The Trade and Public Policy Network is here to connect you with experts in various areas of UK trade and public policy.
Our members are academics with deep expertise in one or more areas of trade policy. They engage with policy actors and communicate with non-specialists to assist in matters relating to trade and public policy.
Whether you are an official working in Whitehall, a journalist, campaigner, or parliamentary aide, just choose a policy area below and connect with experts in that area. To hear TaPP updates, register your interest to join our policy partners mailing list and follow us on LinkedIn.
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- Competition policy
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- Human rights
- Impact assessments
- Industrial policy
- Intellectual property
- Labour rights
- National security
- Public services and government procurement
- Services
- Supply-chain management
- Trade facilitation
- Trade negotiations
Emily Jones, TaPP Co-Director
Professor of Practice in Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Expert in: Digital trade, trade negotiations, digital economy, governance and scrutiny
Emily Jones is Professor of Practice in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government where she co-directs Executive Programmes and leads the Case Centre on Public Leadership at the School.
Emily is an expert in the political economy of global trade. She is an award-winning educator and trains and advises senior government officials on negotiation strategy. Her current research examines the ways global trade is changing with digitalization and AI. She is co-founder and co-director of the Trade and Public Policy (TaPP) Network, which seeks to foster engagement between academics and UK policymakers. She is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, recently served as a specialist adviser to the International Trade Select Committee in the UK Parliament, where she regularly provides written and oral evidence on trade policy.
Gregory Messenger, TaPP Co-Director
Professor of Trade Law & Policy, University of Bristol
Expert in: Economic diplomacy, public health, sustainable development, dispute settlement, trade negotiations
Greg is a specialist in world trade law and policy. His research focusses on economic diplomacy and its interface with key policy areas including public health, sustainable development, climate policy , and dispute settlement.
Greg frequently engages with policy professionals, having spent four years working on trade law and policy in the UK government (2018-2022), giving evidence to Parliament, and consulting for governments, international organisations, and agencies. Additionally, he sits as TaPP representative on the the UK's Trade & Sustainable Development Domestic Advisory Group: an independent body, tasked with monitoring and advising the UK government on issues relating to the implementation of the trade and sustainable development chapters of the UK’s trade agreements..
Jun Du, TaPP Co-Director
Professor of Economics, Aston Business School
Expert in: Competition policy, Digital economy, Food and agriculture, Foreign investment, Impact assessments, Industrial policy, Intellectual property, Services, Supply-chain management, Automotive, global value chains
Jun Du is a Professor of Economics at Aston Business School and the Founding Director of the Centre for Business Prosperity. She leads the Internationalisation research at the Enterprise Research Centre and is a recognised expert in UK trade, firm internationalisation, innovation, and productivity. Her current focus is on the empirical and policy issues related to UK trade and productivity post Brexit in the context of evolving global value chains. Her research is widely supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Leverhulme Foundation, NESTA, and the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, UK government agencies, including the Department for Business and Trade and the Scottish Government. Jun is a valued member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Grant Assessment Panel and serves on the Council of Experts for the Innovation and Research Caucus. She holds key advisory roles with the British Chamber of Commerce Global Britain Challenge Group, the Business Commission West Midlands Advisory Panel, and the Midlands Engine Observatory Program Board.
Susan Ariel Aaronson
Research Professor and Director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub, Co-PI NSF-NIST Trustworthy AI Institute for Law and Society, The George Washington University
Expert in: Digital trade, AI and trade, trade and human rights, protectionism, data governance and history of trade liberalisation
Susan Ariel Aaronson is a leading scholar of digital trade and data governance and the founder/Director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub. The Hub educates policymakers and the public on data driven change, data governance, and digital trade and has created the world's first metric on comprehensive data governance (policies, structures and strategies). We are now revising the metric into a metric of data governance for AI. Aaronson is the author of numerous articles and policy briefs on trade issues and has advised US, UK, and Canadian officials on trade and data governance issues.
Prachi Agarwal
Research Fellow at the International Economic Development Group, ODI Global
Expert in: Free trade agreements, Regional trade, Regional value chains, Rules of origin, Trade-in services
Dr Prachi Agarwal is a Research Fellow at the International Economics Development Group, ODI Global where she leads the Women in Trade workstream. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her specialisation lies in analysing regional trade agreements, digital trade, and inclusive trade policies. Her research encompasses Africa’s trade landscape, with a focus on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), regional value chains, digital services, and the rules of origin. She is dedicated to advancing gender equity in trade, leading initiatives on women-forward global value chains. Prachi’s work also explores the economic impacts of cultural and creative industries, climate change, and decarbonization policies on trade and development.
Donatella Alessandrini
Professor of Law, University of Kent
Expert in: Trade and development, trade and gender, global value chains, inequalities, WTO, labour rights
Donatella specialises in international economic law, with a focus on trade and development theory, trade and inequalities, and law and feminist political economy. Her recent work investigates the claims of international economic institutions (such as the World Bank and the WTO) about the development potential of global value chains. Her research explores the relations between international legal arrangements and socio-economic inequalities. Donatella regularly works with NGOs on development, investment, labour and gender issues relating to value chain trade.
Donatella's recent policy outputs include a brief on global value chains, trade and inequalities.
Achyuth Anil
Researcher at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, University of Sussex
Expert in: International trade law, investment law, sustainability, trade negotiations, trade agreements, security
Achyuth Anil is a researcher in international trade law at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, University of Sussex. His work focuses on the UK’s trade policy, including sustainability, economic security, and the evolution of “mini deals”, with a current focus on the UK’s use of such agreements. Previously, he was a legal advisor to the Government of India on trade and investment law matters and was involved in negotiating free trade agreements with the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and UAE. He holds an LL.M. from Columbia Law School, New York where he was a Jagdish Bhagwati Fellow, and has worked with the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI). Trade in services, investment law, security in international economic law, sustainability, and the evolving intersection of these areas in global trade policy are his research interests.
Billy Melo Araujo
Senior Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast School of Law
Expert in: Trade in Services, Sustainable Development, Labour, Gender, Governance and scrutiny
Professor Billy Melo Araujo’s research focuses on international trade law and EU external trade relations. He has published on issues such as trade in services, trade and sustainable development and the democratic legitimacy of trade agreements. He has advised, on a consultancy basis, the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy on trade law related matters and provided training to the governments of Northern, Ireland, Scotland and Wales on international trade law. He has also given evidence to the International Trade Committee of the House of Commons as well as the Finance and Constitution Committee of the Scottish parliament.
