SCIEL Projects
SCIEL encourages collaborative research projects within its membership, and also inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional projects with other disciplines and other universities and organisations. At SCIEL we welcome proposals for joint research projects from other universities.
Here we highlight the main projects in which SCIEL is currently leading or is substantially involved in. We actively seek external funding for major projects.
Doing Law Beyond the State: Research Methodologies in Comparative, EU and Public and Private International Law
What is it we "do" as lawyers, when we are looking at law ‘beyond the state’? Interest in the theoretical foundations of, and disciplinary methods within EU, comparative and international legal scholarship (both public and private) is on the rise. Practitioners and academics alike are pausing to think more about what it is that they take for granted, and what they might be able to do with law if they challenged what was taken as given within their respective (sub-)disciplines.
PRIVWAR (FP7)
The project will assess the impact of the increasing use of private military companies and security companies on situations of armed conflict. It will examine the regulatory framework at national, European and international levels, with a view to ensuring improved complience with international humanitarian law and human rights. The project was launched in January 2008 and is a collaborative research project carried out by a consortium of seven European partners.
Find our more about the PRIV WAR project
Rule of Law and International Terrorism
Since July 2008, the Sheffield team (Katja Samuel and Nigel White) has been partnered with the Club of Madrid (71 former heads of state from 51 countries committed to furthering democratic values worldwide) and Silvia Casale, President of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Terrorism, on a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative to clarify, develop and strengthen the international rule of law framework for tackling international terrorism. The project comes under the umbrella of a high-level initiative to strengthen the rule of law worldwide, called the World Justice Project (WJP).
Find out more about the Rule of law and International Terrorism project
Autonomy of International Organisation
A year long project that was the seminar theme for 2008-2009. As a result of the series, a contract for an edited collection of essays has been agreed with Routledge-Cavendish, under the title: International Organisations and the Idea of Autonomy (R. Collins & N. D. White (eds.)), which is due for publication in 2010.
Find out more about the Autonomy of International Organisation project.
Global Justice and Sustainable Development Conference
Two-day research seminar to consider the role of international law in the achievement of global justice 26 - 27th August 2009 Sheffield, UK On behalf of the International Law Association (ILA) and Sheffield School of Law, Dr Duncan French, co-rapporteur of the ILA Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development, is hosting a 2-day research seminar on global justice and sustainable development at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, UK. This seminar is being partially funded by the Modern Law Review.
Find out more about the Global Justice and Sustainable Development Conference
Settlement of International Disputes Visions of Economic Justice Beyond the State
Duncan French, Nigel White and Matt Saul have co-ordinated and contributed to an edited collection to mark John Merrills’ retirement, which will include contribution from Sheffield colleagues as well as international legal experts from the UK and elsewhere.
Legal Research Methodologies in European Union and International Law
This is an AHRC funded collaborative doctoral training project aimed at enhancing the methodological understandings and capabilities of PhD students and enabling students to present their work and develop this networks with a wide range of scholars.