New book by Eric Ip on Planetary Health Law and Governance (Cambridge University Press)

Planetary Health Law and Governance
Eric Ip
Elements in Earth System Governance, Cambridge Elements

Cambridge University Press

Published online: Aug 2026
86 pp.

Summary: This Element examines the legal infrastructure required to address the intertwined health and environmental crises of the Anthropocene. It introduces planetary health law as an emerging transdisciplinary paradigm that integrates global health law and international environmental law to tackle the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution on humanity and the broader biosphere. The Element highlights the shortcomings of current frameworks, which remain largely voluntary and anthropocentric. It makes the case for a comprehensive planetary health law framework that recognizes both the human right to a healthy planet and the planetary right to health. This integrated approach would catalyze systemic institutional reform. Key proposals include the creation of a Planetary Health Organization to coordinate the work of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, alongside a Planetary Health Tribunal to enforce Nature-oriented norms and accountability. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

HKU Law Welcomes Prof. Michael Tsimplis

Welcome to Prof. Michael Tsimplis, who joins the Faculty of Law as a Professor.

Professor Michael (Mikis) Tsimplis has been with the Faculty of Law since July 2026. Before joining HKU Mikis worked for CityU (2018-2026). Before 2018 Mikis worked in various academic and leadership positions for the University of Southampton and before that for the UK Natural Environment Research Council. He has taught various courses, including Admiralty Law, Admiralty Enforcement, Charterparties, Bills of Lading, Energy and Environment Law, Law of International Sales, Legal Concepts, Insurance Law, Private International Law, Commercial Contracts, Legal Concepts Law of the Marine Environment in academic and professional courses around the world. Mikis undertakes research in marine, maritime, commercial, and environmental law as well as keeping an interest in oceanography and environmental science. He has led and contributed to various international and interdisciplinary projects and has published mainly in law, oceanography and sea level rise, with extensive interdisciplinary collaborations. He has been involved in the quality assessment and accreditation of university departments and the evaluation of research proposals for national and international bodies. 

Congratulations to Professor Ying Xia and Professor Ying Zhu!

Congratulations to Prof. Ying Xia and Prof. Ying Zhu on their promotion to Associate Professor! 

Prof. Xia is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work focuses on environmental governance and developmental studies, taking a socio-legal approach. She is a leading contributor to the rapidly growing field of environmental governance in China. To read more about Prof. Xia's research and publications, click here.

Prof. Zhu is a distinguished legal scholar specialising in trade and investment, in particular sanctions, compliance, and other cutting-edge fields, working closely with policy-makers at both the national and international levels. To read more about Prof. Zhu's research and publications, click here.

Prof. Ying Xia and Prof. Ying Zhu are valuable members of our Faculty, and this promotion is a well-deserved recognition of their contributions.

Ying Xia on Strategic anthropocentrism: framing animal protection in China’s public interest litigation (JEL)

"Strategic anthropocentrism: framing animal protection in China’s public interest litigation"
Ying Xia
Journal of Environmental Law
Published online: December 2025

Abstract: This article investigates how Chinese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) strategically mobilize environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) to advance animal protection in a legal system that is deeply anthropocentric and lacks dedicated animal welfare legislation. Drawing on a series of landmark cases, this study identifies key advocacy strategies that frame animal protection in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services; public health and biosecurity; and wildlife-related intermediary obligations. These frames allow NGOs to translate animal welfare claims into legally justifiable and administratively actionable harms, by aligning with state priorities such as ecological civilization, sustainable development, and public health. The study finds that finding that EPIL, when coupled with strategic framing, can operate as both a legal remedy, as well as expressive governance that helps to gradually expand the legal and moral imagination for nonhuman interests. Meanwhile, however, these framings also risk reinforcing the marginalization of animals whose protection cannot be fully justified through human-centred rationales.