Karishma Banga
Assistant Professor in Digital Economy at the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London
Expert in: Development, Digital Economy, Foreign Investment, Industrial Policy, Trade Negotiations
Karishma's ongoing research examines Industry 4.0, digital trade negotiations, and Global Value Chains (GVCs) with a focus on development implications. She is also the Digital Trade Policy Advisor at the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, UK. Prior to joining King’s, Karishma led and collaborated on a range of projects with international and multilateral organisations like the UNECA, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNCTAD, Afreximbank, the African Union, and the WTO.
She has published in high-quality journals, including The World Economy, Review of Development Economics, European Journal of Development Research, and the Journal of International Trade and Economic Development. She has been invited to present her research to the UK Government, the African Union, the OECD-G20 working group, and the Chief Economic Advisor of India. Her research has been extensively covered by media outlets including BBC World, BBC Africa, Hindu Business Line, Voice of America, and The Conversation. Karishma has held research positions at the Institute of Development Studies (Brighton), the International Economic Development Group at ODI (London), and the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration (Geneva). She has a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Manchester and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Elettra Bargellini
Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute
Expert in: International trade law, competition law, EU state aid, EU trade policy, industrial policy, climate change
Elettra Bargellini is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. Her research lies at the intersection of international trade law and competition law, with a particular focus on the regulation of subsidies at the international and European levels. She holds a PhD from Dublin City University, an LLM from King’s College London, and an LLM/LLB (Laurea Magistrale) from the University of Bologna. In 2024, she was a Visiting Researcher at Princeton University, where she was affiliated with the School of Public and International Affairs.
Lorand Bartels
Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall)
Expert in: Dispute settlement, public policy exceptions, free trade agreements, trade preferences for developing countries, mutual recognition, non-discrimination, quotas, digital economy, environment, food and agriculture, foreign investment, gender, governance and scrutiny, health, human rights, industrial policy, labour rights, national security, services
I am Professor in International Law at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall, where I teach trade law and public international law, and I also practise in trade law as Counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. I am a general editor of the Cambridge monographs series on Trade and International Economic Law, and an editorial board member of the Journal of International Economic Law, the Journal of World Trade, and Legal Issues of Economic Integration, among others. I have advised several governments on trade law issues, including the UK on its FTA negotiations and certain legal disputes, and the European Commission on its recent proposed revisions to its generalised system of preferences. I was also responsible at Linklaters LLP for designing the UK's main expert level program for training trade negotiations from 2017-2021.
Caroline Bertram
Postdoctoral fellow, University of Cambridge
Expert in: Trade-Climate Nexus
Caroline is a Carlsberg postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economy. Her research is focused on the EU’s trade and sustainability agenda, mainly the interaction between trade policy and climate change. Still, she is broadly interested in the overlap between international environmental and economic governance, international institutions, and international political economy. Caroline has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen and has previously been a visiting scholar at Ghent University. Also, she has been part of Oxford University’s Europaeum Scholars Programme for doctoral candidates. Prior to her academic career, Caroline held positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Danish Parliament, and the Ministry of Taxation in Denmark, working on EU affairs, trade policy, and international climate and fiscal policy.
Ingo Borchert
Professor of Economics, University of Sussex
Expert in: Services trade, Digital economy.
Ingo Borchert is a Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex Business School, Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO), and a Member of the Leadership Group of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP). His research focuses on policies affecting services trade and structural gravity modelling of services trade costs. He has co-created the global “Services Trade Policy Database”, published jointly by the World Bank and the WTO, and the “International Trade and Production Database.” He has been an invited speaker on services policies at the OECD, WTO, APEC, and has advised the UK House of Lords on services trade.
Nicolette Butler
Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Manchester
Expert in: International Trade Law/WTO, International Investment Law, Trade and Health, UK Trade Policy Post-Brexit, UK/US Trade and Investment, Dispute Settlement, Foreign investment, Human rights, Impact assessments, Services, Trade negotiation, Trade facilitation.
Dr Nicolette Butler is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester. Her research interests lie broadly within the sphere of International Economic Law (including International Trade Law and the International Law of Foreign Investment), and Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms. Nicolette is a Scientific Advisor for the European Public Health Alliance (Brussels) on matters of trade and investment policy.
Julia Calvert
Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, University of Edinburgh.
Expert in: Foreign investment, investor-state arbitration, Latin American trade policy, inclusive trade policy
Julia Calvert is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at the University of Edinburgh. Her work focuses on international economic law and the impact of international investment law on policy space, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Her book, The Politics of Investment Treaties in Latin America (2022, OUP) looks at the drivers of investment treaty infringement and reform in South America.
Liam Campling
Professor of International Business and Development, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London
Expert in: Trade, environment and development, trade and labour standards, fisheries trade, global value chains, the political economy and geopolitics of FTAs, WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations, food and agriculture, labour rights, trade negotiations
Liam is a political economist working on the relationship between international trade, global production and environmental change. Between 2004 and 2012 he worked on EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) fisheries trade relations, global value chains and socio-economic development, including feeding into Economic Partnership negotiations and implementation on behalf of the East African Community, Eastern and Southern Africa grouping and Pacific Group. He has also worked with the Pacific Islands Forum Geneva office in their negotiations at the WTO on fisheries subsidies; and researched the negotiation and implementation of labour standards in EU free trade agreements, with a particular focus on South Korea and its automotive industry.
Kathleen Claussen
Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Expert in: U.S. trade law and policy, trade agreements, trade and labour, sustainable development, dispute settlement and procedure, national and cyber security, trade law exceptions, WTO, foreign investment, digital economy, environment, human rights
Kathleen Claussen is Professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Previously, she was Associate General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and prior to that, she was Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. She has served as arbitrator or counsel in more than a dozen trade and investment disputes. She is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Economic Law, and active in the governance of the American Society of International Law, among other leadership roles. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and Queen’s University Belfast where she was a Mitchell Scholar.
Agata Daszko
Early Career Fellow in International Economic Law, University of Edinburgh
Expert in: investor–State dispute settlement, environment, impact assessments, investment screening, foreign investment
Agata Daszko is an Early Career Fellow in International Economic Law at the University of Edinburgh and a Doctoral candidate at the University of Göttingen. Her PhD research concerns environmental impact assessments in international investment law and arbitration. She lectures in international investment law, international trade law and the law of energy transition. She is the Assistant General Editor of the Commentaries on World Trade Law (Brill), Academic Assistant at the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL), and a consultant at the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate. She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University and a BA in Law with German and German Law from the University of Nottingham.
