الدكتورة تريسي كيرك

Lecturer in Child and Family Law
University of Stirling

Research Area(s): Arbitrary Age Limits, Children and Young People, Transitions to Adulthood, Participation, Evolving Capacities

Education: Tracy Kirk was awarded a PhD in Law from the Northumbria University in 2020. Her thesis developed an adolescent framework of rights for older children (16 and 17 year olds) under English law. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) underpinned the transferability of this work.  She graduated with a first class LL.B (Hons) in Scots law from the University of Stirling in 2011.

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Research Experience:  Tracy is currently a Lecturer in Child & Family Law at the University of Stirling. Before taking this position, she was working as a Lecturer in law at the Glasgow Caledonian University. Her current research focuses upon arbitrary age limits within the context of the UNCRC in Scotland. This work highlights the need for changes to Scots law to ensure compliance with the UNCRC as it is incorporated into domestic law in 2024.. 

Tracy’s research into the rights of older children and young people has been utilised as part of wider policy discussions in Scotland. Her work has been cited by the Education and Skills Committee and Equalities and Human Rights Committee. Tracy sits on the Scottish Government’s advisory board for the Children’s Rights Implementation Group for Children in Conflict with the Law and the subgroup on Speech Language Communication Needs. This work is underpinned by the Youth Justice Vision published in 2021. Tracy’s expertise on older children and young people has led to several radio and television appearances since 2019. She writes about the rights of children for national newspapers and has provided support to a range of stakeholders. 

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Key Affiliations:  Tracy is an editor and reviewer for the Medicine, Law and Science Journal. In 2023 Tracy was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Stirling Centre for Research into Curriculum Making (SCRCM). The centre, based within the School of Education at the University of Stirling comprises researchers, practitioners,  local government officers and policy makers, bringing a diverse range of expertise and experience to inform the work of the Centre. Further details about the SCRCM can be found here.

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Tracy is a member of the British Academic ECR Network Scotland. She has been an external examiner for the law school at Winchester University since 2021. From 2020-2023 Tracy was a board member of Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) Board of Trustees. Together is an alliance of 400 charities and professionals that promotes and protects the rights of children in Scotland. Tracy worked with Investing in Children as an evaluator for many years. She frequently highlights the significance of work Investing in Children are doing in terms of care experienced young people, mental health support for children and young people, women’s rights and rights from a criminal justice perspective.