Dr Erica Howard

Biography

Erica Howard is Emeritus Professor of law. She joined Middlesex in 2007 and previously briefly taught European Union Law at the University of Hertfordshire. She holds a doctorate in law from the University of London on the subject of race and racial discrimination within the European Union.

Erica's areas of research are equality and discrimination law, human rights and European law. She has published widely on topics within this area including racial discrimination, religious discrimination and freedom of religion, freedom of speech, multiple discrimination and the right to equality. She has been involved in two projects for the British Equality and Human Rights Commission, a project on the right to freedom of religion or belief and its intersection with other rights for ILGA-Europe and two major European research projects on multiple discrimination; and a EU funded project on homo and transphobia in small and medium cities in Europe.

Erica has written a research study for the EU Parliament Research Service on the implementation of Directive 2000/78/EC with regard to the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. She has also written a report commissioned by the European Network of Legal Experts in Gender Equality and Non-discrimination for the European Commission, on 'Religious Clothing and Symbols in Employment'. Her recent research includes freedom of expression and religious hate speech.

Erica has supervised to completion six PhD students studying freedom of speech and defamation, disability discrimination, vulnerable domestic workers, age discrimination, the refugee pay gap  and vulnereable groups and protection of social rights.

PhD European Law (Queen Mary, University of London - 2007); LLM International Law (University of Hertfordshire - 1999); MA Sociology and Law (Brunel University - 1985); Masters in Law (Tilburg University, Holland - 1979); Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2018). Post-graduate Certificate of Higher Education (Middlesex, 2009).