SCELG Welcomes Visiting Researchers

April 2018: We are pleased to introduce a new group of visiting researchers to the centre.

Margherita Brunori

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.

Giada Giacomini

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 Saskia Vermeylen for the whole duration of the Environmental Justice seminar (undergraduate).

Núria Reguart Segarra

Núria holds a Law degree from University Jaume I of Castellón, 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.