Prof Scholtz obtained his doctorate in law from Leiden University in 2001, and specialises in international environmental law. His current research focuses on the consequences of the increasing importance of animal welfare for international wildlife law, and has resulted in publications in Transnational Environmental Law, the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy as well as a book publication.

An internationally acclaimed National Research Foundation-rated researcher, Prof Scholtz frequently acts as a speaker at conferences and seminars. He is a member of, inter alia, the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on the Legal Principles of Climate Change, the ILA Committee on Recognition/Non-recognition, and the European Society of International Law (ESIL) Interest Group on International Environmental Law. He also serves on the editorial board of the SADC Law Journal, and as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow.

He took his LLB, LLM and LLD degrees at the University of the Western Cape. In 2019, he completed his LLD degree and in the same year was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Public Law and Jurisprudence. Dr Kasker’s research interests include environmental law as well as academic development.

He completed his LLM dissertation in international environmental law, specifically global environmental governance. His LLD thesis in international environmental law focused on international water law and sustainable development and management of water. Dr Kasker’s academic career began in 2013 when he tutored English for Educational Development in Law. As the years went on, he began to lecture in Environmental and Sustainability Studies (2017-2018) and Legal Systems (2019) for first-year students. He is currently co-lecturing to final-year students on the South African bill of rights as well as environmental law, in addition to which he lectures in the postgraduate courses, Environmental Law and International Environmental Law.

Professor Duncan French is Head of the Lincoln Law School and Professor of International Law. He is a leading academic on international environmental law and the international legal implications of sustainable development. He has written extensively in these areas, as well as writing generally on both broader questions of public international law (eg. treaty interpretation), international economic and investment law, and international dispute settlement. He has secondary research interests in international law of the sea and Antarctica.

As a key figure in the global debate on sustainable development, he has been co-rapporteur of the International Law Association Committee on the International Law on Sustainable Development for ten years (2002-2012). He was also Chairman of the ILA Study Group on International Law and Due Diligence (2012-2016).

In his capacity as a senior research fellow of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Professor French spoke to diplomats at the UN Headquarters (New York) in April 2012 on the role of international tribunals in resolving complex environmental and socio-economic disputes. In 2017, he was on a UN technical experts committee considering environmental crime. Recent publications include: D. French and L. Kotzé (eds.), Sustainable Development Goals: Law, Theory and Implementation (Edward Elgar, 2018) and V. Ruiz Abou-Nigm, K. McCall-Smith and D. French (eds.), Linkages and Boundaries in Private and Public International Law (Hart, 2018).

Professor French was Professor of International Law at the University of Sheffield from 2009 until 2012, prior to taking up his new post as the Head of Lincoln Law School in February 2012. He became the Pro Vice Chancellor in January 2019. He is also Co-Director of the Lincoln Centre for Environmental Law and Justice.

Prof Gillespie has published 16 books. The latest works have been Waste Policy: International Regulation, Comparative and Contextual Perspectives. (Edward Elgar, London, 2015); International Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics. (OUP, Second edition, 2015); and the Causes of War: Volume II (1000-1400) and Volume III (1400-1650), both published by Bloomsbury, NYC, 2017. The Long Road to Sustainability, published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, late 2017, is his most recent work. He has also written over forty academic articles.

Prof Gillespie has been awarded a Rotary International Scholarship, a Fulbright Fellowship, a residency at the Rockerfeller Bellagio Centre in Italy, and the New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship. His most recent award was from the Franqcui Foundation in Belgium, with which he held a professorship at Ghent University for six months during 2018/2019. He has also been the lawyer/expert on a number of international delegations and advised the New Zealand government on multiple matters of international concern. Professor Gillespie was the first New Zealander to be named Rapporteur for the World Heritage Convention, involving international environmental diplomacy under the auspice of UNESCO. Alexander has also been engaged in policy formation for the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and governmental, commercial and non-governmental organisations in New Zealand, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland. He has also made a number of appearances before the Waitangi Tribunal and Select Committees of the New Zealand Parliament.

The Law and Development research group studies whether and how law can enhance human dignity and global justice, in particular for those adversely affected by economic and other forms of globalization. This question is addressed through the prism of both structural inequality between states in North and South (‘developed’ versus ‘developing’ states), and within states.