Researchers' Activities

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the Meeting of the Scientific Group of the London Convention and Protocol on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter as an observer member of the delegation of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea. The meeting was held at the International Maritime Organization in London on 27-31 March 2017.

Professor Robert Beckman (Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme), Dr Hao Duy Phan (CIL Senior Research Fellow) and Dr Lynn Kuok (CIL Senior Visiting Research Fellow) were invited to participate in the workshop on “Understanding Freedoms of Navigation-ASEAN Perspectives” on 7 March 2017 in Singapore. The workshop was organized by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) under the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Professor Beckman presented an “Overview of the International Navigational Regimes”, and Dr Hao Duy Phan spoke about “Vietnam’s Regulations on Navigational Rights of User States in its Maritime Zones”. To see Professor Beckman’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellows Mr Anthony Wetherall and Ms Denise Cheong and ESI Research Associate Mr Nur Azha Putra participated in the 8th annual Nuclear Power Asia Conference (NPA 2017) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 7 to 8 March 2017. This year’s event was co-hosted by the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) and attended by over 200 international and regional stakeholders including representatives from industry, government and academia. Mr Wetherall was a panellist in the keynote panel discussion on ASEAN development, where he identified ways to strengthen ASEAN nuclear governance including the need for the region to establish an emergency preparedness and response (EPR) framework to deal with nuclear accidents. He was also a panellist in the discussion on the challenges in the construction of new nuclear power plants, where he spoke on the legal and policy challenges associated with a future deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). He also chaired the session entitled “Advanced technology for safety & security”. The programme of the conference is available here. [View image from event]

On 3 March 2017, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at a conference at Blackstone Chambers, London, titled ‘Current Issues in Rule of Law and International Trade and Development’. He spoke about investment treaties, foreign investment and the rule of law, addressing both whether investment treaties lead to higher levels of investment in the signatory states and whether investment treaties lead to improvements in the rule of law. His slides are available here.

On 27-28 February 2017, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, gave lectures at University College London and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. He spoke on the compatibility of the European Union’s new investment tribunal system with existing instruments of the investment treaty regime, such as the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention. A summary of his remarks was reported in Global Arbitration Review. His paper is presently in prepublication review.

CIL Senior Research Fellows Ms Denise Cheong and Mr Anthony Wetherall, as well as ESI Research Associates Mr Nur Azha Putra and Ms Ira Martina Drupady, participated in the 6th meeting of the Nuclear Energy Experts Group held from 27 to 28 February 2017 in Singapore. This meeting was organised by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) together with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Mr Wetherall presented a discussion paper on the potential future deployment to emerging countries of small modular reactors (SMRs), including transportable nuclear power plants (TNPPs). In this context, he proposed the development of a ‘package approach’ to the establishment and implementation of national nuclear legislative and regulatory frameworks. The researchers participated in a number of discussions, including on the prospects of nuclear power growth in the Asia Pacific region and the options for strengthening nuclear governance. Mr Wetherall’s discussion paper can be downloaded here.

On 11-12 February 2017, CIL Research Associate Hadyu Ikrami judged four preliminary rounds and a semifinal round of the 2017 Indonesian National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, held at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Out of a field of 16 universities , the University of Indonesia and the University of Pelita Harapan were named the champion and runner-up respectively. Both teams will represent Indonesia in the Jessup International Rounds to be held in Washington D.C., USA in April 2017.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as a speaker to the 9th ASEAN Regional Forum Inter-sessional Meeting on Maritime Security (ARF ISM on MS), held in Tokyo on 8-9 February 2017. Her presentation was titled ‘Developing Cooperative Mechanisms for the Management of the Marine Environment in the South China Sea’ and can downloaded here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as an expert speaker at the 3rd Meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on Marine Environmental Protection, held in Tokyo on 6-7 February 2017. Her presentation was titled ‘Establishing MPAs in the Region: Some Considerations’ and can be downloaded here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the Legal Frameworks Workshop ‘Vigilant Marmot’ organised by the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) together with the governments of the USA, the Slovak Republic and Canada, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 24 to 26 January 2017, the event was attended by over 100 participants from GICNT partner nations and representatives of organisations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UNODC, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). The workshop was organized into a series of seminars, panel discussions and scenario-based dialogues to address challenges in adopting or updating national legal frameworks for nuclear security, highlight obligations under international legal instruments against radiological-nuclear terrorism, and consider practical models for implementing these obligations. The event focused on the criminalisation penalties in the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), the 2005 Amendment thereto and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT). Mr Wetherall participated in the panel discussion on the definitions in the aforementioned instruments. He also served as a roaming expert for five workshop sessions.