Aysha Mazhar
- Title
- PhD Candidate
- Location
- Chancellor's Building
- Contact me
- Via email
- a.mazhar@keele.ac.uk
Biography
Aysha Mazhar is a doctoral researcher at the Research Centre for Law, Ethics and Society, at the School of Law, Keele University. She is also a Legal Education, Innovation and Practice (LEIP) Scholar and a member of the Ethics, Health, and Social Care Research Cluster at the School of Law. Her doctoral research explores the manifestations of compassion in legal academia in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Outside of her PhD, she has written about the current issues impacting law postgraduate researchers and on doctoral legal education. Some of her reviews and longer form works are published across journals such as British Journal of Educational Studies, Educational Review, Liverpool Law Review, The Law Teacher and Studies in the Education of Adults.
Aysha holds a BA (Hons) in History, a Graduate Diploma in Law (Common Professional Examination) and a Masters of Laws from Manchester Metropolitan University. Prior to joining Keele, Aysha has had extensive experience in experiential legal education such as mentoring students from primary school to sixth form under the National Centre for Citizenship and Law, via a public legal education syndicate. She was also a volunteer at the Greater Manchester Law Centre.
Aysha was recently a co-editor of Under Construction@ Keele, the postgraduate journal based at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Keele University. She is a member of numerous academic societies and networks across law, education and legal education.
Research and scholarship
Aysha’s doctoral research project offers an exploration of the manifestations of compassion in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. She is particularly interested in the working lives of the legal academic and how compassion can exist in the more visible facets of academia, such as research and teaching and in the more hidden, underappreciated sides, such as pastoral care, other forms of emotional labour and the academic self. To achieve this, surveys, interviews and autoethnography will be the methods used to develop a theory in understanding the extent of compassion in legal academia.
Research interests
- Legal education
- Law and emotion
- Academic work
- Academic identities
- Compassion
Further information
Memberships:
- Association of Law Teachers (ALT)
- Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA)
- Legal Education Research Network (LERN)
- Legal Education, Innovation and Practice (LEIP)
Publications
- Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Learning Resources Review: Elgar concise encyclopedia of legal education’, The Law Teacher. pp. 1-3 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2025.2503671
- Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Book Review: Vicarious Trauma and Burnout in Law: Managing Psychological Stress to Promote Safety, Performance, and Wellbeing in Legal Practice’, Liverpool Law Review. pp. 1-4 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-025-09386-0
- Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Book Review: Nurturing Wellbeing in Academia: How to Prioritise Your Mental Health’, British Journal of Educational Studies. 73(3), pp. 397-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2024.2435151
- Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Book Review: Developing Pedagogies of Compassion in Higher Education: A Practice First Approach’, British Journal of Educational Studies. pp. 1-3 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2025.2502263
- Mazhar, A. and Fox, R. (2025), ‘Learning Resources Review: Feminist approaches to PhD supervision’, The Law Teacher. pp. 1-3 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2025.2477880
- Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Book Review: Prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of doctoral researchers: promoting healthy research cultures’, Studies in the Education of Adults. pp. 1-3 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2025.2487319
- Mazhar, A. and Taha, S.H. (2025), ‘Learning Resources Review: Transitioning from PhD to an academic career’, The Law Teacher. 59(1), pp. 143-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2025.2477879
- Koukab, Q. and Mazhar, A. (2025), ‘Learning Resources Review: Feminist legal pedagogies and how to do them’, The Law Teacher. 59(1), pp. 136-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2025.2452781
- Mazhar, A. and Fox, R. (2025), ‘Illuminating the law doctoral researcher’s web of mental and emotional support’, The Law Teacher. 59(1), pp. 112-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2025.2452778
- Mazhar, A. (2024), ‘Book Review: Prioritising wellbeing and self-care in higher education: how we can do things differently to disrupt silence’, Educational Review. pp. 1-2 (Online First) https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2024.2429957
- Mazhar, A. (2024) ‘Book Review: Writing well and being well for your PhD and beyond: how to cultivate a strong and sustainable writing practice for life’, Educational Review. 76(7), pp. 2092-2093. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2265259
