Emerging Scholars Initiative

The Emerging Scholars Initiative (ESI) of the International Water Law Academy seeks to bring together emerging scholars in international water law and connect the next generation of international water lawyers. In doing so, the ESI aims to promote on-going expertise in this important area as a legacy project of the Academy. Led by Dr. David J Devlaeminck (Chongqing University), Dr. Melissa McCracken (Tufts University) and Ms. Zaki Shubber (Queen Mary, University of London), the ESI has three broad objectives:

Dr. David J Devlaeminck

Dr. Melissa McCracken

Ms. Zaki Shubber

Building a Community: The international water law community is spread over the world, with many of us working individually or within small teams. The ESI seeks to bridge these gaps and establish a community of emerging scholars in the area of international water law to build friendships, professional connections and foster collaboration and expertise across regions.

Supporting Emerging Scholars: We are all better together. By building the ESI community, the IWLA seeks to support the next generation of international water lawyers by building connections with other emerging scholars to share experience and overcome common challenges, develop academic and non-academic skills through workshops and other activities, and offer opportunities for mentorship and engagement with top scholars.

Elevating the Next Generation: Emerging scholars offer new and innovative ideas on the most pressing issues of today. As such, the ESI seeks to elevate their voices, providing opportunities for them to engage across generations of international water lawyers by sharing their research, taking leadership roles, and recognizing their contributions to international water law scholarship.

To achieve these goals, the ESI offers a broad range of activities to the emerging scholar community. This includes an online platform where emerging scholars can engage with each other, online and in-person workshops for skills building, opportunities for research dissemination, awards to recognize the contribution of emerging scholars and more. Comments, questions or collaboration can be directed to Dr. Devlaeminck at djdevlaeminck@cqu.edu.cn.