As the situation with COVID-19 continues to develop, and the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths continue to increase, it is trite to even think about ‘business as usual’ at this time. Here at IALS, the library is (rightly) closed until further notice, library staff are working from home, going above and beyond in their efforts to support our students and researchers, and we are doing our best to maintain some sense of normality – at a distance - during the pandemic. There has been some positive news during the ongoing shutdown, however, with a number of students successfully passing their Upgrade from the MPhil to the PhD programme and a successful PhD defence – all of which were conducted virtually, using either MS Teams or Skype (with a huge thanks to our IT specialists, who ensured that everything ran smoothly).
The current pandemic has impacted our plans to launch a new research centre here at IALS – the Centre for Financial Law, Regulation & Compliance (FinReg). We have postponed our launch event – The Bribery Act: 10 Years On – as well as other events that we had planned, including two public lectures on (i) counter terrorist financing and (ii) competition law. We will post details of future events on this website in due course – when we have a clearer idea of when IALS will re-open. For the moment, research events can take a back-seat role as we focus on looking after ourselves and our loved ones.
Take care!