Dr Adrienne Barnett, Senior Lecturer in Law, Brunel University London
Dr Adrienne Barnett is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Brunel University London and Director of Undergraduate Programmes for Brunel Law School. Dr Barnett practised as a barrister in London for over 30 years, for 25 of which she specialised in Family Law. From 1997 she combined professional practice with academic research until moving into full time academia in January 2014. Her specialist area of research is domestic abuse and the family courts and, more recently, parental alienation. She has published widely over the past 21 years and has presented papers at numerous academic and professional conferences in the UK and abroad. She has conducted judicial and professional training on child arrangements and domestic abuse. Dr Barnett was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to undertake a literature review to support their inquiry into risks of harm and the family courts, published in June 2020. She is currently a UK collaborator in a Canadian-funded research study, ‘Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence: International Partnership for Innovative Strategies’. Dr Barnett is a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women and the Expert Advisory Group to Women’s Aid’s ‘Child First’ campaign. She is an external member of the Cafcass Research Advisory Committee. In July 2021 Dr Barnett featured as an academic expert in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme, ‘Torn Apart – Family Courts Uncovered’ and was commissioned to prepare the programme’s survey report.
