Researchers' Activities

Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in the ‘ReCAAP Capacity Building Workshop’ in Yangon, Myanmar, on 3–6 September 2018. ReCAAP is the first Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). The workshop brought together 25 ReCAAP Focal Point Officers from 14 ReCAAP member states, and other law enforcement officers from Myanmar. The workshop focussed on sharing knowledge and experiences among the Focal Points, and on discussing challenges faced by the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre and the Focal Points in dealing with piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.

Dr Sun gave a lecture on ‘Basics of International Law of the Sea’. In the lecture, Dr Sun gave an overview of the current legal framework of the law of the sea, discussed the differences between the definitions of piracy and armed robbery against ships, and the relevant international regulations of both activities. To access the presentation, click here.

Research Associate Rachel Tan coached the NUS team that emerged runner-up at the Asian Law Students Association (ALSA) Investment Law Moot held in Yangon from 24 to 27 August 2018. At the keenly contested final, two NUS teams battled through four intense rounds simulating an investor-state dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The runner-up team comprises second-year NUS law students: Ong Kye Jing, Wileen Saw, Timothy James Chong, and Isabella Tan.

CIL researchers Tara Davenport, Millicent McCreath and Christine Sim recently participated in the International Law Association Biennial Conference in Sydney. CIL organised a panel on ‘The Inherent Changeability of the Due Diligence Principle: Challenges for the Development of International Environmental Law’, which was chaired by Professor Rosemary Rayfuse.

Ms Tara Davenport spoke on this panel on ‘The Inherently Changeable Due Diligence Principle and the Protection of the Marine Environment’. Other speakers on this panel were Justice Nicola Pain of the Land and Environment Court of NSW, Dr Aline Jaeckel from Macquarie University and Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger of the University of Waterloo/ University of Cambridge.

Ms Millicent McCreath was a speaker on the panel on ‘The Tide of Change: New Responses to Environmental Challenges in the Pacific Ocean’, organised by the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law. The topic of her presentation was ‘PSIDS Request for an ITLOS Advisory Opinion on the Content of UNCLOS Climate Change Obligations’.

Ms Christine Sim spoke on a panel on ‘Investment Disputes and Challenging Boundary Issues over Land and Sea’. Her topic was ‘Investment Disputes in Areas of Uncertain Sea Boundaries: Ghana/Cote d’Ivoire’.  

Associate Professor Robert Beckman participated in the 2018 APOLIA-KIOST Conference: Area-Based Marine Protection in the Asia-Pacific on 18–19 August 2018 at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The Conference was organised by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) and the Asia Pacific Ocean Law Institutions Alliance (APOLIA). Assoc Prof Beckman gave a presentation in the session on ‘Regional Initiatives in the South China Sea’ and Chaired the discussion in the session on ‘State Practice in Southeast Asia’. For copy of his presentation, click here.

Oceans Law and Policy Programme Head Robert Beckman participated in the 2018 APOLIA-KIOST Conference: Area-Based Marine Protection in the Asia-Pacific on 18–19 August 2018 at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The conference was organised by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) and the Asia Pacific Ocean Law Institutions Alliance (APOLIA). Associate Professor Beckman gave a presentation in the session on ‘Regional Initiatives in the South China Sea’ and chaired the discussion in the session on ‘State Practice in Southeast Asia’. For copy of his presentation, click here.

Senior Research Fellow Denise Cheong and Research Associates Nur Azha Putra and S Nivedita participated in the workshop on ‘Achieving the ASEAN 2025 Vision for Disaster Management: Lessons from a Worthy Journey’ held on 15 and 16 August 2018. The workshop was jointly hosted by S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Pacific Disaster Center, in collaboration with the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management Centre. Discussions centred around the impact, growth and future direction of ASEAN’s regional architecture for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and supporting mechanisms.

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was a lecturer in the 23rd Session of the Rhodes Academy, an annual three-week course on principles of contemporary oceans law and policy. Ms Lyons lectured on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), international law, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Her presentation slides are available here.

