Michael has been a researcher at Omega since 2007. He has a particular focus investigating the global manufacture and trade in law enforcement equipment used in torture and other ill-treatment. He undertakes related high-level advocacy to advance national, regional, and international regulation of this trade, notably at the UN and in the European region. He is a member of the European Commission’s expert group advising on strengthening the EU Anti-Torture Regulation, and has been an Independent Consultant for the Council of Europe on these issues. He has worked to support the current (and previous) UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s focus on torture-free trade and represents Omega in the core organising group of the Torture-Free Trade Network.
Michael is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bradford, investigating less lethal weapons, and chemical, biological and toxin weapons. His latest book is: Toxin and bioregulator weapons: preventing the misuse of the chemical and life sciences, co-authored with Prof Malcolm Dando, Palgrave Macmillan (2022). He has a PhD from the University of Bradford.