The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law is holding a conference on European Private Law where young scholars from various European countries present the essential propositions of their respective Ph.D. theses. The conference is scheduled to take place at the premises of the Institute in Hamburg on 18 and 19 April 2016. The Max Planck Institute have received almost 40 nominations for this conference and Andreas Kokkinis is one out of fifteen scholars selected to present at this event.

The subject Andreas Kokkinis will be disscussing is;

"Why the UK Corporate Sector would Benefit from the Introduction of a 'Benefit Corporation' Statute"

For more information click here

Dr Dallal Stevens is visiting Brussels with a cross faculty team to attend a policy briefing session where they will be informing policy makers about their initial findings for the ESRC Grant Crossing the Mediterranean by Boat : Mapping and Documenting Migratory Journey and Experiences. To read more about this exciting project please click here.

Sharif Sekalala is presenting a paper at a workshop on 'The emerging norm of global representation in global health' as part of 'Brown University's international Advanced Research Institute' which is focusing on global health in Madrid from the 10th - 16th of January 2016. Click here to read on.

Areas being discussed are politics of health care provision in the era of globalization. What are the bases of health policymaking in different countries and contexts? How does health care provision play out on the ground in particular places? Which public, private, and civil society organizations are involved and to what effect? What roles do international organizations and agencies play in health care funding, provision, and agenda-setting? Where do scientists, and scientific agencies, fit in? And how do the norms governing health care provision evolve over space and time?

Shaheen Sardar Ali was an invited panelist at an international conference organised by the Nuremberg Academy, Germany to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg Trials (19 to 21 November 2015). She presented a paper entitled: 'What is the measure of ‘universality’? Critical reflections on International criminal justice, the Nuremberg principles, ICC and pluralist Islamic legal traditions.' To find out more click here.

Shaheen Sardar Ali was invited to present a paper entitled: 'In Search of Authority and Authenticity? UK Shari'a Councils and Muslim Women's Rights' at an international conference: Legal Pluralism and human rights within family disputes in Europe organised by the Ghent University Human Rights centre 26-27 October 2015 to find out more click here.

Dora Kostakopoulou is to speak at the Durham European Law Institute's lunchtime seminar series. Dora's seminar, titled 'When Tomorrow is Yesterday: the Manufacturing of an EU Referendum', will take place on Tuesday 8 December at the University of Durham.

Tom Flynn has recently featured on TV and radio discussing the constitutional issues raised by the vote in the House of Lords.

Please see below for the links to see Tom's interviews:

BBC News channel

BBC Coventry and Warwickshire

Professor Alan C. Neal, delivered the keynote speech to the 9th Annual Conference of the China Social Law Association, held at the Renmin University, Beijing, on 25 October 2015.

Professor Neal is a lifetime Professor in the Zhejiang University and Visiting Professor in the Beijing Jiao Tong University. In 2012 he was appointed a Standing High-Level Independent Expert in the Labour Law and Social Security Law Institute of Peking University.

Ben Farrand, Giuliano Castellano, Andi Hoxhaj and Dora Kostakopoulou have been awarded funding by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) to organise a workshop in Spring 2016. The workshop, titled ‘Crisis and Innovation in the European Union: Beyond Populism and Managerialism’, will be held on 8 April 2016 at the University of Warwick.

The aim of this interdisciplinary workshop is to explore the impact of 'crises', in their material and ideational forms, upon EU institutional and policy-making dynamics. Emphasis will also be put on identifying policy responses focusing upon 'innovation' as a strategy. By bringing together experts working on institutional corruption, financial regulation, intellectual property law and policy and EU free movement, migration and human rights we will explore the EU's identification of the causes and impacts of 'crises', as well as actual and possible responses. In seeking to transcend both populist and managerial discourses and responses, the workshop participants will reflect on the EU's response to increasing numbers of people seeking sanctuary in Europe and the Member States' recalcitrance to a unified response, the EU's actions in financial regulation as well as the Europe 2020 and Justice and Home Affairs 2020 agendas.

Professor Rebecca Probert is currently working as a specialist advisor with the Law Commission on a review of the law governing how and where people can marry in England and Wales. The Commission are expected to publish a report at the conclusion of the scoping phase, which is anticipated to be the end of 2015.

The question underlying the review would be whether the current law, which has evolved over a long period of time, provides a fair and coherent legal framework for enabling people to marry. Does the law allow people to marry in a way which meets their needs and wishes while recognising the interests of society and the state in protecting the status of marriage?

The current stage of the project involves a preliminary study involving research of domestic and comparative law, and engagement with key stakeholders. The aim is to identify and provide an initial analysis of the issues that need to be addressed in order to develop proposals for the reform of marriage law.

For further information please click here.

The Centre for the Law, Governance and Regulation of the Global Economy (GLOBE) welcomes its first Visiting Research Fellow, Dr Lorenzo Cotula who will be working with the Centre in academic year 2015 -16.

Dr Cotula is a principal researcher in law and sustainable development at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), where he leads the Legal Tools Team.

Lorenzo leads research, capacity and policy work on issues at the interface between law and international development, with a focus on the law governing natural resource rights and investments in low and middle-income countries. This includes work on international investment law, human rights, land rights and legal issues related to ‘land grabbing’, as well as the political economy of natural resource investments. Lorenzo also leads IIED’s work on ‘Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment’, an initiative to strengthen local rights and voices within natural resource investments in low and middle-income countries.

Before joining IIED in 2002, Lorenzo worked on assignments with the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He holds academic qualifications in law, development studies and sustainable business from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, the London School of Economics, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge.

Recent publications include Foreign Investment, Law and Sustainable Development: A Handbook on Agriculture and Extractive Industries; The Great African Land Grab? Agricultural Investments and the Global Food System; Human Rights, Natural Resource and Investment Law in a Globalised World: Shades of Grey in the Shadow of the Law; Investment Contracts and Sustainable Development: How to Make Contracts for Fairer and More sustainable Investments; and a wide range of research reports, journal articles and book chapters.

Lorenzo has previously collaborated with other GLOBE Centre researchers, including contributions to the Network on International Law, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/research/centres/ilnrsd/ ) , and will be working with GLOBE to organise a workshop on international investment law under the upcoming International Law in Context Workshop Series.

Professor Gary Watt delivered a public lecture on "Shakespeare's Testamentary Performance" jointly hosted by the faculty of arts and the faculty of law at The University of Hong Kong on 10th September 2015.

Please click here for further information regarding this event.