CIL Research Fellow Zhen Sun participated in ‘ASEAN-China Workshop on Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea’ in Phuket, Thailand, on 12–13 July 2018. The workshop brought together government officials and academics from ASEAN member states and China to discuss means to deepen cooperation on the marine environmental protection and marine search and rescue in the South China Sea.

Dr Sun gave a presentation on ‘Legal Framework of Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea’. In the presentation, Dr Sun emphasised that states bordering the South China Sea, a semi-enclosed sea as defined under UNCLOS, should cooperate with each other in the implementation of their rights and duties with respect to the protection and preservation of the marine environment. To access the presentation, please click here.

Research Fellow Dr Dafina Atanasova and Research Associate and Practice Fellow Elsa Sardinha participated in SIEL Biennial Conference 2018 International Economic Law in Unsettling Times, American University Washington College of Law, Washington DC, 12–14 July 2018.

Dr Atanasova presented her paper ‘Applicable Law Provisions in Investment Treaties: An Empirical Take,’ as part of a panel dedicated to the general and theoretical aspects of international investment law.

Ms Sardinha presented her paper ‘Requiem for A Deal, or the End of American Influence in the Investment Chapters of Asia-Relevant FTAs?’, co-authored with NUS Assistant Professor Vincent-Joël Proulx, as part of a trade and investment panel dedicated to China and Asia. This paper had won the Best Paper Award at the Asian Society of International Law Japan Chapter’s Annual Global Conference in Tokyo on 1 July 2018.

CIL Researchers Ms Emily Choo and Mr Eugenio Gomez-Chico were invited to judge the inaugural Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot)—Vietnam National Round (7–8 July 2018). The moot was hosted by the Ho Chi Minh University of Law and organised by the Vietnam Society of International Law. The national round is part of the FDI Moot organised by the Center for International Legal Studies, which aims to help future lawyers attain a practical understanding of investment law issues, and offers a unique forum for academics and practitioners from around to world to discuss developments and assess emerging talents. The winning teams were from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh University of Law.

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as a lecturer in the 3rd Training Programme by International Ocean Institute on ‘Regional Ocean Governance Framework, Implementation of the UNCLOS and Its Related Instruments in the Southeast Asian Seas and the Indian Ocean’. The course took place on 1–28 July 2018 in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Ms Lyons’s lecture was on UNCLOS and international law, and regional legal and institutional governance in Southeast Asia. The presentation slides are available here.

The Centre for International Law successfully organised the second CIL-ANCORS Workshop on the Negotiation of Maritime Boundaries on 3 to 5 July 2018. The workshop was held in coordination with the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum. The workshop combined interactive lectures and supervised practical exercises, in which participants negotiated a maritime boundary between two fictitious states.

Thirty-four participants, including government officials, geographers, academics and practitioners, completed the three-day training led by renowned legal and technical experts in the negotiation of maritime boundaries.

For more information on the event, please click here.

CIL Director Lucy Reed spoke at the ‘Forum on the Belt and Road Legal Cooperation: Rules and Coordination’ in Beijing on 2–3 July 2018. The conference was co-hosted at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the China Law Society, with the Chinese Foreign Minister HE Wang Yi giving the keynote speech. The legal focus—the so-called ‘soft connectivity’ of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—was underscored by the identity of the co-sponsors: Chinese Society of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing Law Society, and Department of Justice of the Government of Hong Kong SAR.

Professor Reed spoke on arbitration and mediation of investor-state disputes, on the panel ‘The BRI and International Dispute Settlement’. The other main panels addressed ‘The BRI and International Rule of Law’, ‘Rules, Treaties and Laws Supporting the BRI’, and ‘BRI Legal Exchange and Cooperation’. The conference had over 350 invited participants from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and South America.

Research Assistant JR Robert Real presented his paper ‘For the Common Good—The Philippine Supreme Court’s Divergent Approach to Human Dignity’ at the Human Dignity in Asia: Dialogue between Law and Culture Conference. Held from 2 to 3 July 2018 in Taipei, the conference was organised by the Academia Sinica Institutum Iurisprudentiae.

Mr Real’s paper explores the Philippine Supreme Court’s approach to interpreting the concept of human dignity, which seems to vary depending on whether parties invoke individual rights or collective rights.

