Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & GovernanceVisiting reseachers

Giulia Sajeva

Department of Culture and Society, University of Palermo, Italy 

Giulia is a researcher in Political Philosophy at the Department of Culture and Society at the University of Palermo, Italy, and a SCELG affiliate. Her background builds, mostly, on political philosophy and legal theory, and concentrates on human rights and the conservation of the environment. She teaches classes in human rights theory, and intersectionality between race, class and gender, and is currently working on the rights of local communities, small-scale fisheries in particular, and the rights of nature. Giulia is a former Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellow at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, under Prof. Elisa Morgera’s supervision, where she focused on the Rights for Ecosystem Services Framework.  

During her visit at SCELG Giulia focused on the writing of her monograph on Rights for Ecosystem Services, working in particular on Earth Jurisprudence, nature’s rights, and environmental rights. 

Giulia Ciliberto

August - September 2023 

Research Fellow, University of Cagliari, Italy 

Dr Giulia Ciliberto is research fellow (RTD-A) in International Law at the Department of Political and Social Science of University of Cagliari, a reporter for ORIL-IHRL, and an Expert on International Protection and Human Rights, appointed by UNHCR (not affiliated).

She obtained her Law Degree (2017) and PhD (2021) at University of Napoli Federico II. She was postdoctoral research fellow in international law at CNR-IRISS, Napoli (2021), and research fellow in international law at the Law Department of University of Cagliari (2022-2023). Her current research interests focus on public participation as a means to foster States' compliance with international environmental obligations. She has also addressed topics related to international protection of human rights, with specific attention to socioeconomic rights in contexts of sovereign debt crisis, and international and EU migration law. 

During her time at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, Giulia has performed research on multilateral development banks' accountability towards external individuals, with a particular focus on internal accountability mechanisms which may be triggered by persons and populations affected or likely to be affected by loan development projects.

Mar Campins Eritja

September – December 2022

Faculty of Law. University of Barcelona. Spain

Prof. Mar Campins Eritja is Full Professor of Public International Law and EU Law at Universitat de Barcelona (UB). Her main areas of teaching and research are EU Law and European and International Environmental Law, with a focus on climate change international regime. She has led and participated in various competitive research projects and published several articles and monographies in these areas. 

Prof. Campins i Eritja holds a Jean Monnet Chair on Environmental EU Law. During her stay at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance her research has focused on the legal and regulatory implications of the nexus between biodiversity, climate change and global public health on the path of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chrysa Alexandraki

March – April 2020

Doctoral Researcher, University of Luxembourg Law School

Chrysa’s research focuses on climate finance and its legal aspects. In particular, Chrysa investigates the role of law in shaping the climate finance obligation and analyses the mechanics of climate finance from a legal perspective. While at Strathclyde, Chrysa concentrates on writing a chapter of her PhD, as well as evolving her research through collaboration and interaction with the SCELG members. 

Giovanni Ardito

March - June 2020

PhD Candidate, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Giovanni’s field of research is Public International Law, with a focus on the Law of the Sea and International Human Rights Law. Currently, Giovanni is working on his PhD thesis on “The role of the International Seabed Authority for the protection of the marine environment: from mineral to genetic resources”. The study is aimed at analysing the instruments developed by the Authority and forecasted by the UNCLOS for the protection of the deep seabed environment, on the eve of the approval of the Regulation on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area. During his time at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, Giovanni will conduct research on the BBNJ Treaty under negotiation to analyse the possible contribution of the Authority to the management and conservation of marine genetic resources beyond national jurisdiction. He will also look at the interaction between biodiversity and Human Rights Law.  

Birgit Hollaus

January - February 2019

Doctoral Candidate and Teaching and Research Associate, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria.

Birgit specialises in international, European and domestic environmental law. Within this field, she is particularly interested in questions of public participation and access to justice. During her time at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, Birgit will further the research for her doctoral thesis on compliance mechanisms in multilateral environmental agreements. With an interest for ways to enhance the effectiveness of (international) environmental law, she investigates how the EU interacts with such mechanisms and their decisions. In the international law part of her thesis, she sets out to demonstrate a “judicialisation” of such mechanisms at the international level and examines the consequences their decisions.

Gastón Médici Colombo

March - June 2019

PhD Candidate and Research Fellow, Rovira i Virgili University, Spain.

As a research fellow, Gastón’s field of work is human rights and environmental law, with focus on climate change. Gastón is currently working on his PhD thesis on “Climate change litigation in the Latin American scope”. His research is part of a CEDAT project called “Global Climate Constitution: Governance and law in a complex context”. The general aim of his work is studying the possible perspectives and limits of litigation as a tool to improve climate justice in Latin America. During his time at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, he is aimed to work in different research papers related to his topic and collaborate with SCELG projects.

