Major areas of ongoing research
A number of large-scale, often collaborative research projects are ongoing within the centre's major areas of substantive interest:
International Law of Treaties
Highlights in this area were undoubtedly the two major international workshops held in Nottingham in September 2012 and London in January 2013. Sessions were chaired by Dino Kritsiotis and Michael Bowman and involved presentations from leading academic, several highly promising scholars from both the UK and abroad, as well as jurists with extensive experience.
Heritage Law
A number of major works have recently been produced by members in this area, including Sarah Dromgoole's Underwater Cultural Heritage and International Law (2013 Cambridge University Press).
Treaty-making practice
A series of essays have been published based on presentations given by members of the Centre on the role of institutional arrangements in international environmental treaties.
The essays were published in a special issue of the International Community Law Review (Vol 15, Issue 1, 2013). They include studies of the role of plenary political bodies with regard to non-compliance with treaty obligations, and of the question of institutional governance viewed from an ecological perspective.
Climate change
Centre members have published numerous works on the question of climate change in recent years, and two PhD students are nearing completion:
- Mattia Fosci on the UN's REDD+ scheme for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation;
- Kieren McGuffin on the displacement of individuals as a result of climate change and other environmental disturbances.
In 2012, Tom West was awarded the 2012 Simon Bell prize for student achievement in the field of environmental law for his dissertation entitled, 'Environmental justice and international climate change legislation: a cosmopolitan perspective'.