Chay Burt
Lecturer in Law
About
Chay holds an LLB (Hons) in Law and an LLM in Law from the University of Sussex. Chay’s undergraduate dissertation was a comparative analysis of the law on euthanasia in England & Wales and Canada, and his Master’s research examined heteronormativity in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
He is completing a doctoral thesis at the University of Sussex on the comparative regulation of assisted dying in England & Wales and Canada, supervised by Professor Jo Bridgeman and Dr Ruth Stirton.
His doctoral research draws together constitutional law, human rights, healthcare law, political theory, and regulatory theory to examine divergent approaches to assisted dying regulation.
Teaching
Chay teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate Law programmes at the University of Chichester.
Prior to joining Chichester, Chay taught across a range of higher education institutions, developing experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across subjects including Criminal Law, Medical Law and Ethics, Criminology, and Public Health.
He has a particular interest in inclusive and innovative pedagogies and in the design of assessments that develop students’ analytical and communication skills.
Chay has received recognition in previous institutions for teaching and wider contributions to academic life.
He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research
Chay’s research sits at the intersection of healthcare law, human rights law, and comparative law. His doctoral thesis offers a sustained comparative and socio-legal analysis of the regulation of assisted dying in England & Wales and Canada, organised around three analytical dimensions: the role of courts and judges as guardians of fundamental rights; the human rights framework through which assisted dying is contested, and the regulatory architecture developed in jurisdictions that influences the approaches to regulation.
Chay’s research interests include the comparative development of assisted dying regulation across Commonwealth jurisdictions, as well as European comparators; and has a further conceptual interest in the foundations of the right to die, including the role of autonomy, dignity, suffering, and vulnerability.
He is also interested in comparative healthcare law as a methodology, and in the theoretical foundations of how legal scholars compare across healthcare systems and jurisdictions.
Key Publications
- Chay Burt, ‘The Long Shadow of Assisted Dying Reform’ (2026) SLSA Blog Series: Assisted Dying
- Chay Burt, ‘The Spectre of Canada: What Parliament Fears —And Misunderstands’ (2025) British Association of Comparative Law Blog
- Chay Burt, ‘Assisted Dying Bill [HL]: Ignorance Within the House?‘ (2023) 74(4) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 773
- Chay Burt, ‘Mortier v Belgium [2022] ECHR 764: Warning Signs for Assisted Dying Regulation?‘ (2023) 31(4) Medical Law Review 615
Dissertation Supervision
Chay welcomes enquiries from students interested in pursuing dissertation research in the following areas:
- Medical Law and Ethics
- Constitutional and Human Rights Law
- Comparative Law
- Sexual Offences