CIL Research Associate Millicent McCreath attended the conference ‘New Knowledge and Changing Circumstances in the Law of the Sea’, which was organised by the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland and Korea Maritime Institute. The conference was held in Reykjavik from 28 to 30 June 2018. The main themes of the conference were biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, the continental shelf regime, deep seabed mineral resources, dispute settlement in the law of the sea, climate change and the legal effects of sea level rise, and the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement. Approximately 130 participants from all over the world attended the conference.

Research Assistant JR Robert Real presented his paper ‘Judicial Transplantation as a Backdoor to Environmental Normative Integration in ASEAN’ at the 2018 ICON-S Annual Conference on Identity, Security, Democracy: Challenges for Public Law. Held from 25 to 27 June 2018 in Hong Kong, the conference was organised by the International Society of Public Law and the University of Hong Kong.

Mr Real’s paper explored the role of Southeast Asian judiciaries in developing regional environmental norms amid the general sensitivity of the region to international law intruding on domestic sovereignty.

CIL successfully organised its inaugural Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia (TRILA) conference on 21–22 June 2018 at the NUS Faculty of Law. Bringing together 144 participants from 34 countries, the TRILA conference provided a platform for junior and senior researchers and faculty members to meet and collaborate on teaching and researching international law in Asia.

The TRILA Conference opened with a rousing keynote address by Judge Raul C Pangalangan of the International Criminal Court, exploring in-depth the role of international law in Asia. Its first day, focussed on teaching, investigated the methods of imparting knowledge and inspiring passion in Asian students of international law, the challenges faced by Asian international law lecturers, and the areas of international law most pertinent to international practice. The second day, focussed on research, involved expositions on the role of history, theory and identity in Asian international law scholarship, the production of quality research in international law, and the obstacles to research faced by Asian scholars. The event closed with a thought-provoking and hopeful prospectus on international law teaching and research in Asia.

CIL’s TRILA conference reflects the commitment of NUS Faculty of Law in promoting international law scholarship in Asia, continuing the work of the 1964 Round Table on the Teaching of International Law and Relations, and the TRILA Conference of 2001. Very fittingly, Professor Tommy Koh (Chairman of CIL’s Governing Board) and Professor S Jayakumar (Chairman of CIL’s International Advisory Panel), both pioneers in this project, were present at the opening of the conference. The conference was preceded by a one-day Junior Faculty Workshop, which gave young scholars the valuable opportunity to have their work critiqued by a panel of senior faculty, consisting of leading voices in international law.

Research Fellow Dr Dafina Atanasova participated in the workshop on political and legal theory of international courts and tribunals, organised by PluriCourts in Oslo on 18–19 June 2018.

Dr Atanasova presented her paper ‘A “Justice as Impartiality” View on the Authority of International Courts and Tribunals’.

Research Associate Millicent McCreath and Research Fellow Dr Dafina Atanasova participated in the workshop on Climate Change Litigation Scholarship organised by the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) and Yale Law School in Singapore on 7–8 June 2018.

Ms McCreath presented her paper on ‘The Potential for UNCLOS Climate Change Litigation to Achieve Effective Mitigation Outcomes’. She was also the discussant on the paper by Jacqueline Peel and Jolene Lin on ‘Climate Change Litigation and Adaptation in Southeast Asia’.

Dr Atanasova was the discussant on the paper by Hui Pang on ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Renewable Energy: Friend or Foe to Climate Change’.

CIL researchers Dr Hao Duy Phan, Chan Sze-Wei and Hadyu Ikrami contributed to a 2017 study by the International Law Commission on “Ways and means for making the evidence of customary international law more available”.

Associate Professor Robert Beckman and Visiting Senior Principal Research Fellow Captain Ashley Roach participated in the 42nd Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy of the University of Virginia, which was held in Beijing on 24–25 May 2018. The title of the conference was ‘Cooperation and Engagement in the Asia Pacific Region’. Captain Roach gave a presentation on the BBNJ Discussions, and Assoc Prof Beckman gave a presentation on ‘The Legal Regime Governing Passage on Routes Used for International Navigation through Indonesian Waters’. To see Assoc Prof Beckman’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.

