Dr Rebecca Rose Nocella
BA, MA, LLM, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Law
Oxford Brookes Law School
Role
I am the Subject Coordinator for the Foundation Year in Law programme. I carry out research and represent Brookes at national and international conferences. I teach across all three levels of study in the Oxford Brookes Law School (FY, LLB, and LLM). I am module leader for Principles of Criminal Law and Reading Cases at level 3, and Crime and Society at level 6. I also teach on criminal law level 4, Marriage, Cohabitation and the Law and Employment Law at level 5. Being an expert on platform work, I also contribute to the module of Computer Law and AI.
Teaching and supervision
Courses
Modules taught
Modules taught Principles of Criminal Law and Reading Cases Crime & Society Marriage, Cohabitation, and the Law Employment Law Criminal Law Computer Law and Artificial Intelligence
Supervision
Research
My research focuses on vulnerable workers in the platform economy, including sex workers, content creators, and social media influencers. More broadly, I am interested in atypical forms of work and the legal challenges surrounding employment status and labour protections in changing labour markets.
Research impact
My research has the potential to improve the working conditions of workers across the gig economy, including Uber drivers, Deliveroo riders, and content creators who depend on online platforms for their livelihood. My research also has the potential to inform and support government initiatives aimed at reforming the labour market, particularly in relation to the legal framework and indicators used to determine employment status.
Centres and institutes
Groups
Publications
Professional information
Memberships of professional bodies
I am also a member of the International Society of Humour Studies. A strand of my research examines the role of humour in the law, exploring how judges are often required to draw the line between humour that is socially acceptable or genuinely funny and humour that may be considered offensive, harmful, or discriminatory. Research impact Centres and institutes Centre for Legal, Criminological and Social Justice Research Groups Critical Perspectives on Law, Gender and Diversity (CPLGD) Memberships of professional bodies Member of the European Sex Work Research Network (ESWORN), the Labour Law Research Network (LLRN), the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), and the International Society of Humor Studies (ISHS)
Conferences
2026 “It Was Only Banter’: Workplace Humour and the Limits of Fair Dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996’ 36th International Society of Humour Studies Annual Conference,Niterói – RJ(Brazil) July 6 - 10, 2026. 2026 [invited speaker] ‘Public Perceptions of Obscenity in the Italian Criminal Code: Quantitative Insights’ University of Brescia, 25th-26th May 206. 2025 [invited speaker] ‘“What’s in a Name?” When the Employment Rights Bill fails to Define Worker Status’; Workshop LAVORO SESSUALE E PIATTAFORME DIGITALI; University of Brescia, - 27 November 2025. 2025 ‘Between Contractor and Employee Status: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Sex Work in the Era of the Gig Economy’; Labour 2030 Conference, Porto, 10th September. 2025 Gags and the Gig Economy: Understanding the Production of Stand-Up; International Society of Humour Studies Annual Conference, Kraków, 10th July.