During his time at SCELG Gaston collaborated in the Climate Change Litigation Initiative and worked on a paper published as a SCELG Working Paper, G Medici Colombo and L Wegener, The Value of Climate Change-Impacted Litigation: An Alternative Perspective on the Phenomenon of 'Climate Change Litigation', SCELG Working Paper 12/2019

Lennart Wegener

February - May 2019

PhD Candidate and Research Fellow, University of Göttingen, Germany.

As a research fellow, Lennart’s field of work is public international law and European law, in particular international and European environmental law. While at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, he will carry out research for his PhD thesis on climate change law and governance. He is investigating the interrelation between the Paris Agreement and domestic governance as well as domestic climate change litigation from a rule of law perspective.

During his time at SCELG Lennart collaborated in the Climate Change Litigation Initiative and worked on a paper published as a SCELG Working Paper, G Medici Colombo and L Wegener, The Value of Climate Change-Impacted Litigation: An Alternative Perspective on the Phenomenon of 'Climate Change Litigation', SCELG Working Paper 12/2019

Mariana Caroline Scholz

November 2018 - August 2019

PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in Law, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Mariana’s field of research is Public International Law, with focus on Economics and Environment in International Law. Mariana is currently working on her thesis on “Biodiversity, intensive agriculture and the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”, the general aim of this study is to investigate the policies and international commitments under the Paris Agreement to conserve biodiversity. During her time at Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance is aimed writing her PhD chapters and in collaboration with SCELG members investigate more deeply the field of law for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, considering intensive agriculture and the Paris Agreement. Mariana is part of the Group of Advanced Studies of Economics and Environment in International Law (EMAE).

Sergio Salinas Alcega

November - December 2018

Faculty of Law. University of Zaragoza. Spain

Dr. Sergio Salinas is Professor of Public International Law and Law of European Union at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and his fields of research focus on international and European environmental law, including water law. Member of the Water, Law and Environment Research Group of the University of Zaragoza. His stay at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance is aimed at studying two issues related to international environmental law: the situation of environmental refugees and the problems of the governance of major environmental problems, in particular climate change.

Partha Pratim Medhi

June - July 2018

PhD Student, North-Eastern Hill University (Meghalaya, India)

Partha’s area of research focuses on the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism in India with special emphasis on the domestic laws, pertaining to the Intellectual Property regime. He is concentrating on the functioning of the ABS mechanism in India which finds its prevalence primarily in the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 and the Biodiversity Act, 2002. He is involved in examining the provisions of the said legislations and whether they are truly benefitting the stake-holders. In light of this question, he is exploring the role of the ABS mechanism, so far, in ensuring the rights of the traditional knowledge-holders, the indigenous communities and farmers. His time as a visiting researcher in the University of Strathclyde involves studying the ABS mechanism in light of the Nagoya Protocol and related international instruments, and how the Indian stake-holders can derive maximum benefit from the same. He aims at publication of his findings as a research article.

Lysa Wini

June - December 2018

Lysa Orodo Wini is a United Nations Fellow with the Division of Ocean Affairs & Law of the Sea, United Nations and is funded under the United Nations NIPPON Foundation Program.

Lysa writes that, "The greatest threat to oceans comes from failure to deal with threats and potential conflicts in the ocean. Solomon Islands recognised that it is a major risk if it continues to allow these threats to accumulate into a destructive cycle of degradation in which the ocean can no longer benefit and sustain the livelihood of Solomon Islanders. Therefore, my research will focus on Ocean governance as a framework for effective resource management. I will focus on understanding the key elements and how they fit into the broad categories of legal, policy, institutional and operational framework. In my analysis, I will do case studies on countries and regional cooperation that had developed and implemented their integrated ocean policies, and draw practical lessons for Solomon Islands. I will then briefly look at the human dimension in ocean governance – the role and need for multi scale collaboration in ocean governance."

Giovanni Maria Dettori

April – June 2018

Faculty of Political Science, Sapienza University of Rome

Giovanni’s research is focused on the evolution of the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility” on greenhouse gas emissions before and after the Paris Agreement on Climate Change of 2015. His works includes a deep analysis of the sources and of the enforcement of this principle, including an historical outline about the differences between the Developed and Developing Countries from the post-colonial era onwards, underlining how this debate has influenced the entire international environmental law system, how it has evolved over the time, and how is going to play a role in the post 2020 Climate Regime.