Megan Dee
Lecturer in International Politics, University of Stirling
Expert in: Trade strategy, trade negotiations, WTO, EU trade policy, governance and scrutiny.
Megan is a Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling. She teaches graduate courses on international negotiation, with specialism in multilateral trade negotiations. Her academic research addresses trade strategy, performance, and the politics of trade within bilateral, regional, and multilateral negotiation contexts, with particular interest in the EU, UK, and the WTO. Prior to joining Stirling, Megan worked on the FP7-funded project GR:EEN focusing on the EU’s trade performance and position in the emerging global order. Megan is an occasional media commentator on topics including international negotiation, security, foreign policy, trade, and Brexit.
Christian Delev
Lecturer in International Economic Law at University of Bristol Law School
Expert in: RTAs, WTO, dispute settlement, economic security, trade law exceptions, foreign investment, digital trade and investment policies, SPS, TBT, global value chains
Dr Christian Delev joined the University of Bristol Law School as Lecturer in August 2023. He was an Associate Fellow of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) in Montreal, Canada between 2021-2024. Dr Delev previously taught international law and European Union law at various colleges at the University of Cambridge, and coached the University of Cambridge Jessup team.
Dr Delev’s research focuses on international economic law and international dispute settlement, drawing on doctrinal and economic approaches to legal research. Currently, he is working on projects concerning global value chain governance, green industrial policy competition, digital trade norms, and the structure of international trade law. He currently sits on the UK Trade and Sustainable Development Domestic Advisory Group as a representative of the Trade and Public Policy Network.
Mustapha Douch
Associate Professor, Economics, Edinburgh University Business School
Expert in: Trade Agreements, Tariffs, Non-tariff Barriers, Services trade, Goods trade, Firm dynamics, Firm heterogeneity, Productivity, Uncertainties
Ilaria Espa
Associate Professor of International Economic Law at USI Lugano
Expert in: Trade and environment, trade and climate change, trade and energy, trade and natural resources, sustainable development, subsidies and trade remedies, export restrictions, dispute settlement, food and agriculture, industrial policy, trade and climate law constraints
Senior Assistant Professor of International Economic Law at USI Lugano; Senior Research Fellow at the World Trade Institute (WTI); Lead Counsel of the Natural Resources Programme of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL); Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan; Secretary-General of the Swiss Energy Law Association.
Filippo Fontanelli
Professor of International Law and Practice, University of Edinburgh
Expert in: WTO law, free trade agreements, EU external economic action, Brexit, Investment protection and arbitration
Senior Lecturer in International Economic Law, Law School, University of Edinburgh. Adjunct Professor at LUISS (Rome) and Universidad La Sabana (Bogotà). Previously, academic fellow on international trade law with the Scottish Parliament's Information Centre and adviser to the Europe and External Affairs Committee (2018-2020). Filippo acts as counsel and legal expert before international courts and tribunals, and upon appointment by international institutions, including the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission.
Martina Francesca Ferracane
Associate Professor in Digital Trade, Teesside University
Expert in: Digital trade, data flows
Martina is passionate about policy-making and technological innovation. She is an Associate Professor in Digital Trade at the School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies of Teesside University, and she is also affiliated with the European University Institute, where she manages the Digital Trade Integration Project. Her research covers digital trade, data governance, and creative digital education. Martina founded and manages FabLab Western Sicily, a non-profit organisation that brings creative digital education to Sicilian schools and she was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30. She acts regularly as a consultant for several institutions including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank.
Maria Garcia
Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Bath
Expert in: Geopolitics, trade negotiations, environment and social standards in free trade agreements, gender, sustainable development, EU, Brexit, transatlantic relations, trade policy governance
Maria specialises on the geopolitics and dynamics of trade negotiations and how these shape trade agreements, including in transatlatic trade relations and the Pacific region. Her work has also explored the inclusion of on labour, environmental and gender standards in trade agreements. Her recent research also covers UK trade policy, and she has led a GW4 project on business preparation and Brexit. She has given evidence to various parliamentary committees in the House of Commons and Welsh Assembly, and has consulted for the European Parliament on EU agreements with Latin American countries. She was a special advisor to the House of Commons International Trade Committee (2020-22), and member of DBT's first domestic advisory group for the implementation of sustainability chapters in FTAs.
Lindsey Garner-Knapp
Research Fellow, CITP, University of Sussex
Expert in: Intergovernmental relations, informality in policymaking, trade policymaking, UK devolved and Canadian provincial governments in international trade
Lindsey holds two postdocs with the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy spreading her time between the University of Sussex and Cardiff University. She's investigating the formal and informal fora and formats that exist within the UK trade policymaking apparatus through which various interests are represented. Lindsey has a keen interest in the concept of informality and co-edited Informality in Policymaking (2025) to problematize the concept as it emerges in policymaking. Using a novel ethnographic approach to study trade policy, Lindsey has worked with the UK devolved administrations and the Canadian provinces to explore the everyday activities of policy work. She also has practitioner experience as a policy analyst and advisor to the Scottish Government, Alberta Government, and the City of Airdrie (Canada).
Elitsa Garnizova
Founder and Director, LSE Consulting’s Trade Policy Hub (TPH) and Team Leader of for the European Commission project "Building a close relationship with the UK".
Expert in: Political economy of trade, Non-tariff measures, EU Trade policy, UK-EU-US trade, Trade and regulation, Impact Assessments, Trade negotiations, Gender, Human rights
Dr. Elitsa Garnizova is the Founder and Director of LSE Consulting’s Trade Policy Hub (TPH). She leads on trade-related policy research, impact and policy evaluations, and stakeholder consultations. Elitsa has worked on a range of projects for public and private institutions on barriers to trade and investment and regulatory issues in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Mercosur and the US. She has written on vulnerabilities of the UK supply chains post-Brexit, US-UK-EU relations, implementation of trade agreements and sustainability issues. She holds a PhD in IPE from LSE, an MA in European Studies from KU Leuven, Belgium, and a BSc in International Economics and Management from Bocconi University, Italy.
Elitsa is a Team Lead and Key Expert for the multi-annual project of the European Commission's Foreign Policy Instrument on Building a Close Relationship between the EU and the UK, supporting the UK Delegation in the UK with its policy support and public diplomacy activities.