Sean Yau (LLB 2016) on Natural resources at the crossroads of international environmental and trade law: Forgiving mismanagement or unfulfilled promises? (Jindal Global Law Review)

"Natural resources at the crossroads of international environmental and trade law: Forgiving mismanagement or unfulfilled promises?"
Sean Shun Ming Yau (LLB 2016)
Jindal Global Law Review
Published online: July 2025

Abstract: The question how to best effectuate natural resources management is predetermined by the limits to which a state retains its sovereign discretion to act in an equilibrium range bounded by legal norms superimposed by various fields of international law. While international environmental law seeks to procure sustainable, equitable, and responsible exploitation, distribution, and uses of natural resources in a national jurisdiction, WTO law points to the opposite direction. Despite its aspiration to attain sustainable trade at its inception, the law and practice of the WTO soon exposed various points of friction which are counterintuitive, at times contradictory, to the institutional philosophy advancing the co-existence of trade liberalisation and ‘optimal use of the world’s resources’ as expressed in the preambular text of its constitutional instrument. The constitutional failure to balance the dual-objectives transpires in the ambivalence of its Members to balance obligations arising from the two fields of law. This article argues that WTO law establishes certain structural relationships of favouritism prioritising trade freedom, which either fundamentally contradicts, excludes, or leaves very little room for considerations of international environmental law, or otherwise indirectly debilitates a Member’s regulatory autonomy to respect the same. In consequence, state behaviour has been largely uniformised by the homogeneity of trade rules, with a view to creating a ‘borderless’ global economy where natural resources are traded freely. Such surrenders natural resources management to the invisible hands of market conditions prone to unsustainable exploitation and inequitable distribution.

Welcome the new Global Academic Fellow Dr Suhong Yang!

Welcome to Dr Suhong Yang who joined the Faculty of Law as a Global Academic Fellow. Dr. Suhong Yang is an international lawyer interested in criminal law, human rights, and environmental law issues. Her S.J.D. dissertation investigates the legitimacy of international and hybrid criminal tribunals that try atrocity crimes in post-conflict situations. Suhong was awarded as a David D. Caron Fellow and a Salzburg Cutler Fellow for her research. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Chinese Journal of International Law, Denver Journal of International Law & Policy, European Papers, George Mason International Law Journal, International Legal Materials, and Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting.

At the HKU Faculty of Law, Suhong is engaged in teaching activities and assisting the Director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law in research-related activities. Prior to joining the HKU, Suhong was a Judicial Fellow at the International Court of Justice, working with Judge H.E. XUE Hanqin. She also served the Office of the President of the U.N. International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and the Legal Policy Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Suhong holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Renmin University of China, and LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from Georgetown University Law Center. In addition to the academic degrees, she also studied at the University of Oxford, Kathmandu School of Law, and Cheng-Chi University (Taiwan) in different capacities. Suhong has facilitated teaching or been invited to give guest lectures on tort law, international law, US law, and Chinese law at Georgetown University, Leiden University, and Renmin University.

Suhong is currently Vice-Chair of the International Criminal Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and Secretary of ASIL Women in International Law Interest Group. She served as Co-Chair of ASIL New Professionals Interest Group from 2019 to 2023.

Ying Zhu Awarded 3rd prize of the 9th Qian Duan-sheng Award for Legal Research Achievement

Congratulations to Ying Zhu (朱颖), whose article “Do clarified indirect expropriation clauses in international investment treaties preserve environmental regulatory space?” was awarded the 3rd prize of the 9th Qian Duan-sheng Award for Legal Research Achievement. The article was published in the HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, volume 60, issue 2, pp. 377-416, published in August 2019.

    Background on the prize: The biennial Qian Duan-sheng Award for Legal Research Achievement is a national award for legal research established by China University of Political Science and Law in memory of Dr. Qian Duan-sheng (1900-1990) for his remarkable contribution in advancing the law studies in China. The award was established in 2006 which aims to promote the development of law studies and the establishment of rule of law in China. The Award Committee is composed by leading Law experts in China. With significant global academic and social influences, the Qian Duan-sheng Award for Legal Research Achievement is one of the most important awards in Chinese law academia. For more information on the award, click here (in Chinese).

Eric Ip on An Emergent Planetary Health Law (International & Comparative Law Quarterly)

"An Emergent Planetary Health Law"
Eric Ip
International & Comparative Law Quarterly, Volume 72, Issue 4, p. 1047 - 1067
Published online: October 2023

Abstract: The health of the planet and its life forms are under threat from anthropogenic climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, and the extreme weather events, heatwaves and wildfires that accompany them. The burgeoning field of planetary health studies the interplay between humanity and the Earth's biosphere and ecosystems on which human health depends. Scholarship on law from a planetary health vantage point remains scarce. This article fills this gap by delineating the conceptual building blocks of a planetary health law, which, in its latent form, is dispersed across various hard and soft sources of international environmental law and global health law that converge on the right to a healthy environment, and, to a lesser extent, rights of nature emerging in various domestic jurisdictions. It elucidates how the fragmented regimes of international environmental and global health law could be developed in more coherent ways, driven by an overarching concern for the integrity of the planetary foundations of life.