Associate Professor Robert Beckman participated in 2018 Global Ocean Regime Conference organised by the Korea Maritime Institute at the Hyatt Regency, Jeju Island, Korea, from 16 to 18 May 2018. The title of the conference was ‘Promoting Cooperation in Overlapping Maritime Areas’. Assoc Prof Beckman gave a presentation on ‘Joint Arrangements in the South China Sea: Problems and Prospects’. To see his presentation, click here.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke at the international conference on ‘The Rise of International Commercial Courts’ at Qatar University on 13 May 2018. Professor Reed spoke about the Singapore International Commercial Court on a panel discussing comparative features of international commercial courts, including the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. The keynote speaker for the conference was Justice Ramesh Kannan of the Singapore High Court.

Dr Ayelet Berman chaired a panel on “Investment Treaties and National Governance” at the 15th ASLI Conference 2018 in Seoul in May 2018. John Lumbantobing of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan presented his paper “Very little spill: Internalization of investment treaties and their effects on domestic governance in Indonesia”. Younsik Kim of Sungshin University in Korea presented his paper on “Internationalisation of Investment Treaties in Korea”, and Sachinta Dias of Oxford University presented his paper on International Investment Agreements and Governance in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of Three Factual Scenarios”. This panel is part of an ongoing CIL research project on investment treaties and national governance. For more information about the project, please contact Dr Ayelet Berman.

At the 2nd Conference on Maritime Security and Coastal Surveillance Indonesia in Jakarta, Dr Zhen Sun spoke on ‘Fostering More Effective Non-Traditional Maritime Security Cooperation in Southeast Asia’ to an audience consisting of government officials, industry representatives, academics and members of other private sectors.

Dr Sun said that as non-traditional maritime security threats (eg, trafficking of drugs and humans, piracy and armed robbery against ships, etc) pose challenges to all Southeast Asian countries, coordinated efforts are required from various sectors on the national, regional and international levels. To use legal tools to address these threats, Southeast Asian countries will need to ratify and implement relevant international agreements. 

Click here to learn more about Dr Sun’s presentation.

Members of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy Programme participated in a workshop organised by INTERPOL on 17 April in Singapore entitled ‘Operation 30 Days at Sea: Asia Pacific Operational Planning Meeting’. The workshop was held as part of a year-long global project to enforce the international rules regulating marine pollution from ships. Associate Professor Beckman gave a presentation on ‘The Global Legal Regime Governing Ship-Source Pollution’. Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun and Research Associate Ms Millicent McCreath also participated in the workshop, along with representatives from governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke on the opening plenary panel of the bi-annual Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) in Sydney, Australia. The panel theme was ‘Law-Making in International Arbitration: What Legitimacy Challenges Lie Ahead?’, and Professor Reed spoke on arbitration tribunals as lawmakers. Professor Stephan Schill of the University of Amsterdam moderated the panel, and the other panellists were Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, ICC Court of Arbitration President Alexis Moure, and Professor Thomas Schultz of Kings College London. All the papers will be published in the official ICCA Congress Series (Wolters Kluwer).

Professor Reed also spoke at the follow-on AMINZ-ICCA International Arbitration Day in Queenstown, New Zealand, where the theme was ‘Making Arbitration Work in a Changing World: A Pacific View’. She was the commentator on Daniel Kaldermis’s keynote lecture entitled ‘International Arbitration in a Brave New World’.

Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons participated in the 72nd meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), at IMO London Headquarters. She was the head of delegation for the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS).

Research Associate Ms Melissa Loja presented her research paper at the New Voices Panel at the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC. Ms Loja’s paper was about international agreements between non-state actors. Her paper discussed international agreements that national petroleum corporations such as Petronas, PetroVietnam, PetroleumBrunei and China National Offshore Oil Corporations enter into to manage disputes over petroleum resources that are shared by states across maritime zones and boundaries.

Professor Laurence Helfer, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of International Law, remarked that her paper makes a concrete contribution to international law, because it presents primary data that have not been made known before, and it enables a granular examination of actual practices in international law.

