Taking Stock and Looking Forward: The Past, Present and Future of Equality Law
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The Stefan Cross Centre’s 2026 annual lecture was given by Colm O’Cinneide on Wednesday 25th February 2026 at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ University’s Highfield Campus to a full audience.
Professor O'Cinneide began by reflecting on the distinctive role of equality law in shaping new social norms rather than simply enforcing existing standards of conduct. He highlighted both the significant progress made since the emergence of modern equality law in recent decades and the continuing challenges in achieving substantive equality. The talk also noted growing contestation around equality as a value in several jurisdictions, and concluded by emphasising that lawyers and legal scholars should not be complacent about the future development and fate of equality law.
Colm O’Cinneide is Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law at University College London (UCL) and Vice-Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Laws. A graduate of University College Cork and King's Inns, he has published extensively in the fields of comparative constitutional, human rights and anti-discrimination law.
The Stefan Cross Centre for Women, Equality and Law is grateful to Professor O’Cinneide for taking the time to deliver a talk at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, and we look forward to our next event, which will be a workshop on AI and Equality in April.