Ying Xia on Environmental Advocacy in a Globalising China: Non-Governmental Organisation Engagement with the Green Belt and Road Initiative (Journal of Contemporary Asia)

"Environmental Advocacy in a Globalising China: Non-Governmental Organisation Engagement with the Green Belt and Road Initiative"
Ying Xia

Journal of Contemporary Asia

Published online: October 2023

Abstract: Although the Belt and Road Initiative presents growth opportunities for less developed regions, it also raises concerns about negative environmental impacts and sustainability. Despite proliferating academic interest in China’s efforts to green the Belt and Road Initiative, the engagement of non-governmental organisations in policymaking has been understudied. This research marks the first empirical effort to examine the interactions between environmental non-governmental organisations and the Chinese government under the banner of a green Belt and Road Initiative. It finds that non-governmental organisations have employed four strategies to engage with the state-led initiative – civil diplomacy, development partnership, service provision, and outside reform – and that development partners and service providers have been more active than the others in shaping China’s Belt and Road Initiative-related environmental policies. This article elucidates civil society actors’ opportunities and constraints in greening the Belt and Road Initiative and non-governmental organisations–government dynamics in a non-democratic context.

Ying Xia et al on An Unlikely Duet: Public-Private Interaction in China's Environmental Public Interest Litigation (Transnational Environmental Law)

"An Unlikely Duet: Public-Private Interaction in China's Environmental Public Interest Litigation"

Ying Xia and Yueduan Wang

Transnational Environmental Law

Published online: 21 June 2023

Abstract: Increasing research has been devoted to examining collaborations between public and private actors in environmental regulation under neoliberal democracies. However, this public-private interaction in authoritarian regimes remains understudied. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature through an empirical examination of the interaction between environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and procuratorates in China's environmental public interest litigation. We find emerging complementarity: NGOs focus on new issues and target high-profile defendants to increase the socio-legal impact of their civil litigation, whereas procuratorates increasingly engage in administrative litigation against government agencies. This complementarity is shaped by the different legal opportunities for Chinese NGOs and procuratorates, as well as their respective institutional objectives and capacities. Their divergent regulatory preferences have also fostered synergy between these two actors, allowing them to collaborate on legal experimentation and innovation.

HKU Law Welcomes Dr Ying Zhu, Assistant Professor

HKU Law Welcomes Dr Ying Zhu 朱颖, Assistant Professor in the Department of Law.  Dr Zhu’s research focuses on the interaction between international economic law and sustainable development. Her academic interests include international investment law, international trade law and environmental law. She has published articles on Harvard International Law Journal, New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, Columbia Journal of Environmental law, Natural Resources Journal and Nordic Journal of Commercial Law.

     Prior to joining the HKU, Dr Zhu was an assistant professor at Renmin University of China Law School, where she was the Deputy Secretary-General of the Institute of International Commercial Dispute Prevention and Settlement. Dr Zhu was a senior assistant to the president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She has served as a legal expert in the Chinese delegation of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform).

     Dr Zhu holds LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees from Yale Law School, and a LL.B. degree from China University of Political Science and Law. She received the Howard M. Holtzmann Fund in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution and the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School. Her doctoral dissertation “Too Much of Two Good Things: Reconciling the Tension between Investment Protection and Environmental Protection in International Law” won the William T. Ketcham Jr. Prize of the Yale Law School (awarded annually to the best student paper in the field of private international law).

Selected Publications
1. “A Bottom-up Dilemma: International Investment Law and Environmental Governance,” in Vol. 48 Columbia Journal of Environmental Law (forthcoming);

2. “Do Clarified Indirect Expropriation Clauses in International Investment Treaties Preserve Environmental Regulatory Space?,” in Vol. 60.2 Harvard International Law Journal, 377-416 (2019);

3. “Environmental Discrimination in International Investment Law,” in Vol. 51 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, 385-433 (2019);

4. “Fair and Equitable Treatment of Foreign Investors in an Era of Sustainable Development,” in Vol. 58.2 Natural Resources Journal, 319-363 (2018);

5. “Corporate Social Responsibility and International Investment Law: Tension and Reconciliation,” in Vol. 2017/1 Nordic Journal of Commercial Law, 90-119 (2017).