Margherita Brunori

March – May 2018

Margherita’s research area is the international regulation on security of tenure and access to land and other natural resources. In her PhD thesis, she has explored the contribution of human rights law, sustainable development and development financing in the elaboration of international standards on equitable and secure access to land. In her analysis, she has focused on soft law instruments adopted by United Nations bodies and agencies, as to further the understanding of current dynamics of standard-making on land matters and clarify the role of voluntary instruments in the development of international law, more generally. She is currently developing some of her research findings on international indicators and on the new World Bank Environmental and Social Standards. During the three-months visiting period with SCELG, she works for the BeneLex research group by conducting a literature review on the role of international law in transitioning to a green economy. She also contributes to the communication and diffusion of the Benelex project by drawing illustrations of its research findings. Margherita has obtained her PhD at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and in June she will begin a Post-doc at the University of Milan on the Right to Food.

Núria Reguart-Segarra

April - July 2018
PhD Student, Lecturer and Researcher in training at the University Jaume I of Castellón (Spain)

Núria holds a Law degree from that university, which allowed her to obtain the Extraordinary Award in the Law degree referring to the academic year 2014-15, along with a Diploma in academic performance in the Law degree, both awarded by the University Jaume I. She has also been granted a Certificate in academic excellence by the Generalitat Valenciana, the relevant regional organism. She then studied a Master’s Degree in Legal Practice at the same university and is authorized to practice as a lawyer by the Spanish Ministry of Justice.The Generalitat Valenciana has awarded a predoctoral grant to Núria. Her PhD research project focuses on indigenous peoples and the protection of their religious convictions in land and water grabbing conflicts.

While at SCELG Nuria worked on a paper that has been published in a leading international law journal: N. Reguart-Segarra, “Business, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Security in the Case Law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”, 4.1 Business and Human Rights Journal (2019), p. 1-22 She also published a paper in Spanish based on her research at SCELG N. Reguart-Segarra, “La protección del conocimiento tradicional indígena a través del derecho a la libertad religiosa: Un nuevo frente en la lucha contra el cambio climático”, 49 Revista General de Derecho Canónico y Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado (2019)

Giada Giacomini

February - August 2018
Ph.D candidate in international order and human rights (Sapienza University of Rome)
giada.giacomini@uniroma1.it

Giada's research entails the protection of indigenous peoples' rights in the context of climate change. In particular, she is investigating how - and to what extent - the international human rights and environmental law regime are dealing with the impacts of climate change on vulnerable indigenous communities and what solutions are being proposed by governments and international organizations. During her visiting period at Strathclyde, Giada is dealing with a chapter of her PhD thesis which regards the centrality of the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in relation to any legislative or administrative measure that might affect indigenous peoples' rights, with a focus on the Indigenous Peoples' Policy of the Green Climate Fund. The case study Giada is investigating regards the implementation of a GCF climate change adaptation project in Peru, which required a full understanding of the Peruvian domestic legislation on indigenous peoples' participatory rights and its harmonization with international human rights standards. At the same time, Giada has been assisting her supervisor Dr Saskia Vermeylen for the whole duration of the Environmental Justice seminar (undergraduate).

Dimitri Pag-Yendu

March – August 2017
Ph.D Candidate in International Law at Université Laval (Quebec, Canada)
pag.yendu@gmail.com

Dimitri Pag-yendu’ research pertains to the interplay between the Nagoya Protocol provisions' on benefit-sharing with Indigenous People and Local Communities, for the use of their Traditional Knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources, and the legal protection of such TK in the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization. During his residency period at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, he focuses on the writing of the theoretical framework and the first two chapters of his thesis whom several parts have already been published as peer-reviewed paper or conference proceedings. Throughout the very fruitful discussions with the BENELEX Research Project’s members, he is deepening his knowledge of the Access and Benefit-Sharing’s field. At the V Postgraduate Colloquium on Environmental Law and Governance, he will present a communication which sheds light on how biopiracy claims are socially constructed, and their consequences in International Law. His stay in the Strathclyde University Law School is funded with the generous support of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Centre of McGill University and the Fonds de Recherche Québec Nature et Technologies.

Marie-Catherine Petersmann

January – May 2017
Ph.D Candidate in International Law at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy
marie-catherine.petersmann@eui.eu

Marie-Catherine’s research focuses on the conflicting relationship between environmental protection and human rights. More specifically, she investigates how international human rights adjudicators manage specific conflicts of norms – when environmental protection legislations negatively impact human rights – and how they reconcile these two legitimate yet colliding legal obligations. While at Strathclyde, Marie concentrates on the writing of a chapter of her Ph.D in which she traces back the legislative construction and evolution of the relationship between environmental protection and human rights, and sheds light on the paradigm shift from an ecocentric to an anthropocentric understanding of this nexus. Simultaneously, Marie is also finalising the drafting of a chapter on ‘Environmental Protection and Human Rights: When Friends become Foes – Conflict Management of the CJEU’ (published in the edited volume by Christina Voigt and Louis J. Kotzé, The Environment in International Courts and Tribunals: Questions of Legitimacy, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2017); and drafting a Blog Post on ‘The latest World Bank Environmental and Social Framework: Progress for Fair and Equitable Benefit-Sharing?’ for the BENELEX Research Project. Finally, Marie is part of the Organising Committee of the V Postgraduate Colloquium on Environmental Law and Governance.