Research Assistant Mr Robert Real participated in the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop 2018 on International Investment Law and Constitutional Law. Held on 9 and 10 March 2018, the workshop was organised by the Goethe-University Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order in Frankfurt, Germany. Participants in the workshop explored the different facets of the increasing interaction between international investment law and constitutional law and critically analysed the opportunities and challenges this interaction creates. The panel topics included the (domestic) constitutional law limits of international investment law, the European Union’s constitutional limits of international investment law, the role of constitutional law in investor-state dispute settlement, and international investment law as constitutional law.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the seventh session of the International Nuclear Law Essentials (INLE) Course, which was organised by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Centre for International Law. The course was held for the first time outside of France, in Singapore, from 26 February to 2 March 2018.

On 28 February, Mr Wetherall delivered a presentation on nuclear security and also participated in a panel discussion on nuclear security and safeguards. Mr Wetherall’s presentation can be downloaded here, and a timeline on developments in international nuclear security can be downloaded here.

On 1 February 2018, CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke at a programme at the Supreme Court entitled ‘The Singapore International Commercial Court’s potential to advance the rule of law’. The conference was sponsored by the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), the Singapore International Law Association and Freshfields (Singapore). The speakers included two judges on the SICC, Justice Quentin Lowe and Sir Vivian Ramsey, as well as Mr Francis Xavier SC of Rajah & Tann, and Mr Nicholas Lingard and Mr Robert Kirkness of Freshfields. Professor Reed spoke on what characteristics make an international commercial court truly international.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed served as faculty at the 2017 Summer Institute of the ASEAN Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC) held in Bali on 29–31 January 2018 (the volcano risk having postponed the original summer date). The chairman of the conference was HE Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, who is the chairman of HRRC and a member of the CIL Board of Directors. The theme of the conference was ‘Trade, Investment, and the Rule of Law in ASEAN’. Professor Reed spoke on ‘The Rule of Law and Dispute Resolution in ASEAN’ and moderated a panel on ‘Rights Dimensions in Trade and Investment in the ASEAN Community’.

The HRRC is a non-profit academic centre headquartered at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, in partnership with 11 other academic institutions in 7 out of 10 ASEAN member states. Its mission is to support a rights-based approach to ASEAN integration through research, training and education, and its core thematic areas are rule of law, business and human rights, and the rights of vulnerable populations. The Summer Institute is the HRRC’s signature annual event, organised in collaboration with the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford University and Udayana University.

CIL and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS), UiT The Arctic University of Norway held a side event at Arctic Frontiers 2018 in Tromsø, Norway on 24 January 2018 to launch the book entitled Governance of Arctic Shipping: Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States. The book was a collaborative effort of CIL and JCLOS. The book sets out the legal framework that governs Arctic shipping, giving specific consideration to the roles of the International Maritime Organization and the Arctic Council, and compares the rights, interests, positions and practice of Arctic coastal states with those of user states, with particular emphasis on China, Japan and South Korea.

At the side event of Arctic Frontiers 2018, Associate Professor Robert C Beckman, CIL’s Head of Ocean Law Policy and Programme, presented a lecture on ‘The Cooperative Mechanism in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore: A Model for the Arctic?’.

This meeting was organised by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) together with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Topics covered included ways to strengthen nuclear governance in the Asia-Pacific, the future of nuclear power development in Asia with a focus on small modular reactors (SMR) and the networks that enable trade in nuclear technology, and radioactive materials in the Asia Pacific. Discussions also addressed what role academic research and international collaboration networks play in building nuclear-related tacit knowledge, and how a better understanding of the networks that undergird trade and knowledge transfer in nuclear-related industries and institutions might help to build commercial opportunities and a more effective culture of nuclear security in the Asia Pacific. The key findings of the discussions and the programme of the meeting can be found here.

Three members of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy team—Head of Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman, Dr Zhen Sun and Ms Millicent McCreath—attended the 2018 Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromso, Norway from 21 to 25 January 2018. The CIL team met with staff and students from the Jebsen Centre for Law of the Sea at the University of Tromso (UiT), and Assoc Prof Beckman gave a guest lecture at the UiT. The book Governance of Arctic Shipping was officially launched at a side event at the conference, and Assoc Prof Beckman, one of the book editors, spoke at the book launch. The book was edited by staff from UiT and CIL and was published by Brill. The CIL team also stopped in Oslo to visit the Scandinavian Institute for Maritime Law, where Assoc Prof Beckman gave a guest lecture to graduate students and faculty members at the University of Oslo law school.