Teaching
LLAW3153 China Investment Law
LLAW6186 China Trade Law

HKU Law Welcomes Two New Assistant Professors

HKU Law warmly welcomes two new socio-legal scholars who will explore questions concerning the Chinese judiciary, Chinese environmental policies, and Chinese investments in Africa and other places in the coming years.

Dr Benjamin Chen is an interdisciplinary legal researcher interested in regulatory and judicial institutions. He joins us from the National University of Singapore. His current research examines the scope for consequentialist reasoning in law, the diffusion of policy through the courts, and the impact of artificial intelligence on justice and its administration. Benjamin graduated with a JD from the University of California, Berkeley in 2017 where he also received his PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy. In addition to his legal qualifications in the State of California, Benjamin holds a MA in Philosophy from University College London, a MSc in Applied Mathematics from the Ecole Polytechnique, and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He was previously a postdoctoral research scholar and lecturer-in-law at Columbia University and served as a judicial law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has several interesting new articles on regulatory trade-offs, judicial legitimation in China, and partisan voting on the California Supreme Court pending publication in US law journals.  Benjamin will be teaching LLB Contract Law in his first year.

     Dr Ying Xia is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she completed her LLM and SJD studies. Her research seeks to weave everyday life experience into broader theories about the law, governance, and society, with a particular focus on environmental reform in China and the role of China in globalization. During her doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor William Alford, Ying conducted fieldwork in several East African countries, exploring the impact and regulatory challenge of Chinese investment in the region. Ying also holds a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Economics from Peking University.  Ying's research areas include environmental law, international law, and law and public policy, with a focus on experience from developing countries.  Ying will be teaching LLB Introduction to Chinese Law and other specialist Chinese law courses.

Amanda Whitfort Interviewed on Wildlife Crime on New Radio Programme, Legally Speaking (RTHK)

Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort was interviewed by Annalie Chow on RTHK Radio 3 last Saturday (28 July) concerning Hong Kong's major role in the illegal trade in endangered species in Asia. Whitfort is currently researching legislative methods to improve protection for endangered species smuggled into and through HK, particularly for use in traditional Chinese medicine. 

     Utilising a KE Impact project grant to work with the Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, and a larger grant from the Research Grants Council, Whitfort has prepared 33 victim impact statements for use in wildlife crime prosecutions. The statements describe the effects of crime on the most commonly smuggled animals routed into and through Hong Kong, and may be used by judges to inform sentencing decisions in our courts. She is also preparing a report calling for legislative changes in Hong Kong to better protect endangered species. Her full report will be released to the government and the public in early 2019.  The radio programme can be heard here.

New Publications by Roda Mushkat

"Exploring International Environmental Governance Regimes: The Asian Way"
Roda Mushkat
Wisconsin International Law Journal
2017, vol. 34, pp. 585-667

Abstract: Ecological degradation and strategies to combat it have loomed increasingly large on the socio-legal research agenda for the past three decades or so. The scholarly attention they have garnered has spawned a rich literature on multi-level environmental governance, including on an international, and even global, scale. Social scientists have spearheaded the quest for gaining a deeper insight into the phenomenon, but students of law have also been active participants in the process of knowledge accumulation. Asian inputs have been relatively modest and have been produced comparatively late in the long journey of scientific, or quasi-scientific, discovery, yet they enhance the understanding of the issues broadly addressed, even if at times in a critical fashion, despite their selective focus and the paucity of constructively articulated suggestions for remedial action.

"The Political Economy of Constitutional Incrementalism in Hong Kong"

Roda Mushkat & Miron Mushkat 

Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review

2016, vol. 9, pp. 1-46 

Abstract: A highly developed, large, knowledge-rich, and mostly autonomous territory, acting as a global economic ‘matchmaker’ with residents who do not hesitate to openly express their voice through multiple channels, should ideally be endowed with institutional capital commensurate with its structural and functional attributes. That has not been the pattern observed in Hong Kong, whose political system has been reconfigured slowly and selectively, in a manner lacking a clear sense of purpose and coherence. The upshot is a governance regime that is out of tune with prevailing realities. Without resorting to ‘shock therapy’ and causing reverberations across the border, a version of deliberative democracy conducive to the pursuit of prosperity and stability may productively be embraced.

