Staff profile

Dr Rachel Jenkins is a socio-legal scholar working at the intersection of healthcare law, mental capacity, disability, and feminist legal theory. She completed her ESRC-funded PhD in Law at Durham University in 2026, passing her viva with no corrections, and is a fellow of CELLS. Her doctoral research examined the legal regulation of anorexia nervosa, focusing on capacity, consent, coercion, and compulsory treatment. Her research combines doctrinal legal analysis with empirical and interdisciplinary methods, including original research based on over 1,400 Freedom of Information requests.

Dr Jenkins’ research interests include mental health and capacity law, healthcare law, disability law, and the relationship between law, vulnerability and coercion. She is developing her doctoral research into a monograph and a series of interdisciplinary publications.

Dr Jenkins teaches Medical Law on the LLB programme at Durham, having previously taught Criminal Law and Law and Medicine at Durham, and Intellectual Property Law at the University of Bristol. She has also undertaken policy-focused research through a UKRI-funded Ministry of Justice Fellowship examining neurodivergence, mental health and protected characteristics within the criminal justice system.

She has worked as a Research Assistant on major academic publications, published in legal and interdisciplinary healthcare journals, and is a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. She is also a Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University Law School, working on disability law, mental capacity, and health and social care.

Publications

Chapters in Edited Books

• Jenkins, Rachel & Laing, Judith (2022). Eating Difficulties and The Law. In The Practical Handbook of Eating Difficulties A Comprehensive Guide from Personal and Professional Perspectives Lewis, Hannah, Hopfenbeck, Mark, Downs, James, Schnackenberg, Nicole, Parker, Isla, Pavilion.

Journal Articles 

• Last Resort as a Justification for Compulsory Nasogastric Tube Feeding of Adults with Anorexia Nervosa Cave, E., & Jenkins, R. (2026). Last Resort as a Justification for Compulsory Nasogastric Tube Feeding of Adults with Anorexia Nervosa. Medical Law International. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/09685332261424924
• Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders Tan, J., Cave, E., Keene, A. R., Kern, N., Bradshaw, A., Griffiths, J., Jenkins, R., & Robinson, P. (2025). Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10490

Blog contributions

• Jenkins, Rachel (2023). End of Life Care for Patients with Severe Eating Disorders in Canada and Great Britain. Available at: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/ethics-law-life-sciences/about-us/news/cells-blog/end-of-life-care-for-patients-with-severe-eating-disorders-in-canada-and-great-britain-/

Research Centres

• Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences
• Gender and Law at Durham (GLAD)

Research Interests

• Medical Law
• Medical Ethics
• Capacity
• Mental Health Law
• Healthcare Research

Journal Article

• Last Resort as a Justification for Compulsory Nasogastric Tube Feeding of Adults with Anorexia Nervosa
  
  Cave, E., & Jenkins, R. (2026). Last Resort as a Justification for Compulsory Nasogastric Tube Feeding of Adults with Anorexia Nervosa. Medical Law International. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/09685332261424924
• Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders
  
  Tan, J., Cave, E., Ruck Keene, A., Kern, N., Bradshaw, A., Griffiths, J., Jenkins, R., & Robinson, P. (2025). Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10490
• Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders
  
  Tan, J., Cave, E., Keene, A. R., Kern, N., Bradshaw, A., Griffiths, J., Jenkins, R., & Robinson, P. (2025). Legal decisions on longstanding severe eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10490