Hey!
I'm Todd Davies, a final year PhD candidate in Competition Law at University College London, supervised by Ioannis Lianos, Deni Mantzari and David Murrell. I also work as a graduate lecturer at the UCL Faculty of Laws.
What I research
Competition law is the set of rules that keeps our market economies free, open, and fair. It prevents companies which are supposed to be competing with each other from simply deciding not to, and stops powerful companies from bullying others. My PhD focuses on how extremely large companies, like Google, Apple, Meta, or Amazon, can damage the competitive structure of markets, even in ways that are hard to see.
To make these harms visible, I borrow ideas from an unexpected place: theoretical ecology, the science of how species coexist and compete in nature. Just as ecologists study what happens when an invasive species takes over an ecosystem, I study what happens when a dominant platform reshapes its market. This leads me to propose new ways of understanding exclusionary abuse of dominance under Article 102 TFEU, the main EU law that regulates market power.
What I work on beyond the PhD
Alongside my thesis, I research and write on a broad range of topics in EU competition law and digital market regulation, including merger control, the Digital Markets Act, platform self-preferencing, ad tech, generative AI, and the relationship between competition enforcement and democracy. I have published in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics, the Utrecht Law Review, Frontiers in Sustainability, Tech Policy Press, and Verfassungsblog, among other outlets. A full list is on my publications page.
I also advise policymakers directly. In 2025, I provided independent advice to the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition on the implementation of the Digital Markets Act. In 2026, I have been advising the UK Competition and Markets Authority on pro-competitive interventions under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.
I regularly blog, speak at conferences, and appear in media on these topics. I co-manage the Cambridge–UCL Competition Law and Policy Hub with colleagues across both universities.
Background
Before academia, I spent six years as a software engineer at Google (2016–22), mostly on the security and privacy team. That experience gives me a practitioner's understanding of how large technology companies build products, make decisions, and respond to regulation. I now bring that perspective to my legal research.
I hold a master's degree in Politics and Technology from the Technical University Munich and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from The University of Manchester.
Blog
Recent posts:
2026 Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards Nomination (2026-01-12)
I'm delighted to have been nominated, along with Spencer Cohen, for the Best Student Paper award in the 2026 Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards. Our nominated paper, Error Costs, Platform Regulation and Democracy, was recently published in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics (open access). [...]
Podcast - The Future of Enforcement and Compliance? How Computational Antitrust is Used (2025-12-29)
I appeared on the American Bar Association's Our Curious Amalgam podcast to discuss computational antitrust with hosts Matthew Hall and Anora Wang. We covered what it is, how competition authorities are adopting it, the emerging risk of AI tools being used by companies to evade enforcement, and how regulators might respond. [...]
Colophon (2025-12-28)
'Walk and Talk' with Duncan Hull at the University of Manchester (2025-12-15)
Who are Tech Experts and What Can They Bring to Competition Enforcement? (2025-12-11)
Competition authorities like the CMA and European Commission are increasingly hiring technologists to enforce competition law in digital markets, but 'tech expert' is not a monolithic category. Software engineers, site reliability engineers, data scientists, UX designers, project managers, and computer scientists each bring distinct expertise relevant to platform regulation. This post explores their contributions & skillsets. [...]
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