UCL-KCL postgraduate environmental law symposium examines key environmental challenges

The intensification of environmental crisis and the shifting terrain of global governance provided a context of flux for the convening of environmental law academics, researchers and students in Bloomsbury on 18 February for the 3^rd University College London-King’s College London Postgraduate Environmental Law Symposium. Hosted by the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment, the Symposium was an opportunity for PhD and masters researchers to present their work on a wide range of environmental law topics.

Organized by PhD researchers Ioanna Hadjiyianni (King’s) and Olivia Hamlyn (UCL), the Symposium was supported by the UCL Faculty of Laws, the UCL Centre for Law and Environment and the Dickson Poon School of Law. Faculty from the two law schools as well as Queen Mary University of London gave of their time to moderate sessions. The panels were chaired by Professor David Caron (KCL), Dr Federico Ortino (KCL), Emily Barritt (KCL), Professor Joanne Scott (UCL), Professor Jane Holder (UCL) and Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice (QMUL). The day’s discussions were enlivened by the diversity of the participants. The presenters – PhD researchers at all stages of their degrees, together with one masters student – came from universities across the UK, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium. The audience, ranging from undergraduates to professors, was equally diverse. The presence of students specializing in competition law, commercial law and – in some cases – other disciplines altogether was itself an indication of the growing relevance of environmental law to many fields of policy and practice.

The Symposium built on the previous two UCL-King’s gatherings to explore some of the key challenges and latest developments in environmental law. Reactions to the Symposium told of a successful event that could serve as a starting point for further dialogue. UCL Professor of Law Maria Lee said that the Symposium had been ‘a wonderful opportunity to hear fresh ideas on environmental law, as well as an important forum for the forging of a community of new scholars. Organisers and participants should be congratulated’. ‘There was a lively, energetic atmosphere and those participating engaged critically with one another’s work in a serious but constructive way’, added UCL Professor of European Law Joanne Scott. ‘Altogether, it was an inspiring event’.