Stephanie Hawkins

PhD Researcher

Stephanie Hawkins explores in her PhD research how attention to the concepts of social and environmental justice can help assess and inform legal and policy frameworks for transboundary aquifer governance. Stephanie’s research focuses on the Southern African region, and specifically on the Stampriet aquifer system shared between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and the Ramotswa aquifer system shared between South Africa and Botswana.

Stephanie’s most recent activities include:

• working as a research assistant at the University of Aberdeen, School of Law as a partner in the European Commission project: Decision Analytic Framework to explore the water-energy-food Nexus in complex transboundary water resource systems of fast developing countries (DAFNE Project)
• working as a consultant for the International Water Management Institute’s (IWMI) RAMOTSWA Aquifer project Phase II, working on institutional analysis for the joint Strategic Action Plan between Botswana and South Africa, as well as gender considerations in law, policy and cooperative assessments 
• publishing a book chapter in the Routledge Handbook on Water Law and Policy: Farnum, R.L., Hawkins, S. and Tamarin, M., (2017) ‘Hydro-hegemony and international water law’, in: Rieu-Clarke, A., Allan, A. and Hendry, S. (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Water Law and Policy (Routledge)
• an oral presentation on social-environmental justice in transboundary law and institutions at the Tarragona International Environmental Law Colloquium at Rovira i Virgili University, Spain on 5-6 May 2016
• publishing a book review in the journal Water International on Bjørn-Oliver Magsig’s ‘International water law and the quest for common security’
• attending a British Council funded Researcher Links workshop on groundwater governance between 22-26 February 2016, leading to a contribution to the SCELG working paper 4/2016
• co-authoring a journal article in the Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL) on comparative analysis of transboundary aquifer law

Prior to joining the University of Strathclyde, Stephanie obtained an LLB in Law with American Law and an MSc in Water Security and International Development from the University of East Anglia (UEA). She also has previous research experiences with the UEA Water Security Research Centre, and an environmental NGO in the Middle East.