Professor Chris Gill

  • Professor of Socio-Legal Studies (School of Law)

telephone: 01413304174
email: Chris.Gill@glasgow.ac.uk

Room 532, Stair Building, 5-9 The Square, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ

Import to contacts

Biography

Professor Chris Gill joined the University of Glasgow in 2017 having previously been Director of the Consumer Dispute Resolution Centre at Queen Margaret University, where he held a variety of posts from 2012. Before this, Chris had a career in regulatory and ombudsman services first at the Advertising Standards Authority (2003 – 2006) and then at the office of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (2006 – 2012).

Chris’ research has been funded by the British Academy, Leverhulme, ESRC, SSHRC (Canada), and the Nuffield Foundation and he has published widely in the fields of administrative justice and access to justice, with particular expertise in relation to the ombudsman institution. He works mostly with qualitative methodologies and has a strong interest in socio-legal methodology and empirical socio-legal research. He is the Series Editor of Edinburgh University Press’ book series, Access to Justice in a Changing World.

Chris carries out a range of policy and practice activities, including as an Independent Member of the Ombudsman Association’s Validation Committee, a Member of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission’s Consumer Panel and the Civil Aviation Authority's Consumer Panel. He sits on the Academic Panel of the Administrative Justice Council and in 2023 Chaired the Council’s Working Group on Improving Special Educational Needs Decision-Making.

Chris has given oral evidence to the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Scottish Parliament's Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, the Welsh Senedd's Finance Committee, and the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Audit Committee. He is a validated member of the International Ombudsman Institute’s Peer Review Panel and has conducted independent reviews of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the New South Wales Ombudsman, the Business Banking Resolution Service, and the Energy and Water Ombudsman of New South Wales.

Chris has carried out a range of consultancy projects for organisations including: the Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise, the Council of Europe, the Legal Services Board, the Welsh Language Commissioner, the Legal Ombudsman, Utilities Disputes Ltd, Citizens Advice. Between 2014 and 2015 Chris was appointed as Independent Assessor by the Board of Ombudsman Services Ltd. For more information in relation to consultancy activities, please visit: https://profchrisgill.com/.

Chris was an Academic Fellow of the Scottish Parliament between 2018 and 2019. He is a Senior Fellow of the University of Glasgow's Centre for Public Policy.

Research interests

Chris is a socio-legal scholar primarily working in the fields of administrative justice and access to justice. He has broader interests in a range of areas including various fields of public policy (especially education, social security, and immigration), policy design and implementation, decision-making in government and consumer settings, regulation, consumer policy, alternative dispute resolution, and conflict resolution.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011
Number of items: 45.

2025

Gill, Chris (2025) Access to public services and access to justice for refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland. Project Report. University of Glasgow and Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

2024

McBurnie, Gavin and Gill, Christian (2024) Five Year Review of the Energy and Water Ombudsman New South Wales. Project Report. Energy and Water Ombudsman of New South Wales.

Pottakis, Andreas, England, Kersten, Tyndall, Peter and Gill, Chris (2024) International Ombudsman Institute Peer Review of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Project Report. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Gill, Chris (2024) Benchmarking approaches to quality assurance in the UK ombudsman sector. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

2023

Gill, Chris (2023) Parliamentary casework in socio-legal perspective: a case study of complaint handling by Members of the Scottish Parliament. Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie, 43(1), pp. 71-100. (doi: 10.1515/zfrs-2023-2004)

Gill, Chris and AJC Working Group on Special Educational Needs and Disability, . (2023) Special Educational Needs And Disability: Improving Local Authority Decision Making. Other. Administrative Justice Council (AJC).

Gill, Chris (2023) Ombud Independence and the Venice Principles: A report commissioned by the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. Project Report. Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.

Harkin, John, Gill, Chris, Brown, Ian and Botsford, Charles (2023) Business Banking Resolution Service Post Implementation Review Part 2. Technical Report. Business Banking Resolution Service.

2022

Hirst, Carolyn, Gill, Chris and Williams, Jane (2022) Barriers to accessing adult social care and social housing complaint systems. Project Report. Transforming Complaint Resolution.

Williams, Jane, Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2022) Towards therapeutic complaint resolution. In: Groves, Matthew and Stuhmcke, Anita (eds.) The Ombudsman in the Modern State. Hart Publishing, pp. 265-286. ISBN 9781509943241 (doi: 10.5040/9781509943272.ch-012)

Gill, Chris and O'Neill, Sarah (2022) Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service About Legal Expenses Insurance. Project Report. Legal Services Board.

