Below, please find our fortnightly call for submissions and a collated list of events, opportunities, and recent publications. If you would like to have something included in our next announcements, please email gnhrewebsite@gmail.com and include ‘Announcements’ in the email title. We are particularly interested in submissions from outside Europe and North America.
Call for Abstracts, Papers, and Submissions:
8th International Conference on The Right to Development (abstracts)
The Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, South Africa, in collaboration with the Department of Law and Political Science, University of Siena, Italy, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, the Human Rights Centre, University of Dayton, USA, Universidade Autonomia de Lisboa, Portugal, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will present the eighth International Conference on the Right to Development under the theme “critical minerals and the right to development.” Individual/Group Presentations: Submit a short abstract of no more than 300 words and a short CV/bio (150 words) on or by August 17, 2025. See more here.
Decolonizing Climate Change Adaptation (abstracts)
This book critically addresses how current climate change adaptation governance continues to largely exploit and marginalize vulnerable nations and communities in the Global South and North. Through a careful examination of concepts/theories of coloniality and decoloniality, global development and sound empirical cases, the book explores how decolonizing climate governance is critical and urgent to create alternative narratives, institutions, and practices that challenge the dominant ideology and power structures. This approach can identify openings for transformative change necessary to break away from a dependence on Global Northern approaches in climate change adaptation. Book chapter abstract deadline: September 30, 2025. See more here.
Sustainability Law: Law’s Response to the Convergence of Crises (abstracts)
The University of Oslo is thrilled to invite contributions to the Sustainability Law Conference, which will be held at the University of Oslo, 16-18 September 2026. The aim of the conference is to firmly establish sustainability law as an interdisciplinary, sustainability-oriented field of law, which can help break through barriers to sustainability and co-create and promote new possibilities for a safer and more just world. Abstracts of maximum 500 words can be submitted by January 9, 2026 through this online form. Early submissions are encouraged. Responses will be provided by February 9, 2026. See more here.
Calls for Input:
Human Rights Council resolution 57/12 on local government and human rights
Purpose: To inform the report and one-day panel discussion on exchanging and reviewing the best practices of States, local governments and other relevant stakeholders in overcoming the various challenges that local governments face in promoting and protecting human rights, as requested by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 57/12.
Deadline: July 15, 2025. See more here.
Addressing the challenges and barriers to the full realization of the human rights of the people of the Marshall Islands stemming from the State’s nuclear legacy
Purpose: To inform the High Commissioner’s report on addressing the challenges and barriers to the full realization and enjoyment of the human rights of the people of the Marshall Islands stemming from the State’s nuclear legacy. The report is to be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-third session.
Deadline: September 1, 2025. See more here.
Opportunities:
Georgetown University, Environmental Law & Justice Clinic Teaching Fellow/Supervising Attorney (Washington DC, USA)
Georgetown’s Environmental Law & Justice Clinic (“ELJC” or the “Clinic”) is hiring one lawyer to serve as a Clinical Teaching Fellow and Supervising Attorney for a two-year term beginning late summer 2025. The ELJC conducts public interest legal work on behalf of underserved clients in the areas of environmental protection and justice, pollution control, climate change, and natural resources. The Clinic is an immersive and multi-modal experience, exposing students to the broad range of work in which environmental attorneys engage. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until July 8, 2025. See more here.
University of Canberra, Postdoctoral Fellow in Energy Justice (Canberra, Australia)
We are seeking a dedicated researcher to join our team to explore energy justice within electricity transmission regulation and policy. The role is funded through a three-year Australian Research Council Discovery Project (Just transmission: advancing coherence in Australia’s electricity policy). This role offers a valuable opportunity to collaborate within an interdisciplinary research team, engage with stakeholders, and contribute to policy discussions through publications and presentations. Application deadline: July 13, 2025. See more here.
European Social Observatory, Senior Researcher in Eco-Social Policies (Brussels, Belgium)
With a view to permanently reinforcing its multilingual team situated in Brussels, the European Social Observatory is hiring a part-time (80%) experienced researcher on eco-social policies with an expertise on particular policies such as green skills, housing, energy poverty, ideally to start as of mid-October 2025. The European Social Observatory (Observatoire social européen, OSE) is a multidisciplinary centre for applied research on the social dimension of European integration. It has a forward-looking approach, identifying and analysing issues as they emerge on the policy agenda of the European Union and its Member States. Deadline: September 22, 2025. See more here.
Events:
Justice for the Planet: Strengthening Climate Litigation and Environmental Accountability in Nigeria (hybrid – Benin, Nigeria)
The International Law Association-Nigerian Branch Committee on Teaching of International Law and the SDG’s – ILA Nigeria in collaboration with Environmental Defenders Network- EDEN and Chima Williams & Associates invites you to the ‘Justice for the planet: Strengthening Climate Litigation and Environmental Accountability in Nigeria’ workshop taking place on July 7, 2025 from 10am- 3pm. Venue is EDEN head Office, No. 8 Ebare Street, Behind Winners Church Igue-Iheya Village, Benin City. This is a hybrid event. This workshop will bring together lawyers, academics, youths and NGO representatives and other stakeholders on how to fashion out collaborative strategies that will underpin future climate litigation in Nigeria. Watch on Zoom here.
Law Students for Climate Accountability International Convening (Berkeley, CA, USA)
Law Students for Climate Accountability is hosting their first international convening this August. Lawyers, law students, and academics from across the globe will come together Friday morning through Sunday evening (both virtually and in person) in Berkeley, California to discuss the role of the legal industry in a just transition away from fossil fuels. LSCA is dedicated to pushing the legal industry away from fossil fuels and toward a just transition. The convening is an opportunity to engage with aligned professionals and students, and discuss the future of legal representation in the context of the ongoing climate crisis. Date: August 8-10, 2025. See more here.
New Publications/Releases:
Article: From Paris with love: The systemic integration of environmental law in the interpretation of UN human rights treaties, Sarah Thin; NQHR. Read here.
Article: Liminal phases and electronic waste: Interrogating temporality in international law, Leonora Kleppa Stærfeldt; RECIEL. Read here.
Book: Governing Climate Change Loss and Damage – The National Turn, Lisa Vanhala and Elisa Calliari (eds); CUP. Access here.
News: The Ecofeminist Movement Is Surging. Here’s What Its Advocates Want, Katie Surma; Inside Climate News. Read here.
Report: Global trends in climate change litigation: 2025 snapshot, Grantham Research Institute. Read here.