Michael Gasiorek
Professor of Economics, University of Sussex
Expert in: Impact assessment, firms and trade, free trade agreements, rules of origin, GSP, modelling, development, industrial policy, trade negotiations
Michael Gasiorek is a Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Managing Director of a University spin-out company, InterAnalysis. Michael Gasiorek is a specialist in international trade policy and regional integration with a keen interest in the policy relevance of his work. He has extensive experience in modelling the impacts of changes in trade policy and recent research has focussed on how firms engage in international trade, the impact of Brexit on UK manufacturing, and on the impact of GSP preferences on developing country trade. He has published widely in both books and journals, such as the European Economic Review, World Economy, Economic Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, Applied Economics and the European Economy; and has been responsible for the delivery of numerous reports and training programs on trade related issues inter-alia for the European Commission, the World Bank, and the UK government
Markus W. Gehring
Professor of European and International Law, University of Cambridge
Expert in: Sustainable Development, WTO Law, Climate Change, Dispute Settlement, TBT, SPS, EU Trade Law, Investment, FTAs, State Trading Enterprises
Dr Markus Gehring, J.S.D. (Yale), MA (Cantab), LLM (Yale), Dr iur (Hamburg), is Professor of European and International Law at the University of Cambridge. He has been a Visiting Professor in several law faculties around the world and held a Jean Monnet Research Chair ad personam in Sustainable Development Law at the University of Ottawa Law Faculty in Canada. He is also an affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Land Economy, a Founding Fellow of the Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG). He holds a J.S.D. and LL.M from Yale and a Dr iur from Hamburg. A member of the Frankfurt/Main and Ontario Bars, he practiced European and international trade law with Cleary Gottlieb in their Brussels office. He serves as Lead Counsel for Sustainable Trade, Investment and Finance Law with the Centre of International Sustainable Development Law. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies and co-edits the book series on Implementation of Sustainable Development Treaties with Cambridge University Press and is author of several publications on EU, International and Sustainable Development Law.
James Harrison
Professor (School of Law, University of Warwick)
Expert in: Trade and labour, trade and environment, trade and human rights, impact assessment
James Harrison is a Professor in the School of Law at the University of Warwick. He teaches and researches on issues of international economic law and the transnational regulation of corporate activity. He has a particular interest in analysing the broader social and environmental impact of economic laws and regulations.
Holger Hestermeyer
Professor of International and EU Law, King's College London
Expert in: Dispute settlement, non-discrimination, exceptions, free trade agreements, UK agreements, level playing field, intellectual property, human rights, health, national security, governance and scrutiny.
Holger is a Professor of International and EU Law at King's College London. He advises on these areas of law, has served as Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords EU Select Committee, has given expert testimony to committees of the House of Commons, House of Lords, Bundestag and the Scottish Parliament and has frequently been cited on legal matters in the press, including appearances on the BBC and Euronews. In the past, Holger served as Vice President of the Society of International Economic Law and was a Référendaire at the Court of Justice of the EU.
Peter Holmes
Director, InterAnalysis
Expert in: Trade and competition, software patents, dispute settlement at the WTO, TBT and SPS rules and MRAs, Brexit, Freeports, Border Carbon Adjustments, UK-US Relations, regionalism, UK-China relations, competition policy, environment, impact assessments, industrial policy, intellectual property, public services and government procurement
BA and PhD in Economics at Cambridge University. He taught Economics at the University of Sussex from 1974 to 2020 and is now an Honorary Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and a director of InterAnalysis (www.tradesift.com) He taught at the College of Europe (Bruges and Warsaw) and lectured in China. He is a specialist in European Economic Integration and global trade issues, including the EU's relations with the WTO. He is interested in the relationship among the complex of policies on trade, competition, regulation, and technology; he has collaborated with lawyers and political scientists. He has written reports for the European Commission and the World Bank and given evidence to UK parliamentary committees.
Kateryna Holzer
Senior Researcher with the Centre for Climate Change, Energy, and Environmental Law (CCEEL) at the University of Eastern Finland
Expert in: Trade and environment, Trade and energy, Trade and climate change, Border carbon adjustment, Product technical regulations and standards
Dr. Kateryna Holzer is Senior Researcher with the Centre for Climate Change, Energy, and Environmental Law (CCEEL) at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) Law School, where she leads a project on regulatory cooperation on carbon standards (RECOSTA) and teaches a course on international economic law and green transitions. Kateryna Holzer holds a PhD in Law from the University of Bern and a PhD in Economics from Ukraine. She has many years of experience in climate change and energy research, teaching and consultancy, with a focus on trade rules and measures supporting sustainable development.
Gary Horlick
Expert in: Subsidies; GATT/WTO dispute settlement; Trade negotiations; Food safety; Climate change
It was all a matter of chance. After studying international law at Cambridge and Yale, I worked 3 years in development projects in South America, mainly Chile and Colombia. I then returned home to start work in a Washington law firm with an international trade law practice. where I worked on an early large GATT case and numerous trade disputes,, including many for British Steel. This led to work as the lead trade staffer for the US Senate, and then a senior job in the Commerce Department responsible for antidumping [AD]and countervailing duty cases, including developing the first methodology for evaluating and measuring subsidies. When party politics ruled out any further future there, I returned to private practice, fortunately for Canada for its FTA with the US [leading to 9 more, including the UK and a TPP country], and work for a free trading coalition of companies in the Uruguay and then Doha Rounds, and much more. I have chaired 3 WTO panels and 1 Mercosur panel and litigated many more.. as well as WTO fights about trade and environment. I have taught courses at Yale, Georgetown and Columbia law schools on WTO, subsidies, the international trade law of the internet, Brexit, and similar themes and published numerous articles in JIEL, JWT, International Lawyer and other journals.
Stephen Hurt
Associate Professor in International Relations, Oxford Brookes University
Expert in: Trade and development, post-Brexit UK trade, labour rights, civil society, EU, FTAs
Stephen is a critical international political economist with a longstanding interest in the intersection of trade and development. This has formed a major part of his research on EU-Africa relations, the political economy of post-apartheid South Africa and the response of labour movements to free trade. His most recent work considers the UK’s independent trade policy and in particular UK-Africa trade after Brexit. Stephen has provided written evidence to select committee inquiries in both the House of Commons and House of Lords and was the lead author of a policy briefing for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Africa.