2021

Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Gill, Chris, Cornelis, Marine and McPherson, Rachel (2021) Access to Justice for Vulnerable and Energy-Poor Consumers: Just Energy? Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781509939435

Williams, Jane, Gill, Christian and McBurnie, Gavin (2021) 'It’s the most ethical job I have ever had': complaint handling and fair decision making in the financial industry. International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 15(4), pp. 357-375. (doi: 10.1504/IJBGE.2021.10035729)

2020

Gill, Chris (2020) The Scottish Parliament's casework service: understanding the hidden work of MSPs. Project Report. Scottish Parliament.

Gill, Chris, Mullen, Tom ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-5432 and Vivian, Niall (2020) The managerial ombudsman. Modern Law Review, 83(4), pp. 797-830. (doi: 10.1111/1468-2230.12523)

Williams, Jane, Gill, Chris, Creutzfeldt, Naomi and Vivian, Niall (2020) Participation as a framework for analysing consumers’ experiences of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Journal of Law and Society, 47(2), pp. 271-297. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12224)

Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (Eds.) (2020) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783030406110

Creutzfeldt, N., Gill, C., McPherson, R. and Cornelis, M. (2020) The social and local dimensions of governance of energy poverty: adaptive responses to state remoteness. Journal of Consumer Policy, 43, pp. 635-658. (doi: 10.1007/s10603-019-09442-z)

Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud and "complaint standards authority" powers. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 95-107. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_6)

Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud and own initiative investigation powers. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 77-94. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_5)

Gill, Chris and Kirkham, Richard (2020) Introduction. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-11. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_1)

Hirst, Carolyn and Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud's jurisdiction: Integration, specialisation, and territorial scope. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 59-75. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_4)

Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (2020) Five principles for a new Public Services Ombudsman. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 13-39. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_2)

2019

Gill, Christian, Sapouna, Maria, Hirst, Carolyn and Williams, Jane (2019) Dysfunctional accountability in complaint systems: the effects of complaints on public service employees. Public Law(Oct), pp. 644-664.

Hirst, Carolyn and Gill, Chris (2019) Being Complained About: Good Practice Guidelines. Technical Report. University of Glasgow.

2018

Gill, Chris (2018) What can government agencies learn from the ombudsman? In: Hertogh, Marc and Kirkham, Richard (eds.) Research Handbook on the Ombudsman. Series: Research handbook in law and politics. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, Massachusetts, USA, pp. 298-318. ISBN 9781786431240 (doi: 10.4337/9781786431257.00026)

Tyndall, Peter, Mitchell, Caroline and Gill, Chris (2018) Value for money study: report of the independent peer review of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman. Project Report. Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman.

Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Cornelis, Marine and Gill, Chris (2018) Le “Consommateur” dans le Règlement Extrajudiciaire des Litiges de Consommation: Comprendre comment les consommateurs utilisent, ressentent et perçoivent le RELC au Royaume-Uni et en Europe. Lettres Des Médiations, 6, pp. 26-33.

Gill, Christian and Creutzfeldt, Naomi (2018) The 'ombuds watchers': collective dissent and legal protest amongst users of public services ombuds. Social and Legal Studies, 27(3), pp. 367-388. (doi: 10.1177/0964663917721313)

Williams, Jane and Gill, Christian (2018) Designing justice: pilares para la construccio de sistemas de resolucion de litgios de consumo. In: De La Rosa, Estaban Fernando and Olariu, Ozana (eds.) La Resolucion de Conflictos de Consumo: La adaptacion del derecho espanol al marco europeo de resolucion alternativa (ADR) y en linea (ODR). Aranzadi: Cizur Menor, Spain, pp. 57-80. ISBN 9788491775010

2017

Gill, Chris, Hirst, Carolyn, Sapouna, Maria and Williams, Jane (2017) How do Complaints Affect those Complained About? An Empirical Investigation Into the Effects of Complaints on Public Service Employees. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

Brennan, Carol, Sourdin, Tania, Williams, Jane, Burstyer, Naomi and Gill, Chris (2017) Consumer vulnerability and complaint handling: challenges, opportunities and dispute system design. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41(6), pp. 638-646. (doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12377)

Mullen, Tom ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-5432, Gill, Christian and Vivian, Nial (2017) Scotland’s Model Complaint Handling Procedures: Exploring Recent Developments and the Usefulness of Complaint Data for Administrative Justice Research. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

McBurnie, Gavin and Gill, Christian (2017) Independent Review of Utilities Disputes Limited (New Zealand) - 2017. Project Report. Utilities Disputes Ltd.

