Seána Glennon

Dr Seána Glennon is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa Public Law Centre. She researches in the areas of constitutional law and deliberative democracy, and her fellowship is funded by the Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles project, which is an Open Research Area (ORA) funded comparative, interdisciplinary project examining unwritten constitutional norms and principles in the UK, Canada and Germany.

Seána’s doctoral research focused on the role of citizen deliberation in constitutional and legislative reform processes, and the novel institutional innovations, such as citizens’ assemblies, that can facilitate this. Her doctoral thesis is entitled ‘Deliberative Minipublics as an Instrument of Legal Reform? The Impact of the Citizens’ Assembly on the Reform of Ireland’s Abortion Law’.

Seána’s postdoctoral project expands on her doctoral research, examining the potential for innovative, deliberative bodies like citizens’ assemblies to enhance democracy in Canada. Seána makes the case for the wider use of citizens’ assemblies to address a range of policy challenges in the constitutional realm and beyond. Her postdoctoral research project examines how these bodies can be institutionalised within the broader system of representative government in Canada.

Seána was a recipient of the 2019 UCD Sutherland School of Law doctoral scholarship. She is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin (LL.B) and the University of Toronto, Canada (LL.M), and held a visiting fellowship at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto from 2022-2023. Prior to embarking on an academic career, Seána practised as a lawyer in an international law firm in Dublin, specialising in public and administrative law. She is qualified as a solicitor in Ireland, England and Wales.