- Mazhar, A. (2024), ‘Learning Resources Review: Scientia Iuris: knowledge and experience in legal education and practice from the Late Roman Republic to artificial intelligence’, The Law Teacher. 58(4) pp. 643-645. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2024.2422753
- Mazhar, A. (2024), ‘Learning Resources Review: How to offer effective wellbeing support to law students’, The Law Teacher. 58(2), pp. 290-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2024.2355796
- Mazhar, A. (2024) ‘Learning Resources Review: Biopolitics and structure in legal education’, The Law Teacher. 58(2), pp. 286-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2023.2288414
- Mazhar, A. (2024) ‘Learning Resources Review: Biopolitics and resistance in legal education’, The Law Teacher. 58(1), pp. 159-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2023.2288409
- Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Learning Resources Review: Wellbeing and transitions in law: legal education and the legal profession’, The Law Teacher. 57(4), pp. 572-574. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2023.2275494
- Fox, R. and Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Law postgraduate researchers and the cost-of-living crisis: an intervention’, The Law Teacher. 57(3), pp. 364-376. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2023.2246361
- Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Book Review: Practising Compassion in Higher Education: Caring for Self and Others Through Challenging Times’, British Journal of Educational Studies. 71(4), pp. 468-470. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2023.2218023
- Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Learning Resources Review: Wellbeing and the legal academy’, The Law Teacher. 57(2), pp. 237-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2023.2193537
- Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Learning Resources Review: What is legal education for? Reassessing the purposes of early twenty-first century learning and law schools’, The Law Teacher. 57(1), pp. 101-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2022.2153313
- Mazhar, A. (2023) ‘Book Review: The Doctoral Journey as an Emotional, Embodied, Political Experience: Stories from the Field’, British Journal of Educational Studies. 71(1), pp. 119-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2022.2107735
- Mazhar, A. (2022) ‘Learning Resources Review: Doctoral degree programs in law: an international and comparative study of the English-speaking world’, The Law Teacher. 56(4), pp. 554-556. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2022.2076492
- Mazhar, A. (2022) ‘Learning Resources Review: Better law for a better world: new approaches to law practice and education’, The Law Teacher. 56(3), pp. 427-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1997325
- Mazhar, A. (2022) ‘Learning Resources Review: American legal education abroad: critical histories’, The Law Teacher. 56(2), pp. 300-301. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2021.1989559
- Mazhar, A. (2022) ‘Book Review: Refiguring universities in an age of neoliberalism: creating compassionate campuses’, British Journal of Educational Studies. 70(2), pp. 257-258. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2021.1977548
- Mazhar, A. (2021) ‘Book Review: Towards the compassionate university: from golden thread to global impact’, British Journal of Educational Studies. 69(6), pp. 795-797. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2021.1936867
- Mazhar, A. (2021) ‘Learning Resources Review: Key directions in legal education: national and international perspectives’, The Law Teacher. 55(1), pp. 105-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2020.1776007
Conference papers
- Mazhar, A. (2020) ““Feels like I’m decanting the contents of my skull on here”: personal reflections of a legal education researcher”. 12th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK, 4 March 2020.
Invited papers and contributions
- Guest panellist (with J. Pereira, R. Collier and E. Rimmer) “The Suffering Helper: Lawyer Wellbeing, Professional Performance and Collective Responsibility”, presented at the Association of Law Teachers Lord Upjohn Lecture, The City Law School, London, UK, 21 November 2024.
- “Mental health and wellbeing of early career legal academics: Considering our lived realities” part of a workshop session on ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’ (with co-facilitators N. McGuirk, C. Strevens and E. Jones), presented at the Association of Law Teachers Symposium for Early Career Academics in Legal Education, Leeds, UK, 11 – 12 September 2024.
- Mazhar, A. (2019) “Manifestations of Compassion in the UK Legal Academy”. Law Postgraduate Research Students Presentation Day. Keele University, Staffordshire, UK, 6 March 2019.
Supervision
Supervisory team:
- Lead Supervisor: Dr Stella Coyle
- Co-supervisor: Dr Sotirios Santatzoglou
School of Law
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733218
Fax: +44 (0)1782 733228
Email: School of Law Office
Admissions enquiries:
Tel: +44(0)1782 733218
Email: law.admissions@keele.ac.uk
Postgraduate enquiries:
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733218
Email: law.office@keele.ac.uk