Nicolas Lamp
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, and Director of the Queen's Institute on Trade Policy
Expert in: World Trade Organisation negotiations and dispute settlements, Canadian trade policy, trade policy and the crisis of globalisation
I’m an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Canada, where I also serve as the Director of the Queen’s Institute on Trade Policy, an annual professional training course for Canadian trade officials. Prior to joining Queen’s, I worked as a Dispute Settlement Lawyer at the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization. My current research examines how the crisis of globalization impacts international trade law and policy. My publications include “Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters” (with Anthea Roberts, 2021), “Reckoning and Renewal: The World Trade Organization and Its Dispute Settlement System at 30. Essays in Honour of Valerie Hughes” (editor, 2025), and the open-access casebook “International Trade Law: A Casebook for a System in Crisis” (with Joost Pauwelyn, Jennifer Hillman, and Henry Gao, 2023).
Andrew Lang
Chair in International Law and Global Governance, University of Edinburgh School of Law
Expert in: Services, SPS, TBT, recognition, financial services, trade remedies, dispute settlement, exceptions, non-discrimination, level playing field, sustainable development, digital economy, environment, food and agriculture, foreign investment, health, human rights, impact assessments, industrial policy, labour rights, national security
Professor Andrew Lang joined the Edinburgh School of Law in 2017 as the Chair in International Law and Global Governance. Prior to that, he was Professor of Law at the London School of Economics. He is an expert in Public International Law, with a specialty in International Economic Law and the Law of the World Trade Organization. He has a combined BA/LLB from the University of Sydney, where he was a double University Medallist, and his PhD is from the University of Cambridge, supported by a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. From 2004-6, Professor Lang was a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, before teaching at the London School of Economics from 2006 until 2017. Professor Lang consults on legal matters related to international trade and investment, including most recently for the Bank of England, HM Treasury, Department for International Trade, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Financial Conduct Authority, European Commission, the European Parliament, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He has recently completed a commentary on the provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services relating to financial services.
Jessica C Lawrence
Senior Lecturer (School of Law, University of Essex)
Expert in: Trade and Environment, Trade and Human Rights, Investment and Environment, Investment and Human Rights
Jessica Lawrence is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Essex. Her research focuses on international economic law and its impact on human rights, environmental protection, and social norms.
Rafael Leal-Arcas
Professor of Law and Public Policy, KAPSARC School of Public Policy
Expert in: Trade and climate change, trade and energy, EU trade law and policy, RTAs, development, environment, foreign investment, governance and scrutiny, human rights, labour rights, services
Professor of Law and Public Policy at KAPSARC School of Public Policy (Saudi Arabia). Formerly, Professor of European and International Economic Law, a Jean Monnet Chair holder (awarded by the European Commission), Program Director of the LLM in International Economic Law, and former Director of Research at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies of Queen Mary University of London. He was also a visiting professor at NYU Abu Dhabi in the UAE and the Inaugural Lee Kong Chian International Visiting Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University School of Law, Singapore. Dr Leal-Arcas’s research is funded by the EU Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, most notably a grant of EUR14 million as part of a consortium of 21 institutions to work on trade, renewable energy and smart grids.
Dr Leal-Arcas' recent policy work includes contributing to the Report 'Global Rules for Mutually Supportive and Reinforcing Trade and Climate Regimes' and authoring a report on Energy Transit Activities.
Desirée LeClercq
Assistant Professor of Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center
Expert in: Trade and labor governance, fundamental labor rights, International Labor Organization, multilateral trade policy, sustainable development, gender rights, human rights, U.S. administrative law, trade negotiations, dispute settlement
Desiree LeClercq is Assistant Professor of Law & Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Previously, she was Assistant Professor of International Labor Law at Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations, and Director for Labor Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and, earlier, she was a legal officer for the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Sohyun Zoe Lee
Expert in: Economic diplomacy, South Korea, Japan, China, Northeast Asia, Asia-Pacific, Indo-Pacific, EU/UK-East Asia trade relation
My scholarly interests include international relations, international political economy, free trade agreements (FTAs) and regional economic integration in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific. I am particularly interested in the processes and practices involved in FTA negotiations through the examination of interactions between various domestic stakeholders. I also work closely with policymakers and provide expertise in trade policies. My work has appeared in the Pacific Review and Contemporary Politics, among others. I joined Queen's as Lecturer in International Political Economy in 2020. From 2018 to 2021, I served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University.
Giulia Claudia Leonelli
Assistant Professor of Law, LSE Law School, London School of Economics and Political Science
Expert in: Trade and environment, trade and climate change, carbon border measures, climate clubs, sustainable development provisions in trade and investment agreements, level playing field, public policy exceptions, EU and US risk regulation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, public health
Dr Giulia Claudia Leonelli is Assistant Professor of Law in the LSE Law School. Her research lies at the intersection of trade and environmental law, with a particular focus on carbon border measures, climate clubs, TSD/environmental chapters in FTAs, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, critical raw materials, and environmental subsidies. She has published extensively in leading academic journals. She regularly contributes written evidence to inquiries of the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee and the House of Lords International Agreements Committee, and in October 2023 she was invited to give oral evidence to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee regarding the UK accession to CPTPP. Dr Leonelli's research on carbon border measures and climate clubs has fed into policy discussions regarding the G7 blueprint for climate club arrangements.
Phoebe Li
Co-Investigator on the ESRC Sussex Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy
Expert in: Intellectual property, Industrial property, Technology regulation, Digitisation,
Phoebe Li is a Reader in Law and Technology at the School of Law, Politics, and Sociology, University of Sussex. Her expertise revolves around intellectual property, technology regulation, and international trade. She works with partners around the world on complex issues in digital transformation. She is a Co-Investigator on the ESRC Sussex Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, examining the social, economic and legal implications of digital service trade negotiations post-Brexit. She is also a Co-Investigator on the EPSRC Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS): Regulation and governance node, examining comparative approaches to regulating AI and the use in healthcare.
David Luke
Strategic director, London School of Economics
Expert in: Intra-African trade; The AfCFTA initiative; Africa’s multilateral and bilateral trade relationships; Trade, industrialisation and structural transformation; Trade, inclusion and gender; Trade and public health; Trade and climate change.