Inna Amesheva on Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China (Law & Development Rev)

"Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China: An Interrelated Governance Challenge"

Inna Amesheva (PhD candidate)

Law and Development Review

July 2017, published online, Vol. 10, Issue. 2

Abstract: The author argues that the deterioration of the natural environment in China provides a persuasive reason to reorient China’s economic growth towards a more sustainable path. Reconciling the development and environment imperatives needs to become an urgent priority for the Chinese government in order to avert the cascading implications that will arise in terms of social unrest, loss of further development opportunities as well as deepening income inequality. This paper thus examines the inter-relationship between the current ecological challenge in China and the need for economic sustainability. It evaluates the extent of environmental damage in China and focuses on the environmental impact on development and social inequality. The paper then examines the recent legislative measures that have been taken by the Chinese government to address the problem of inefficient environmental monitoring. The author suggests that further reform is needed to achieve an economically and ecologically just pathway for China’s future. The paper therefore demonstrates that the environment–development challenge in China is mainly a challenge of governance. Resolving it will contribute to better environmental justice and development.

Inna Amesheva on Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China (Law & Development Review)

"Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China: An Interrelated Governance Challenge"

Inna Amesheva (PhD Candidate)
Law and Development Review
July 2017, published online ahead of print

Abstract: The author argues that the deterioration of the natural environment in China provides a persuasive reason to reorient China’s economic growth towards a more sustainable path. Reconciling the development and environment imperatives needs to become an urgent priority for the Chinese government in order to avert the cascading implications that will arise in terms of social unrest, loss of further development opportunities as well as deepening income inequality. This paper thus examines the inter-relationship between the current ecological challenge in China and the need for economic sustainability. It evaluates the extent of environmental damage in China and focuses on the environmental impact on development and social inequality. The paper then examines the recent legislative measures that have been taken by the Chinese government to address the problem of inefficient environmental monitoring. The author suggests that further reform is needed to achieve an economically and ecologically just pathway for China’s future. The paper therefore demonstrates that the environment–development challenge in China is mainly a challenge of governance. Resolving it will contribute to better environmental justice and development.

Jianlin Chen on Optimal Property Rights for Emerging Natural Resources (UMJ Law Reform)

"Optimal Property Rights for Emerging Natural Resources: A Case Study on Owning Atmospheric Moisture"

Jianlin Chen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Fall 2016, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp 47-105

Abstract: This Article critically examines the design of property rights for emerging natural resources—naturally occurring substances that humans have only recently come to be able to exploit viably—through a case study of how the fifty states allocate ownership in, and regulate the use of, atmospheric moisture, an issue that has emerged in the context of weather modification (particularly cloud seeding). Building on the surprising finding that legislative declarations of state ownership have not resulted in greater regulatory control or other substantial restrictions on private use, this Article highlights a dimension of property rights design that has yet to receive concerted scholarly attention: the relative ease of future transitions— transitions both in ownership and in control mechanisms. This Article explains how state property facilitates easier and more holistic transitions and argues that state property can be an optimal allocation of emerging natural resources, because uncertainty surrounding the viability of present uses of the resource suggests that property rights arrangements may need to be changed in the foreseeable future. More broadly, the case study reveals how state property—properly stripped of its undeserved associations with socialism—still has an important role to play in property rights literature.  Click here to download the full article.

Jolene Lin Appointed to Editorial Board of Journal of Environmental Law (OUP)

Congratulations to Jolene Lin on her appointment to the Editorial Board of Journal of Environmental Law (JEL), published by Oxford University Press.  JEL is one of the leading international journals on environmental law and an "an authoritative source of informed analysis for all those who have any dealings in this vital field of legal study" (JEL website).  Jolene also sits on the editorial boards of Transnational Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press), Climate Law (Brill), and the book series Legal Perspectives on Global Challenges (Eleven International Publishing).