Gill, Chris, Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Williams, Jane, O’Neill, Sarah and Vivian, Nial (2017) Confusion, Gaps and Overlaps: a Consumer Perspective on the Current Alternative Dispute Resolution System for Disputes Between Consumers and Businesses. Project Report. Citizens Advice, London.

2016

Gill, Chris, Williams, Jane, Brennan, Carol and Hirst, Carolyn (2016) Designing consumer redress: a Dispute System Design (DSD) model for consumer-to-business disputes. Legal Studies, 36(3), pp. 438-463. (doi: 10.1111/lest.12116)

Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2016) Defining Consumer Ombudsman Schemes: a Report for Ombudsman Services. Project Report. Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Williams, Jane and Gill, Chris (2016) A dispute system design perspective on the future of European consumer dispute resolution. In: Cortés, Pablo (ed.) The New Regulatory Framework for Consumer Dispute Resolution. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 371-391. ISBN 9780198766353 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198766353.001.0001)

2014

Gill, Christian, Williams, Jane, Brennan, Carol and Hirst, Carolyn (2014) Models of Alternative Dispute Resolution: a Report for the Legal Ombudsman. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

Gill, Chris (2014) The evolving role of the ombudsman: a conceptual and constitutional analysis of the "Scottish solution" to administrative justice. Public Law, 2014(4), pp. 662-681.

2013

Gill, Chris, Williams, Jane, Carol, Brennan and O'Brien, Nick (2013) The Future of Ombudsman Schemes: Drivers for Change and Strategic Responses. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

Simmons, Richard, Brennan, Carol, Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2013) Outcome of Complaints Research for the Care Inspectorate. Project Report. Care Inspectorate, Dundee.

2012

Gill, Chris (2012) The Ombudsman Enterprise and Administrative Justice. Social and Legal Studies, 21(1), pp. 135-152. (doi: 10.1177/096466391102100101)[Book Review]

Gill, Chris (2012) The impact of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on the administrative decision-making of local authority housing administrators. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 34(2), pp. 197-217. (doi: 10.1080/09649069.2012.718535)

2011

Gill, Chris (2011) Right first time: the influence of ombudsmen on administrative decision-making. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 33(2), pp. 181-192. (doi: 10.1080/09649069.2011.617077)

This list was generated on Tue Oct 7 07:33:27 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Edited Books | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 45.

Articles

Gill, Chris (2023) Parliamentary casework in socio-legal perspective: a case study of complaint handling by Members of the Scottish Parliament. Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie, 43(1), pp. 71-100. (doi: 10.1515/zfrs-2023-2004)

Williams, Jane, Gill, Christian and McBurnie, Gavin (2021) 'It’s the most ethical job I have ever had': complaint handling and fair decision making in the financial industry. International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 15(4), pp. 357-375. (doi: 10.1504/IJBGE.2021.10035729)

Gill, Chris, Mullen, Tom ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-5432 and Vivian, Niall (2020) The managerial ombudsman. Modern Law Review, 83(4), pp. 797-830. (doi: 10.1111/1468-2230.12523)

Williams, Jane, Gill, Chris, Creutzfeldt, Naomi and Vivian, Niall (2020) Participation as a framework for analysing consumers’ experiences of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Journal of Law and Society, 47(2), pp. 271-297. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12224)

Creutzfeldt, N., Gill, C., McPherson, R. and Cornelis, M. (2020) The social and local dimensions of governance of energy poverty: adaptive responses to state remoteness. Journal of Consumer Policy, 43, pp. 635-658. (doi: 10.1007/s10603-019-09442-z)

Gill, Christian, Sapouna, Maria, Hirst, Carolyn and Williams, Jane (2019) Dysfunctional accountability in complaint systems: the effects of complaints on public service employees. Public Law(Oct), pp. 644-664.

Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Cornelis, Marine and Gill, Chris (2018) Le “Consommateur” dans le Règlement Extrajudiciaire des Litiges de Consommation: Comprendre comment les consommateurs utilisent, ressentent et perçoivent le RELC au Royaume-Uni et en Europe. Lettres Des Médiations, 6, pp. 26-33.

Gill, Christian and Creutzfeldt, Naomi (2018) The 'ombuds watchers': collective dissent and legal protest amongst users of public services ombuds. Social and Legal Studies, 27(3), pp. 367-388. (doi: 10.1177/0964663917721313)

Brennan, Carol, Sourdin, Tania, Williams, Jane, Burstyer, Naomi and Gill, Chris (2017) Consumer vulnerability and complaint handling: challenges, opportunities and dispute system design. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41(6), pp. 638-646. (doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12377)

Gill, Chris, Williams, Jane, Brennan, Carol and Hirst, Carolyn (2016) Designing consumer redress: a Dispute System Design (DSD) model for consumer-to-business disputes. Legal Studies, 36(3), pp. 438-463. (doi: 10.1111/lest.12116)

Gill, Chris (2014) The evolving role of the ombudsman: a conceptual and constitutional analysis of the "Scottish solution" to administrative justice. Public Law, 2014(4), pp. 662-681.

Gill, Chris (2012) The impact of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on the administrative decision-making of local authority housing administrators. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 34(2), pp. 197-217. (doi: 10.1080/09649069.2012.718535)

Gill, Chris (2011) Right first time: the influence of ombudsmen on administrative decision-making. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 33(2), pp. 181-192. (doi: 10.1080/09649069.2011.617077)

Books

Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Gill, Chris, Cornelis, Marine and McPherson, Rachel (2021) Access to Justice for Vulnerable and Energy-Poor Consumers: Just Energy? Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781509939435

Book Sections

Williams, Jane, Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2022) Towards therapeutic complaint resolution. In: Groves, Matthew and Stuhmcke, Anita (eds.) The Ombudsman in the Modern State. Hart Publishing, pp. 265-286. ISBN 9781509943241 (doi: 10.5040/9781509943272.ch-012)

Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud and "complaint standards authority" powers. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 95-107. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_6)

Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud and own initiative investigation powers. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 77-94. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_5)

Gill, Chris and Kirkham, Richard (2020) Introduction. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-11. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_1)

Hirst, Carolyn and Gill, Chris (2020) The ombud's jurisdiction: Integration, specialisation, and territorial scope. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 59-75. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_4)

Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (2020) Five principles for a new Public Services Ombudsman. In: Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (eds.) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 13-39. ISBN 9783030406110 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_2)

Gill, Chris (2018) What can government agencies learn from the ombudsman? In: Hertogh, Marc and Kirkham, Richard (eds.) Research Handbook on the Ombudsman. Series: Research handbook in law and politics. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, Massachusetts, USA, pp. 298-318. ISBN 9781786431240 (doi: 10.4337/9781786431257.00026)

Williams, Jane and Gill, Christian (2018) Designing justice: pilares para la construccio de sistemas de resolucion de litgios de consumo. In: De La Rosa, Estaban Fernando and Olariu, Ozana (eds.) La Resolucion de Conflictos de Consumo: La adaptacion del derecho espanol al marco europeo de resolucion alternativa (ADR) y en linea (ODR). Aranzadi: Cizur Menor, Spain, pp. 57-80. ISBN 9788491775010

Williams, Jane and Gill, Chris (2016) A dispute system design perspective on the future of European consumer dispute resolution. In: Cortés, Pablo (ed.) The New Regulatory Framework for Consumer Dispute Resolution. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 371-391. ISBN 9780198766353 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198766353.001.0001)

Book Reviews

Gill, Chris (2012) The Ombudsman Enterprise and Administrative Justice. Social and Legal Studies, 21(1), pp. 135-152. (doi: 10.1177/096466391102100101)[Book Review]

Edited Books

Kirkham, Richard and Gill, Chris (Eds.) (2020) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783030406110

Research Reports or Papers

Gill, Chris (2025) Access to public services and access to justice for refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland. Project Report. University of Glasgow and Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

McBurnie, Gavin and Gill, Christian (2024) Five Year Review of the Energy and Water Ombudsman New South Wales. Project Report. Energy and Water Ombudsman of New South Wales.

Pottakis, Andreas, England, Kersten, Tyndall, Peter and Gill, Chris (2024) International Ombudsman Institute Peer Review of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Project Report. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Gill, Chris (2024) Benchmarking approaches to quality assurance in the UK ombudsman sector. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

Gill, Chris and AJC Working Group on Special Educational Needs and Disability, . (2023) Special Educational Needs And Disability: Improving Local Authority Decision Making. Other. Administrative Justice Council (AJC).

Gill, Chris (2023) Ombud Independence and the Venice Principles: A report commissioned by the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. Project Report. Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.

Harkin, John, Gill, Chris, Brown, Ian and Botsford, Charles (2023) Business Banking Resolution Service Post Implementation Review Part 2. Technical Report. Business Banking Resolution Service.

Hirst, Carolyn, Gill, Chris and Williams, Jane (2022) Barriers to accessing adult social care and social housing complaint systems. Project Report. Transforming Complaint Resolution.

Gill, Chris and O'Neill, Sarah (2022) Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service About Legal Expenses Insurance. Project Report. Legal Services Board.

Gill, Chris (2020) The Scottish Parliament's casework service: understanding the hidden work of MSPs. Project Report. Scottish Parliament.

Hirst, Carolyn and Gill, Chris (2019) Being Complained About: Good Practice Guidelines. Technical Report. University of Glasgow.

Tyndall, Peter, Mitchell, Caroline and Gill, Chris (2018) Value for money study: report of the independent peer review of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman. Project Report. Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman.

Gill, Chris, Hirst, Carolyn, Sapouna, Maria and Williams, Jane (2017) How do Complaints Affect those Complained About? An Empirical Investigation Into the Effects of Complaints on Public Service Employees. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

Mullen, Tom ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-5432, Gill, Christian and Vivian, Nial (2017) Scotland’s Model Complaint Handling Procedures: Exploring Recent Developments and the Usefulness of Complaint Data for Administrative Justice Research. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

McBurnie, Gavin and Gill, Christian (2017) Independent Review of Utilities Disputes Limited (New Zealand) - 2017. Project Report. Utilities Disputes Ltd.

Gill, Chris, Creutzfeldt, Naomi, Williams, Jane, O’Neill, Sarah and Vivian, Nial (2017) Confusion, Gaps and Overlaps: a Consumer Perspective on the Current Alternative Dispute Resolution System for Disputes Between Consumers and Businesses. Project Report. Citizens Advice, London.

Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2016) Defining Consumer Ombudsman Schemes: a Report for Ombudsman Services. Project Report. Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Gill, Christian, Williams, Jane, Brennan, Carol and Hirst, Carolyn (2014) Models of Alternative Dispute Resolution: a Report for the Legal Ombudsman. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

Gill, Chris, Williams, Jane, Carol, Brennan and O'Brien, Nick (2013) The Future of Ombudsman Schemes: Drivers for Change and Strategic Responses. Project Report. Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham.

Simmons, Richard, Brennan, Carol, Gill, Chris and Hirst, Carolyn (2013) Outcome of Complaints Research for the Care Inspectorate. Project Report. Care Inspectorate, Dundee.

This list was generated on Tue Oct 7 07:33:27 2025 BST.

Grants

  • Nuffield Foundation (2025 - 2026), Understanding and Developing User Focused Tribunal Hearings, FR-000025068, £332,369, (Principal Investigator).

  • Economic and Social Research Council, Collaboration for Local Innovation Fellowship Pilot Scheme (2024 – 2026). Developing transformative approaches to complaint handling in adult social care in Scotland, £58,000 (Co-Principal Investigator with Prof. Richard Simmons and Dr. Fiona Sherwood-Johnson).

  • British Academy/ Leverhulme Small Grants (2024 – 2025). Law and education: the impact of juridification on school governance, SRG2324/241922, £9,981.55 (Co-Investigator with Dr Mark Murphy).

  • British Academy Innovation Fellowship (2024 – 2025). The ombudsman and the protection of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland: developing innovative collaborations, methods, and practices, IF2324/240095, £114,447.99 (Principal Investigator).

  • University of York/ University of Glasgow ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (2025), Supporting the Administrative Justice Council to become evidence based, £19,793.69, (Co-Principal Investigator with Prof. Joe Tomlinson).
  • Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund (2025), Best Practice and Innovation in Legislatures' Support for Parliamentary Casework, £6,000 (Principal Investigator).
  • University of Glasgow/ ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Follow on Fund, 2022-23: Identifying and Supporting Vulnerable Public Service Users, £9,926 (Co-Principal Investigator with Prof Naomi Creutzfeldt).