David Luke is professor in practice and strategic director at the London School of Economics Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa where he oversees the Africa Trade Policy Programme. He is a former director of the African Trade Policy Centre at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) where he led the technical work on the protocols that make up the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Emily Lydgate
Professor of Law, University of Sussex and Co-Director, UK Trade Policy Observatory
Expert in: Trade and environment, trade and climate, trade and agriculture
Emily Lydgate is Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons EFRA Committee. Her research focuses primarily on the relationship between international trade law and environmental problems and problem-solving. She is currently working on an EU Horizon 2020 project on the integration of Sustainable Develpoment Goals into EU Free Trade Agreements. She is an instructor on Whitehall's Advanced Trade Policy programme. She has previously consulted at UN Environment's Economics and Trade Branch, where she acted as a WTO liaison and was the programme officer for the Clean Trade Project.
Courtney McNamara
Lecturer in Public Health, Newcastle University
Expert in: Health; Employment; Labour Conditions; Income; Work; Health Impact Assessment
Dr. Courtney McNamara is a Lecturer in Public Health within the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. Dr. McNamara's research examines how international trade impacts on health and health equity.
Minako Morita-Jaeger
Senior Research Fellow in International Trade, Department of Economics, University of Sussex
Expert in: Free trade agreements (FTAs), WTO, trade policy in Asia-Pacific Region, trade and investment, services trade, trade policy and business, regulatory cooperation, development, digital economy, industrial policy
Minako is a Senior Research Fellow in International Trade in the Department of Economics and a Policy Research Fellow, UKTPO, University of Sussex. Prior to her current work, she served as a research fellow of the International Trade Policy Unit, LSE; an economic affairs officer at the UNCTAD in Geneva; a WTO services trade negotiator at the Japanese Delegation to the WTO in Geneva; and a principal trade policy analyst at the Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) in Tokyo. She has a multi-disciplinary background of international political economy, economics and law. She received a PhD in International Relations from the LSE.
Tonia Novitz
Professor of Labour Law and Co-director of the Centre for International Law, University of Bristol
Expert in: International and EU trade, international and comparative labour laws, sustainability, migration and the protection of human rights
A graduate of the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Balliol College, Oxford, Tonia Novitz has held fellowships at the International Institute for Labour Studies (Geneva), the European University Institute (Florence), the University of Melbourne and the University of Auckland. She has been a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Bristol since 2008. Her research interests include international and EU trade, international and comparative labour law, sustainability, migration and the protection of human rights. Her most recent book, Trade, Labour and Sustainable Development: Leaving no one in the world of work behind was published by Edward Elgar in April 2024.
Jeremmy Okonjo
Assistant Professor, University of Warwick School of Law
Expert in: Development, Digital Economy, Foreign Investments, Financial Services, Governance and Scrutiny, Industrial Policy, Services Trade, Trade Facilitation
Jeremmy is an academic and legal practitioner with particular interest in the intersections between international trade, finance and investments law, and the digital economy, especially in the context of global north-global South economic partnerships. His current research interests include the role of data, and new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Ledger Technologies, and Smart Contracts in international economic law, international commercial law, and financial regulatory compliance (RegTech) and supervision (SupTech). In addition to teaching International Economic Law, International Commercial Law, and Financial Services Regulation at Warwick Law School, Jeremmy is currently engaged in research projects examining the role of digital technologies in the private financing of global South development, the role of international economic law and private law in constituting global value chains (GVCs), and also climate finance law. Jeremmy has previously contributed to Kenya case studies in World Bank reports on benchmarking of Public-Private partnerships (PPP) law and policy. He has also advised Kenya’s Ministry of Justice on the design of law reform programs.
Jeremmy’s recent policy outputs include a policy brief on global value chains, trade and inequalities.
Federico Ortino
Professor of International Economic Law, King's College London
Expert in: International economic law, WTO law, international investment law and arbitration, dispute settlement, services
Professor of International Economic Law at King's College London, Federico specialises in WTO and foreign investment law. Recent publications: The Origin and Evolution of Investment Treaty Standards: Stability, Value, and Reasonableness (OUP, 2019); Establishing a New Role for Antidumping Policy: Protection of an Unestablished Industry (Morocco-Hot Rolled Steel (Turkey)) in World Trade Review (2021).
Ese Stephen Owie
Associate Professor of International Trade Law, International Relations and Trade Diplomacy, at EUCLID (Pôle Universitaire EUCLIDE/Euclid University)
Expert in: International Trade Law, International Economic Law, Trade Negotiations, Investment Law, Trade in Services, Subsidies, Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT), Regional Trade, AI + Digital Trade, Energy Transition, Sustainability, Green Industrial Policy, Dispute Settlement
Dr Ese Stephen Owie is an international trade law, international economic law, trade policy, trade economics, energy and sustainable finance practitioner, with a sterling multi-jurisdictional career spanning over two and half decades. He is currently an Associate Professor of International Trade Law, International Relations and Trade Diplomacy, at EUCLID (Pôle Universitaire EUCLIDE/Euclid University). He is the Co-founder and President of The Cavendish Institute, as well as the Co-Founder of Climate Change Africa. He previously served in the cabinet of the Edo State Governor in Nigeria. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future Project, and CEO of the University of Oxford Climate Alumni Network. He has held Visiting Research Fellowships at the University of Lincoln (UK), University of Cape Town (South Africa), and University of Essex Law School (UK).
Joshua Paine
Associate Professor in International Law, University of Bristol
Expert in: International investment law and policy (investment protection, investment liberalization and investment facilitation), investor–State dispute settlement, State–State dispute settlement (WTO and FTAs), exceptions, services.
Joshua (Josh) Paine is Associate Professor in International Law at the University of Bristol, with expertise in international investment law and policy, international trade law, and international dispute settlement. His first book, The Functions of International Adjudication and International Environmental Litigation (Cambridge University Press 2024), was awarded 2nd prize in the 2024 Society of Legal Scholars Brazier book prize for Outstanding Mid-Career Scholarship and an Honourable Mention in the 2025 Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Book Prize. For his research on a climate carve-out for investment treaties, Josh was awarded (with co-author Elizabeth Sheargold) the 2023 John H Jackson Prize of the Journal of International Economic Law. Josh has published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals and in edited volumes. Josh has presented his research at major events involving policymakers, including twice at the OECD investment treaty conference and at the European Commission. He has given oral evidence to the Commons International Trade Committee and his written evidence has been cited extensively in reports of the International Trade Committee and House of Lords International Agreements Committee. Josh is a member of the ISDS Academic Forum, UNCTAD’s Multi-Stakeholder Platform on IIA Reform, and has participated as an observer in sessions of UNCITRAL Working Group III on ISDS reform.
