Sarah's story

A chat with a Careers Adviser encouraged me to turn my research into a business. I began developing my ideas with the support of Sussex Innovation Centre, and my confidence has just grown and grown.” Sarah Stephens
Doctoral student and Senior Lecturer in Legal Innovation

“My career has been shaped by a passion for justice. As a young Law student, I spent a summer volunteering in Kenya, where I worked with a local legal community to support their work in establishing a free legal advice centre. This was a pivotal experience for me as it sparked questions around who has access to legal support, and the barriers encountered by those who need it most.

After returning to the UK, I went on to work as a corporate lawyer for over a decade before completing a Masters degree in Human Rights Law. In 2015, my family and I moved to Tanzania, where I worked on projects that focused on making justice more accessible and affordable. I became particularly interested in supporting women with their everyday justice needs, particularly in relation to marital, inheritance and land rights - I’d heard so many cases of women and children being left destitute when they didn’t know their rights, or how to claim and enforce them.

For most of the population in Tanzania, mobile phones are key to connectivity as well as communication, with around 90% of internet use accessed via mobile phones rather than Wi-Fi routers. I began to wonder how we might harness mobile phones to educate people about their rights through chat bots and apps. I knew I’d need to learn more about software development and the social context of digital innovation in Tanzania, so decided to pursue further study. I chose to enrol at Sussex after reading Dr Helen Dancer’s research on the unequal inheritance rights of women under Tanzanian law, and was also drawn to the world-class Institute of Development Studies (IDS).

My PhD experience has been completely transformational. I’m a bit of an unusual candidate as I’m totally interdisciplinary – I'm based at IDS, but I have supervisors in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, and I also work closely with the School of Engineering and Informatics. As a practitioner, I’m particularly interested in applied academia, which is why I think I’ve been so drawn to entrepreneurship.

A chat with a Careers Adviser encouraged me to turn my research into a business. I began developing my ideas with the support of Sussex Innovation Centre, and my confidence has just grown and grown. I received a Santander Elevate Grant to get my early-stage concepts off the ground, and applied for StartUp Sussex the following year, where I won second prize and an invitation to join the Summer Accelerator. I also applied for the Big Ideas competition, where I was selected to compete at UC Berkeley! I’m now in the process of registering my start-up as a social enterprise, with the ambition of providing affordable and accessible justice services to underserved communities.

I’m so grateful to have connected with mentors who have taken the time to really listen to me. The first year of entrepreneurship mostly involves plugging away and persevering at ideas that take time to develop, so being supported by people who take you seriously and know how to sort out the jumbled plans in your head has been invaluable.

I’ve made so many incredible contacts at Sussex who have offered advice on subjects including branding, intellectual property (IP), operations and financial management. Questions like ‘How do I build mobile technology?’ or ‘How do I get the app in the hands of the women who need it?’ can feel daunting when you’re new to the startup space, but everyone has been so enthusiastic and generous when sharing their knowledge and their time.

The opportunities Sussex has given me have been incredible, and I didn’t see them coming at all. I feel as though I’ve found a spiritual home in the Department of Law, where I’m now a Senior Lecturer in Legal Innovation and Co-Deputy Director of the newly formed Sussex Centre of Law Technology. I didn’t know what to expect from my PhD, but my time at Sussex has opened so many doors. I’m so grateful to my supervisors, mentors, advisers, colleagues and friends who have encouraged and supported me along the way.”