Dr. Emma Cunliffe

Biography

Emma Cunliffe is a Professor at the Peter Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on how courts determine facts in contested cases, with a particular interest in expert evidence, implicit bias, and the legal processes surrounding gendered and racialized violence, especially concerning Indigenous populations. Cunliffe has been involved in evidence-based forensic initiatives at the University of New South Wales and served as the director of research policy for the joint Federal-Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission from 2021 to 2023, which studied the context and causes of the mass casualty incident in Nova Scotia in April 2020. Her 2011 book, "Murder, Medicine, Motherhood," argued that Australian woman Kathleen Folbigg was wrongfully convicted of murdering her four children, contributing to Folbigg's eventual exoneration. Cunliffe is currently preparing a second edition of the book and is analyzing findings from Canadian trials and commissions of inquiry that engage with gendered and racialized violence. She is also working on a monograph titled "Judging Experts," which examines judicial engagement with expert evidence in Canadian legal processes. In addition to her research, she teaches various law courses, including criminal law and evidence at UBC.

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