Mona Paulsen
Assistant Professor of Law, Department of Law, LSE
Expert in: WTO agreements, dispute settlement, national security, international investment, GATT history, trade, development, national security
Dr Mona Paulsen is Assistant Professor of International Economic Law, Department of Law. Her research focuses on international trade and foreign investment law and policy, particularly the history of international dispute resolution and economic diplomacy, as well as the intersection of the global economy and national security.
Ludivine Petetin
Professor of Law, Cardiff School of Law and Politics
Expert in: Agricultural trade, Agreement on Agriculture, Environment, SPS, TBT, Agri-food, WTO, Multi-level Governance, Devolved Nations, The UK Internal Market
Dr Ludivine Petetin is a Professor of Law at the School of Law and Politics of Cardiff University. Her expertise lies in the areas of agri-food-environmental issues and international trade from multilevel and multidisciplinary perspectives. She is the theme leader of ‘Negotiating a Turbulent World’ for the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP). And she currently is a TaPP Network member of the UK Trade and Sustainable Development Domestic Advisory Group. In 2022, she co-authored ‘Brexit and Agriculture’ (Routledge).
She regularly engages with governments, legislatures and stakeholders (including civil society organisations) across the UK and beyond on these matters.
Amy Porges
Adjunct Lecturer in the Master of Arts in Global Policy Program
Expert in: WTO, GATT, GATS, CPTPP; FTA negotiations; market access; digital trade; industrial policy; trade and environment; trade and taxation; national security; agricultural trade; procurement trade
Amy Porges practices international trade and customs law. In private practice since 2000, she has advised on trade strategy, trade law and trade and investment disputes under the WTO, free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. She now manages a boutique law firm. Earlier, she was a lawyer in a government, the GATT Secretariat, and major international law firms. She teaches trade policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. Her publications can be found here.
Francisco J. Quintana
Lecturer in Global Law at the University of Edinburgh
Expert in: International economic law, international monetary law, sanctions, economic statecraft, global economic governance
Dr Francisco J. Quintana is Lecturer in Global Law at the University of Edinburgh. His research sits at the intersection of law, geopolitics, and political economy, with a focus on how small and medium powers shape global law and governance. Francisco also works as an international lawyer, including on cases before international courts and tribunals. He holds degrees from Cambridge, Harvard Law School, the London School of Economics, and Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. He is often interviewed by the media on issues of international law and global politics.
Emily Reid
Professor of International Economic Law and Sustainable Development, University of Southampton
Expert in: Sustainable development, just transition, trade and environment, trade and human rights, trade and labour standards
Emily’s expertise in international trade law has a particular focus upon the relationship between economic, environmental (including climate) and human rights interests and law. It also extends to regulatory decision making processes, risk assessment, risk regulation, and how these interact with trade law. Emily has provided expert evidence to the UK House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union, Internal Market Sub-Committee on Future UK-EU transport arrangements (particularly focusing upon the maritime sector), and has worked with the UK FCDO on the development of an e-learning unit, ‘Trade, Labour and Human Rights’, for the Trade Policy & Negotiations Faculty. She has published widely and has taught several topics on trade law, WTO law, regional economic integration, EU trade law (including relations with third states), and globalisation.
Stephanie Rickard
Professor at the London School of Economics
Expert in: Subsidies, Public procurement, WTO, FTAs, Trade shocks, Compensation, Economic geography
I am a Professor at the London School of Economics. My research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of politics and international economics.
Bettina Rudloff
Agricultural Economist, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
Expert in: Agriculture, Food safety and security, Sustainability, Development, EU trade policy towards third countries
Bettina Rudloff holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and began her career as an assistant professor at the University of Bonn, Germany. She then advised policy actors on trade and food policy at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. In this context, she also led a training course for WTO negotiators from developing countries on behalf of the EU Commission. Currently, she works for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and is a member of several advisory boards, e.g. for the German Ministries for Economic Cooperation and for Agriculture.
Amrita Saha
Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Expert in: Political Economy of Trade Policy, UK-India trade, Trade and Poverty, Development, Food and agriculture, Gender, Human rights, Governance and scrutiny, Industrial policy, Impact assessments, Trade facilitation, Trade negotiation.
Amrita Saha is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). She is an economist, working on the political economy of trade policy and inclusive trade. Amrita has led and been involved on various projects and consortia funded by the FCDO UK, ESRC, International Trade Centre, and other international organisations. Her most recent work is focused on international trade and development, focusing on UK-India trade, South-South trade cooperation, agricultural commercialisation, and trade and innovation. Her work has been widely published, for instance in journals such as World Development, European Journal of Political Economy and Economics and Politics.
Albert Sanchez-Graells
Professor of Economic Law, University of Bristol Law School
Expert in: WTO Government procurement agreement, public procurement, competition, subsidies, state aid, digital governance, digital trade
Bristol Law School (UK). He is currently a member of the UK Cabinet Office’s Open Contracting Advisory Group and the NHS England’s Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel. Before that, Albert was a Member of the European Commission Stakeholder Expert Group on Public Procurement. His most recent monograph is Digital Technologies and Public Procurement. Gatekeeping and experimentation in digital public governance (OUP 2024). Most of Albert's working papers are available at http://ssrn.com/author=542893. His analysis of current legal developments is published in his blog http://www.howtocrackanut.com.
Sunayana Sasmal
Research Fellow in International Trade Law, UKTPO, University of Sussex.
Expert in: International trade law; WTO law; climate and trade; regional trade agreements; trade negotiations; fisheries subsidies
Sunayana Sasmal currently serves as a Research Fellow in International Trade Law at the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. Previously, she has held research roles with the Indian Government’s trade-advisory think tank Centre for WTO Studies and with the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. She has interned at the WTO Legal Affairs Division and has also been a consultant for the World Bank and Tulip Consulting. She holds an LL.M. from Columbia Law School, New York, where she was a Jagdish Bhagwati Fellow, and a B.A., LL.B. (International Trade and Investment Law Hons.) from National Law University, Jodhpur. Trade, climate and sustainability interlinkages have been her predominant interests in the recent past.
