work brings together judges, prosecutors, practitioners and policymakers to design more coherent and effective frameworks for cross-border justice that balance efficiency, accountability and rights protection.

Current and Forthcoming Projects (2025-26)

Gemma is currently editing a special symposium of the Transnational Criminal Law Review (forthcoming 2026) on emerging challenges in extraterritorial jurisdiction. She also serves as Co-Investigator with Dr Estelle Baker (Principal Investigator) on the British Academy project Cross-Border Criminal Evidence Transfer in the 21st Century – An Irish Case Study. Her ongoing research examines how rapid technological and geopolitical change is reshaping concepts of jurisdiction, mutual recognition and cooperation in criminal law.

Public Engagement

Gemma is committed to ensuring that legal research informs public understanding and professional practice. She is regularly interviewed or cited in national and international media, such as the Guardian, the BBC and the Irish Times  and writes for platforms such as The Conversation, UK in a Changing Europe and the LSE Brexit Blog. For media or speaking enquiries, please contact gemma.davies@durham.ac.uk.

Selected Grants

Cross-Border Criminal Evidence Transfer in the 21st Century – An Irish Case Study (2025-2027) (Co-I) British Academy SRG2425\250340 - £4290

Criminal Justice and Policing After Brexit – Academic Fellowship (2023-2024) (PI) Scottish Government - £1620

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Part Three of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (2023) Durham University - £8790

UK-Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network (2018-2020) (PI) AHRC No: AH/S002197/1 - £35061.63 (extended to 2021 due to the pandemic)

Police Detectives on the TOR-network (A Study on Tensions between Privacy and Crime Fighting) (2017-2020) (Co-I) NordForsk / ESRC funded project no. SV: 80512 - £216,534

Brexit and the (Northern) Law School (2017) (Co-I) Society of Legal Scholars - £613

United Kingdom Prüm Fingerprint Exchange (UKPFE) Project (2014-2016) (Co-I) – European Commission. PROJECT No: HOME/2012/ISEC/AG/4000004396 - £191,133

Prüm Implementation, Evaluation and Strengthening of Forensic DNA Data Exchange (PIES) Project (2012–2015) (Co-I) – European Commission. PROJECT No: HOME/2011/ISEC/AG/PRÜM /4000002150  - £199,444.66

Collecting Evidence Against Human Rights Indicators, (2013) (team member) Equality and Human Rights Commission - £32,050

Mutual Understanding of Criminal Records - European Commission and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACRO), 2009-2012, GBP10,773 (JUST/2009/JPEN/AG/CR/0717/CR-30-CE-0391992/00-30) (G Davies, A Jackson and N Wortley contracted as part of ACRO funding to author the offence matching review and report included in final report)

 

Research interests

  • Cooperation in criminal matters
  • Criminal Jurisdiction
  • Cybercrime
  • European criminal law
  • Extradition
  • Part Three of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement
  • Transnational Criminal Law
  • mutual legal assistance
  • suppression of transnational crime

Publications

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Report

Supervision students

Rebecca Craig

Xinyuan Zhang