HKU Class of 2016 Graduates (Law PhD and SJD)

Congratulations to our 14 PhD and 1 SJD graduates who had their degrees conferred upon them at the 196th Congregation on 1 December 2016 at the University of Hong Kong.  The Congregation also saw the graduation of 461 other Faculty of Law students: 24 LLM, 21 LLM in Human Rights, 83 LLM in Corporate & Financial Law, 38 Master of Common Law, 4 LLM in Chinese Law, 27 LLM in Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law, 37 LLM in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution, 38 JD and 189 LLB. The newest members of our RPg alumnae family include the following:

1. Dr Yue LUO, The Myth of Chinese Well-Known Marks: Formation, Debunking and Judicial Practice.  Supervisors: Alice Lee and Po Jen Yap

2. Dr Che Singh KOCHAR-GEORGE, A Disciplinary Model of the Asylum Process: Case Studies from the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.  Supervisors: Simon Young and Kelley Loper

3. Dr Henan HU, Re-examining Territorial Sovereignty in International Law: A New Perspective of the Settlement of the China Sea Disputes.  Supervisors: Hualing Fu and Tony Carty

4. Dr A-Jull LIM, Professional Failure and the Degradation of International Humanitarian Law: Narcissist Responses to the Post 9/11 So-called War on Terrorism.  Supervisor: Hualing Fu

5.  Dr Erick Onyango KOMOLO, Regime Fragmentation and Interaction: A Case Study of Kenya's Marine Fisheries Regulation.  Supervisor: Shahla Ali

6. Dr Huimiao ZHAO, Government Intervention in the Reorganization of Listed Companies in the context of Socialist Market Economy of China.  Supervisors: Xianchu Zhang and Emily Lee

7.  Dr Guy Samuel Charles LIPERT, Consumers and Banks in Dispute - From Litigation to Mediation: How Outlier Consumers and Banks in Hong Kong Engaged in Dispute Resolution in the Wake of GFC.  Supervisors: Shahla Ali and Katherine Lynch

8. Dr Uzma ASHRAF, The Need and Prospects for an Enforcement Mechanism in the Post-crisis Reconstruction of International Financial Regulatory Architecture.  Supervisor: Douglas Arner

9.  Dr Maria Adele CARRAI, A Genealogy of Sovereignty in Modern China, 1840-Today.  Supervisor: Albert Chen

10.  Dr Annelotte Jorien WALSH, A Children's Right Audit of the International Criminal Court.  Supervisor: Scott Veitch

11.  Dr Han ZHU, Social Movements and the Law in Contemporary China: A Comparative Approach.  Supervisor: Albert Chen

12.  Dr Man Lung CHENG, Emergency Powers and the Constitution: A Case Study of the Republic of China (1912-1991).  Supervisor: Albert Chen

13. Dr Anna Eirini BAKA, The Dialectic of the Cave: Self-determination, Constitution and the Phenomenology of Deprivation.  Supervisor: Tony Carty

14.  Dr Wenwen LU, Emergency Powers and Law in China.  Supervisors: Hualing Fu and Tony Carty

15.  Dr Sha LI, Fiction and Human Rights Discourse in China 1897-1927.  Supervisor: Marco Wan.

Dan Matthews Speaking at the University of Helsinki on Sovereignty in the Age of the Anthropocene

Dr Dan Matthews will be speaking at the University of Helsinki on 19 October 2016 on "The Sense of Sovereignty in the Age of the Anthropocene". The Political Constitutional Theory (PolCon) website describes the seminar as follows:

"The ‘Anthropocene’ names a new climatic regime in which human activity has begun to shape the Earth’s geological, ecological and atmospheric constitution. If the sixteenth century was marked by the West’s ‘discovery’ of new areas of the globe, along with distinct modes of its inhabitation, climatologists have today discovered a new relation that the human has to the earth and its atmosphere. The fact that humans have become a geological force is attributable to the impact of ‘modernity’, the result of industrialisation, technological progress and an enormous expansion of the human population. The political exigencies that this new age of discovery provokes are well known, precipitous and unsettling. This paper will offer some preliminary thoughts on how the changing reality to which the ‘Anthropocene’ signals challenges dominant modes of political and legal thinking. In particular, the paper will suggest that ‘sovereignty’ a concept deeply embedded with the history of modernity and still, in so many ways, constituting the contemporary world, deserves renewed, critical attention. A concept born as the last ‘age of discovery’ got into its stride, can sovereignty still constitute the limit of our legal and political horizons in the age of the Anthropocene?"

For more details, click here.