  • University of Glasgow/ ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Knowledge Exchange Fund, 2021-2022:  Developing a Caseworker Forum, £15,000 + £15,000 match funding from the Scottish Parliament (Principal Investigator).

  • University of Glasgow/ ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Follow-On Fund, 2019: Therapeutic complaint handling - conducting case studies and developing an implementation toolkit for organisational change, £13,300 (Principal Investigator).

  • University of Glasgow/ ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Business Booster Seed Funding, 2018, Helping business reduce the hidden costs of complaints about employees, £4,400 (Principal Investigator).

  • ESRC, 2017-2021, Access to justice, alternative dispute resolution and consumer vulnerability in the European energy sector, ES/P010237/1, £359,398 (Co-Investigator with Dr Naomi Creutzfeldt, University of Westminster).

  • SSHRC (Canada), 2017-2018, Co-constructing justice: Exploring citizen-centred design for public service complaint systems, $24,899 (Co-Investigator with Dr Tara Ney, University of Victoria).

  • University of Oxford ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, 2015:  Critics of the ombudsman system: understanding and engaging online citizen activists, £5,836 (Co-Investigator with Prof Naomi Creutzfeldt).

  • Carnegie Trust Public Engagement Centennial Fund, 2014, ‘Designing Consumer Redress Conference’, £2,250 (Co-Investigator with Carol Brennan).

  • UK Administrative Justice Institute/ Nuffield Foundation, 2014-2017, ‘Scotland’s Model Complaint Procedures’, £4,900 (Co-Investigator with Prof Tom Mullen).

Supervision

Chris is interested in supervising PhD candidates in any of the following areas:

  • Access to justice, particularly (but not limited to) projects examining the following key themes:
    • technology, digitisation, and artificial intelligence
    • alternative dispute resolution and online dispute resolution
    • the increasing role of non-legal actors in justice provision
  • The design and operation of administrative justice systems (including courts, tribunals, ombudsman schemes, and internal grievance procedures)
  • The experiences of administrative (and other) justice system users, with a particular interest in investigations drawing on procedural justice theory or legal consciousness
  • The use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in civil and administrative justice
  • Projects proposing innovative methodological designs on socio-legal topics in the field of administrative law and justice
  • Projects examining issues of administrative justice in particular areas of government decision-making (e.g. immigration and asylum, social security, housing, education, social care, etc.)

Current students

Elisabeth Davies. How do Ombuds schemes address the power imbalance between service provider and service user without compromising their impartiality?

  • Barraclough, Tim
    Assessing the role, status and functioning of the Scottish Tribunals within the justice system - judicial perspectives
  • Campbell, Marc Allan
    This research will investigate the experiences of gay men seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.
  • McBain, Mary
    Is Music Education a Human Right? An analysis of Music Education for Deaf children in Scotland, England and Australia.
  • Reilly, Phoebe
    .An examination and evaluation of Scottish university responses to a complaint of student to-student gender-based violence (GBV)

Former students

Budur Dhaifallah Alnefaie. The UK Public Sector Ombudsmen: a doctoral and socio-legal analysis on the possibility of transplanting an ombudsman into Saudi Arabia inspired by the UK model (2021).

Susannah Paul. From adversarialism to empathy: examining judicial approaches and workgroup dynamics in the First-Tier Immigration and Asylum Tribunal (2023).

Charlie Irvine. Does Mediation Deliver Justice?  The Perspective of Unrepresented Parties.

Teaching

  • Law and Government
  • Citizens v The State
  • Immigration Law

Additional information

  • Vice Chair of the Scottish Legal Complaint Commission’s Consumer Panel
  • Member of the Civil Aviation Authority's Civil Aviation Authority's Consumer Panel
  • Member of the Ombudsman Association’s Validation Committee
  • Member of the Administrative Justice Council’s Academic Panel
  • Validated member of the International Ombudsman Institute Peer Review Panel
  • Series Editor, University of Edinburgh Press, Access to Justice in a Changing World
  • Co-convenor of the Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference’s Administrative Justice Stream

Portrait of a man in glasses

Professor Chris Gill on Twitter