Head of CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman participated in the 9th South China Sea Conference organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on 27–28 November 2017 in Ho Chi Minh City. The title of the conference was ‘Cooperation for Regional Security and Development’. Assoc Prof Beckman made a presentation to lead the panel discussion in the final session on the code of conduct for the South China Sea. He also chaired the session on Legal Dimensions in the South China Sea.

Head of CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman was invited to give a presentation during a plenary session of the ASEAN Conference on Reducing Marine Debris in ASEAN Region. The conference was held in Phuket, Thailand from 22 to 23 November 2017. Assoc Prof Beckman’s presentation was entitled ‘Legal Perspective: Transboundary Issues of Marine Debris’. CIL Research Associate Millicent McCreath also attended the conference and participated in the workshop on the second day on developing a project for the management of the plastic value chain to reduce plastic marine litter.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the KIOST/JVDI 2017 Regional Conference on the Ocean Policy for the East Asia and the Pacific Islands in Nadi-Fiji on 16–18 Nov 2017. The theme was ‘SDG 14 and Ocean Issues for the Pacific Islands and the East Asia’. She presented on the topic of ‘UNCLOS as the Cornerstone in the Implementation of SDG 14: A Central, Integrative and Framing Role’.

CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme team organised the workshop on ‘Investment Treaties and National Governance’ on 16–17 November 2017, in the Asian context. The workshop had a selective call for papers, and participating researchers (mostly from the Asia-Pacific region) presented case studies assessing the impact of investment treaties on national governance in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The workshop brought together researchers to discuss and unpack the following questions in the Asian context. What impact do investment treaties have on national governance? Although a considerate amount of research has examined the impact of investment treaties on FDI, very little is known about their effects on national governance. Are governments aware of their investment treaty obligations? Do they internalize their obligations, and if yes, how? Do investment treaties lead to improvements in the rule of law and good governance, or do they undermine national policy autonomy?

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed represented the Centre at several events at the 2017 Seoul ADR Festival during the week of 6 November. At the joint programme of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) on ‘Multiple Proceedings in Multiple Fora: Strategies and Synergies’, Prof Reed delivered the keynote address and was a speaker on the panel on ‘Consolidation and Joinder under Arbitral Institutional Rules’. She also spoke on the panel on International Investment Dispute Settlement, addressing ‘Momentum on Procedural Reforms:  The Way Forward’. Prof Reed was interviewed at the Young Arbitration Practitioners’ Forum ‘Fireside Chat’ organised by Young SIAC and the Korean Council for International Arbitration, and served as faculty for the second annual Seoul Academy for International Arbitration.

On 6 November 2017 the OECD’s Regulatory Policy Division’s ‘International Organizations Partnership for Effective International Rule-making’ convened a brainstorming session to discuss the partnership, bringing together the OECD, member states, international organisations and academics.

The partnership’s goal is to improve the quality, relevance and impact of international rule-making by international organisations. To advance these goals, the OECD has invited academics with in-depth knowledge and experience in the field of international rule-making, to collaborate with partnership. Dr Ayelet Berman has been invited to join this group of academics, called the ‘Academic Friends of the Partnership for Effective International Rulemaking’. She looks forward to contributing her knowledge and experience in fields such as informal international law-making, good regulatory practice, accountability and stakeholder engagement in international law-making. 

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan was invited to moderate a session in the Consultation on ‘A Rules-Based ASEAN: Legal Instruments and their Implementation’ on 1–2 November 2017 in Singapore. The event was jointly organised by the ASEAN Secretariat and the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies with the support of the ASEAN-US Partnership for Good Governance, Equitable and Sustainable Development, and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. CIL Associate Director Ms Sharon Seah Li-Lian, CIL Research Fellow Ms Ranyta Yusran, CIL Research Associate Mr Hadyu Ikrami and CIL Postdoctoral Fellows Dr Heejin Kim and Dr Marija Jovanovic also participated in the consultation.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan was invited to speak at the 5th East Asia Maritime Security Forum on ‘Maritime Security and Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges in Asia-Pacific and the Arctic’ on 26–27 October in Edmonton, Canada. Dr Hao Duy Phan delivered a presentation on ‘Addressing Maritime Security Challenges in the South China Sea: The Role of ASEAN’. The Forum was co-organized by the China National Institute for South China Sea Studies and the China Institute at the University of Alberta.

