Susan Ann Samuel

Profile

Susan is a PhD Student with the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds – her research focusing on Climate Politics. She is an Indian lawyer with experiences of litigation, policy research, legal analysis and court work. She has previously worked in the District/Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram for nearly a year before travelling to the UK to do LLM in International Law with University of Edinburgh (2020-2021). Further, she worked as a legal intern with OHCHR (Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights) in Cambodia, and UNOV/UNODC (United Nations Office in Vienna - UN Office on Drugs and Crimes) in Vienna. She is a Fellowship Officer and Associate Fellow with Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), member of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission for Environmental Law (WCEL), IUCN Comission on Environmental Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), and Global Network of Human Rights and Environment (GNHRE). Her debut book - Unseen Yet Seen was published in May 2018.

Linkedin (Link) Twitter (Link) ORCID (Link)

Research interests

Susan’s research interests include climate politics, international human rights (with a specific focus on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights), sustainable development, and international norm dynamics. She is working on the Project – Towards A New International Normative Framework in Response to the Climate Crisis (Link) with Dr. Viktoria Spaiser, Prof. Richard Beardsworth, and Dr. Cristina Stefan, focusing on international normative change in response to climate crisis. 

Susan did her LLM in International Law—with a special focus to Human Rights; with Prof. Nehal Bhuta as a personal tutor. For her Masters’ dissertation, she focused on the topic 'Women’s Role in Climate Change Law: Exploring the Boundaries of International Environmental Law (Critical Analysis on Climate Litigation and Legislation in Global South)' under the supervision of Dr. Michael Hennessey Picard. The research was a comparative study of Global North and South taking the nations USA and India as case studies in climate litigation and legislation patterns, further analysing on the three fold activism – to streets, Courts and Parliament in Global South. 

Conference Papers:

• Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21), workshop on The Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women, 25 September 2023 in Duisburg, Germany; spoke on Ecofeminism in the Biodiversity-Climate Nexus
• IUCN AEL (Academy of Environmental Law) Colloquium 2023 in Jeonsuu, Finland on 1–4 August; Soft Power and Solidarity:Towards ‘Our’ Common Future and Beyond
• BISA (British International Studies Association) 2023 Conference in Glasgow on 21-23 June 2023; Unpacking The Right to A Healthy Environment in a Political-Legal Discourse: A ‘Bold Action’ for Climate Justice?
• ESIL (European Society of International Law) in Central European University, Vienna, Austria (12 - 13 May 2023) - ‘Greening’ International Law en Route to Agenda 2030: The Role of Youth in Enhancing the Soft Power of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (Link to the webinar)
• 12th Annual Conference, Cambridge International Law Journal on 24 to 25 April 2023 -The Tale of Two ‘-cides’ - Ecocide and Genocide: Why it matters in Climate Governance?
• IUCN WCEL spoke on the webinar (25 Jan 2023) - Advisory Opinions on Climate Change: Initiatives, Expectations and Possibilities (Link to webinar; and its report here)
• Biodiversity Law and Governance 2022 (10 December 2022) - Online during CBD COP15 in Montreal; discussant/speaker in Expert Panel on the Roundtable discussion: Genetic Information and Access and Benefit Sharing in the Nagoya Protocol. Spoke on - A Pact of Peace with Nature: Exploring the Legal Nexus of Human Rights and Nagoya Protocol (Link to the webinar)
• IUCN WCEL - International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) at University of Oslo (3 - 6 October 2022); Was invited as a speaker and wrote the paper on - Reimagining the legal Vision of Environmental Rule of Law through Sarvodaya

Professional memberships:

• Bar Council of Kerala, India
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission for Environmental Law (WCEL)
• Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL)
• Global Network on Human Rights and Environment (GNHRE) 
• Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI)
• European Society of International Law (ESIL)
• International Studies Association (ISA)

Publications:

Books/Edited Volumes:

• Climate Litigation and Vulnerabilities: Global South Perspectives; co-Editing with Dr. Maria Antonia Tigre and Dr. Melanie Murcott; Publishing by Routledge [Forthcoming]​​​​​​
• Unseen Yet Seen (2018) (link) Non-academic book; Published by Open Doors Publication, India.

Book Chapters:

• Climate Justice and Capabilities Approach – A TWAIL Discourse: Where Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Redefines the Fourth Environmental Era; Publishing by Vernon Press [Forthcoming]
• The Role of Advisory Opinions in International Law in the Context of the Climate Crisis – co-authored with Adv. Jorge Alejandro Carrillo Bañuelos; Hart Publishing [Forthcoming] 
• The Atmosphere and a Stable Climate System: Rules and Practices of International Law on Climate Change Action – co-authored with Dr. Maria Antonieta (Antoinette) Nestor and Adv. Maeve E McDermott. Publishing – Kluwer Volume on the Role of International Law on the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources [Forthcoming]

Journal Articles:

• ‘Greening’ International Law en Route to Agenda 2030: The Role of Youth in Enhancing the Soft Power of Climate Justice. Publishing by Yearbook of International Environmental Law (YIEL) [Forthcoming]
• Rawls' Cake and Climate Governance: Relevance of 'Our’ Common Future Today. Publishing by Carbon and Climate Law Review (CCLR) Special Issue “Climate Law and Litigation: Considerations of carbon neutrality, attribution and justice”. [Forthcoming]

Blog Posts:

• The Right to A Healthy Environment: A Call Beyond Solidarity? [Published in Environmental Politics Journal website as guest post and republished in BISA]
• Exploring the Scope of Ecofeminism in the Biodiversity-Climate Nexus; [Published in Open Global Rights and cross-published in IUCN website]

Reports/Policy work:

• T20 Policy brief (Official thinktank of G20) - Role of G20 in Enhancing Women Entrepreneurship: Future-proofing Law and Governance for Climate Resilience (link)
• GNHRE comments for - CRC Draft General comment No. 26 - Children’s Rights and the Environment with a Special Focus on Cimate Change (find the comments here – link)
• Mainstreaming Human Rights in the Science-Policy Interface of Climate Action – Policy Brief by IUCN WCEL [Forthcoming]

Qualifications

• Master of Laws (LL.M International Law) - University of Edinburgh
• Bachelor of Laws (BA LL.B 5 year integrated course) - Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram.