International legal and climate policy expert Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger has joined the Bennett Institute Cambridge, to inspire new law and policy research, teaching and dialogue on climate change and sustainability.
The prestigious two year visiting professorship, has been awarded by the Leverhulme Trust, and will form part of the Institute’s urgent work to explore new economic frameworks to support a sustainable future – the Wealth Economy.
Professor Cordonier Segger commented:
“The UK has committed to deliver 17 ambitious global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ranging from SDG 7 (clean energy) to SDG 13 (climate action) to SDG 15 (life on land), among others, on all levels by 2030. However, significant gaps remain between the important and ambitious international law/policy targets of the SDGs and the capacity of researchers, academic staff and students destined for the public and private sector to deliver. I look forward to bridging this gap, growing key skills and expertise in the Bennett Institute and its partners, helping us incentivise, engage, achieve and measure progress on key global SDGs for present and future generations.”
The award is one of the first Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorships to be won for women at the University of Cambridge, and very rare to be granted in the social sciences.
Professor Cordonier Segger is a full professor of international law at the University of Waterloo, Canada; Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change CoP25 Climate Law & Governance Initiative; and Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL).
She has published over 20 books and more than 120 articles and papers on law, policy and sustainability in six languages; founded several centres, law journals, institutions and networks; and chaired various international experts commissions, associations and boards.
During her time in Cambridge she will help found a UK Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and deliver an integrated programme of six high-profile Leverhulme Lectures in Cambridge, London, Norwich and Oxford. She will also host skills transfer workshops, and co-host two public law and policy dialogues on climate change and the world’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Through her senior visiting professorship, the Bennett Institute will also build collaborations with colleagues and partners at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) in the Law Faculty, at the Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (CEENRG) in Land Economy, and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), as well as the new University of Cambridge Zero Initiative and the new Hughes Hall BRIDGE Study Centre for Climate Change Engagement.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