The Research Forum of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) took place at Washington University School of Law, St Louis on 26–28 October 2017. Following an anonymous and selective review process, academics, practitioners and government officials presented their papers in various sub-fields of international law. Speaking on the ‘International Governance’ panel, Dr Ayelet Berman presented her paper on ‘Accordion Governance’, which examines the establishment of international organisations, their displacement in favour of club governance, and the recent reversion towards bigger clubs. Dr Berman was also the moderator of and discussant on the panel ‘Fragmentation and Harmonization in International Law’. Further, as a panellist on ‘The Path to Practice in International Law’ panel, she spoke to students and new professionals interested in pursuing a career in international law.

CIL Director Lucy Reed, Head of International Dispute Resolution (Practice Skills) J Christopher Thomas QC, Head of Investment Law and Policy Jansen Calamita, Practice Fellow Emily Choo, and Global Associates Mark Feldman and Tara Davenport were part of the faculty of the 2017 Singapore International Arbitration Academy, which was organised by the CIL on 25 October 2017–2 November 2017. Ms Emily Choo was also team coach to one of the teams that took part in the Academy’s arbitration moot.

CIL Research Associates Millicent McCreath, Robert Real and Zoe Scanlon attended the Academy as participants and took part in the arbitration moot. Ms Zoe Scanlon was awarded a prize for excellence in advocacy.

Professor Reed, Mr Thomas, Research Associate Professor (CIL) Calamita and Ms Choo were speakers and moderators in the panel sessions in the CIL International Conference on Global Currents in International Investment Law on 2 November 2017.

On 23 October 2017, CIL Director Lucy Reed delivered the Seoul Arbitration Lecture 2017, sponsored by the Seoul International Dispute Resolution Centre. The lecture title was ‘Suite for ISDS: Mediation, Arbitration and Appellate Bodies’. She addressed the need for lawyers practising in the field of investment treaty arbitration to expand their repertoire or suite of skills to keep up with developments. On the one hand, it is important to be prepared for the new investment court system envisioned in the new EU-driven free trade agreements and, on the other hand, to play a more active role in furthering settlements of suitable disputes by mediated negotiations. The audience comprised over 100 Korean ministry representatives, practitioners and academics.

From 20 to 22 October, CIL Research Associate Zoe Scanlon participated in the 8th annual conference on ‘Global Commons and the Governance of Unappropriated Spaces’ organised by the German-Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance in Bangkok. Ms Scanlon presented an invited paper on ‘Maritime Activities Beyond National Jurisdiction: Governance and Enforcement Challenges’ on a panel addressing issues of governance of global commons in oceans.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons was invited as a resource speaker by the European Union to the 4th ASEAN-EU High Level Dialogue on Maritime Security, which was held in the Philippines on 5–6 October 2017. Her presentation, titled ‘Moving beyond competing narratives on the status of the marine environment in Southeast Asia through data’, is available here.

On 28–29 September CIL Global Associate Tara Davenport and CIL Research Associate Zoe Scanlon participated in a Legal Working Group on liability for deep seabed mining activities in ‘the Area’. This was the first meeting of the Legal Working Group, formed to complete a project on liability for environmental harm from deep-sea mining activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This meeting, of an expert group of international lawyers specialising in oceans law, met in London to discuss key legal issues relating to seabed mining in international waters. The meeting was co-convened by the International Seabed Authority, the Centre of International Governance Innovation and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The work undertaken by this group will be directed to providing the International Seabed Authority Secretariat and the Legal and Technical Committee of the International Seabed Authority with a foundational understanding of the potential legal avenues for establishing a sector-specific liability regime for deep seabed mining.