Environment and Sustainability - University of Birmingham

This theme encompasses law and policy research relating to the environment and sustainability (broadly understood) at multiple levels: international, regional, national, and sub-national.

The term ‘environment’ includes natural resources as well as energy and climate change. We interrogate the scope and limits of adopting a weak or strong version of sustainability and sustainable development and to what extent the law can be used to further environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources.

Beyond the broad social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability, our research engages with the multiplicity of actors, disciplines and sectors as well as issues relating to gender, race, indigeneity, etc. in the design and implementation of laws and policies.

Staff researching in this theme

Henok Amsleash's research focuses on legal and policies issues at the intersection of trade, energy and the environment.
Kate Bedford's research focuses on law and development, and gender and political economy. She also researches gambling law and regulation.
Emily Carroll's research is to do with law and property; she is interested in exploring how land interacts with a wide spectrum of private and public law principles, including land law, equity, company and insolvency law, and planning law and policy.
Aleksandra Cavoski is a Professor of Law whose research interests are in the field of environmental law and EU law, including the intersection of law and other disciplines, in particular politics, science, public policy and language.
Janine Natalya Clark's research interests include war, transitional justice, resilience and posthumanism.
Louis Dawson's research has, to date, primarily focused on the circular economy and extended producer responsibility, although he also holds an interest in chemical regulation and biodiversity.
Hailemichael Teshome Demissie's area of research interest is the human-centric regulation of emerging technologies.
Angela Eggleton is an interdisciplinary researcher focussing on the regulation of emerging technologies.
Laura Holden's research focuses on environmental law, ethical science, acceptance of novel technology, and the assessment of risk.
Sandra Ingelkofer was DAAD Lecturer and Vice-Rector for Internationalization at KAZGUU University in Astana, Kazakhstan before joining the Law School in 2017.
Bob Lee researches on technology regulation looking at net zero transitions and also at chemical safety
Walters Nsoh's research focuses primarily on the intersection of property (land) law and environmental law as it relates to the governance and sustainable management of natural resources/ecosystem goods and services.

Research has been published in journals such as Environmental Law Review, Journal of Environmental Law, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, and Transnational Environmental Law. Researchers and postgraduate students can get involved with this theme through our monthly reading group.