Rhian Thomas-Turner
PhD Candidate
Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University
Research Area: The right of children to benefit from clinical research, the impact of research and development models on the development of medicines for children's unmet medical needs, human rights and economic models, impact of WTO/WIPO policies on a child's right to health.
Education:
Rhian is currently completing a PhD in children's human rights at the Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University. Her research focuses on the UNCRC Articles 6 and 24 and ICESCR Article 15 and questions whether children have the right to benefit from clinical research and have medicines developed for their unmet medical needs. Rhian received a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Swansea University in 2002 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from Cardiff University in 2004. After working in research governance at Cardiff University and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board she completed a Master (LL.M) in Legal Aspects of Medical Research at Cardiff University in 2019.
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Work Experience:
Rhian is the current Research and Development lead at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for Wales and the Operational Lead for the Children and Young Adults' Research Unit (CYARU). Rhian led on the establishment of CYARU, based at the Children's Hospital for Wales, which officially opened in October 2017 when it became the first and only space in Wales to facilitate and support clinical research for children in Wales. It is through this work that Rhian recognised the issues of children accessing medicines specifically developed for their medical needs. She gave evidence to Welsh Government's Children, Young People and Education Committee's 2019 Inquiry into Children's Rights on the impact of research funding models on children's access to clinical research in Wales.
Rhian is a member of EFGCP's Children's Medicine's Working Party, a multi stakeholder working group concentrating on the development of safe and effective medicines for children and presented at the 2020 conference on the impact of COVID-19 on paediatric research.