Laura Movilla

March 2015-June 2016

Faculty of Law. University of Vigo. Spain

Dr. Laura Movilla is lecturer of Public International Law at the faculty of law of the University of Vigo, Spain. Her PhD thesis focused on the international law of transboundary aquifers.  During her stay at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance she investigated more deeply this field, in collaboration with SCELG members involved in the same research area. Her stay was funded by a Caledonian Research Fund European Visiting Research Fellowship.

Sergio Messina

September 2014-March 2015

University of Salerno, Italy

Sergio Messina is working on the concept of “ecological democracy” that includes the wider debate around democracy and participation in the context of sustainable development, international environmental law and politics. His research project is specifically focused on the role of citizens and scientific experts towards a definition of a “green public sphere” (and its connections in the multilevel environmental governance) that involves the current international environmental regimes and underlying ethics whence inspired. Particular attention is devoted also to the notion of “environmental justice” exploring the role of subjects like indigenous people or simply local citizens who often lack the possibility to contribute to political and normative decisions in international, nationals and local arenas.

Christopher Arup

September 2013-October 2013

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Professor Arup is a professor of business law at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and a visitor to the Centre for Environmental Law and Governance.  With colleagues, he is working on an Australian Research Council discovery project, the regulation of carbon offsets.  The team has been conducting research interviews in Australia, China, Europe and the United States.  Professor Arup has long standing experience in regulatory and socio-legal studies.  He is the author of a number of books and articles, including the monograph The World Trade Organization Knowledge Agreements (second edition, 2008).  He is co-editor of the international Cambridge University Press series, Studies in Law and Society, and he is a member of the program committee for the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting.

While at SCELG Prof Arup worked on a paper that has been published in a leading international environmental law journal: C Arup and H Zhang, “Lessons from Regulating Carbon Offsets”, (2015) 4 Transnational Environmental Law 69-100.

He also participates in SCELG Seminar Series with the seminar "Carbon offset: market, law and governance" on October 2013

Mireia Martinez Barrabas

February 2013- July 2013

Faculty of Law. University of Barcelona. Spain

Dr. Mireia Martinez is assistant lecturer at the faculty of law of the University of Barcelona. In her PhD thesis, Dr. Martinez has closely examined the patentability of biotechnological inventions in the context of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. At the University of Strathclyde, Dr. Martinez explored further on different aspects within the theme of access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of such resources. In this context, her focus is essentially on the Nagoya Protocol 2010 analysing legal and economic aspects of implementing this international agreement.

She also participated in SCELG Seminar Series on September 2013 with the talk "The Nagoya Protocol: the obligation of share benefit from the utilisation of genetic resources"

Francesca Bongiovanni

April 2013-June 2013

Italian Institute of Human Science (SUM). Florence, Italy

Nuclear waste management has been one of the most controversial issues together with nuclear power. Because it is not possible to delimitate the impact area of radioactive waste effects, nuclear waste management requires transnational cooperation through traditional diplomatic instruments and the adoption of common standards by global bodies (IAEA, NEA, EURATOM, ICRP). The legacy of growing spent fuel and high-level waste also requires proper management long into the future and the consent of the public. All such considerations raise questions about principle, common standard, procedural rules and the extent of transnational cooperation for the management of nuclear waste.

Ana Lucia Desenzi Gesicki

August 2012-July 2013

Brasilian National Departement of Mineral Production (DNPM). Brazil

The research is focused on the regulation of mineral water in Brazil in comparison with the legal framework for dealing with water resources and environment. Mineral water is considered as a mineral substance by law and is defined as groundwater with an identifiable chemical composition that is either bottled or for spa purposes. Mineral water and groundwater used for other purposes rely on different legal frameworks and different institutions are in charge of their management, which sometimes result in not easily-solved conflicts of competences. The research aims to look at ways to enhance Brazil's regulation through a comparative study of regulation of mineral water with selected European countries.

Dr. Desenzi Gesicki participated in SCELG Seminar Series with the talk "Mineral Waters in Brazil –regulatory framework and comparative legal perspective relating to water resource management" on June 2013