Mavluda Sattorova
Professor in International Economic Law, University of Liverpool
Expert in: Investment protection, investment facilitation, investment and sustainable development, dispute settlement, foreign investment, health
Mavluda specialises in international economic law, with particular focus on international investment law and investor-state arbitration. Her most recent work examines the interplay between international investment law and national policy-making and governance. She is member of the Steering Group of the Academic Forum ISDS, working closely with the UNCITRAL WGIII; director of the Liverpool Economic Governance Unit (LEGU); and convener of the Asian Society of International Law's International Investment and Economic Law group. Since 2019, Mavluda has worked as a research fellow at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, having previously worked in an expert capacity with the UNCTAD Investment Division and the World Health Organisation.
James Scott
Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Department of Political Economy, King's College London
Expert in: The WTO, China in the WTO, development, governance and scrutiny
Dr James Scott is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Political Economy at King's College London. He works primarily on trade governance, particularly with regard to developing countries in the World Trade Organisation. James did his bachelor’s degree in physics and philosophy at New College, Oxford, before moving to the University of Manchester to undertake an MA in Development Studies and subsequently a PhD in International Political Economy. His recent work has focused on areas including China in the WTO, the organisations providing expert knowledge on trade, and economic nationalism within the WTO.
Yujie Shi
Research Fellow, Aston University
Expert in: Non-tariff measures (NTMs), Post-Brexit UK-EU trade relations and regulatory divergence, SME internationalisation and export strategy, Digital technologies and their impact on trade and productivity
Yujie Shi is a Research Fellow at Aston University, working closely with Professor Jun Du on UK trade policy and international trade. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Liverpool, and her research focuses on trade policy, non-tariff measures, digital technology, and SME performance and innovation. She has been involved in several policy-relevant projects, including those funded by the Department for Business and Trade and the Trade and Productivity Institute. She co-authored the report Unbound: UK Trade Post Brexit, which was cited in Parliament and featured by the Financial Times and BBC. Yujie Shi regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals such as The World Economy and Open Economies Review, and is an ONS-accredited researcher.
Michael Short
Professor (Research), Teesside University
Expert in: Digitalization, Digital Economy, Digital Trade, AI, Automation, Supply Chain
Michael Short (IEEE, MIET, FHEA) is currently Professor of Engineering and Systems Informatics at Teesside University. He holds a Batchelors degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a PhD degree in Robotics and AI. His research interests include Automation and AI/Informatics applied to Smart Systems, Energy Management and Logistics/Supply Chain Management. He has a strong track record of leading national and international research projects in these areas and has over 220 related publications. His experience includes leading a UK Government (HMRC) project and delivery of a report on ‘digital trade: opportunities and challenges’ in 2022 which helped to establish the ICC International Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation (IC4DTI) in the UK, and supported passage of the UK Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA). Michael has recently been involved in multiple projects with IC4DTI, co-funded through Innovate UK, related to prototyping digital trade technologies for pilot trials and supporting development of the Uks largest 5G Digital Trade Testbed. He has also been involved with directing PhD studies and leading ongoing research projects in digital trade and supply-chain management in Thailand, Indonesia, and India.
Gabriel Siles-Brügge
Professor in Global Governance & Public Policy, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Expert in: Trade negotiations, impact assessments, services, foreign investment, regulatory cooperation, governance and scrutiny, EU, transatlantic trade, Brexit, health
Gabriel is a political economist with a long-standing focus on the politics of trade and investment negotiations, notably in relation to the EU and UK's trade policies and transatlantic trade relations. He has examined the politics of economic modelling; negotiations around services/investment liberalisation and regulatory cooperation; and the governance of trade talks. He is currently working on a National Institute for Health and Care-funded research project on challenges to health promotion regulation at the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee. Gabriel also co-lead a work package on the ‘Reconfiguration of transatlantic trade after Brexit’ as part of a recent Jean Monnet Network on Transatlantic Trade Politics and is a participant of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Network on Contested EU Foreign Policy in an Era of Geopolitics (EUFOG). Gabriel has been a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons International Trade Committee (2021-22), having previously served as a Parliamentary Academic Fellow (2017-19). He was also a Scientific Advisor on Trade Policy to the European Public Health Alliance (2016-24) and was recently conferred a Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Gabriel's recent policy work includes papers on the governance of UK trade policy from a public health perspective, on UK-US trade relations and on the performativity on UK trade policy post-Brexit.
Fiona Smith
Research Professor, UK Trade Policy Observatory, University of Sussex
Expert in: agriculture, food systems, ultra-processed food, sustainability, global value chains, traceability
Fiona Smith is Research Professor at the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on international trade law, particularly agrifood trade, global supply chains and the impacts of agrifood trade on the climate and human health. She has spoken about her research around the world and worked extensively with government (UK and EU), and the third sector advising on aspects of international agrifood trade. She is a member of the UK Department of Business and Trade’s Expert Steering Group on the UK’s trade strategy in the G7, G20 and the WTO.
Marta Soprana
Digital IR Project Associate, LSE IDEAS
Expert in: Digital trade, digital economy, digital governance, artificial intelligence, free trade agreements, trade in services, WTO
Dr Marta Soprana is a Technology and International Affairs Project Associate at LSE IDEAS. Previously she worked as a Fellow in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she taught courses on the political economy of trade. She has extensive experience acting as consultant for international organisations – including FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, World Bank and WTO – and national governments, and supporting private firms’ efforts to access and operate in foreign markets. Her main areas of expertise are trade in services, digital trade, and the regulation of emerging technologies, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Her work has been published in the Journal of International Economic Law, the Journal of World Trade, Diritto del Commercio Internazionale and Trade, Law and Development, among others. With a multi-disciplinary background in international relations and law, she specialises in interdisciplinary research. She holds a PhD in Legal Studies from Bocconi University, a Master in International law and Economics (MILE) from the World Trade Institute (University of Bern), and a MA in International Relations and Diplomatic studies from the University of Bologna.
Peter-Tobias Stoll
Professor, Göttingen University
Expert in: Trade, investment, EU trade policy, sustainable development, dispute settlement
Tobias is a Professor at Göttingen University and publishes and teaches widely on international trade, investment and sustainability. He is a General Editor of the Commentaries on World Trade Law, 2nd. ed.) and co-chairs the Interest Group on International Economic Law of ESIL. He freuqently advises EU, national governments, IOs and NGOs and is listed as a person suitable as arbitrator/ TSD expert for dispute settlement under EU trade and investment agreements.
Jasem Tarawneh
Reader in Commercial & Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London
Expert in: Intellectual property law, arbitration & ADR law, investment law, international economic law
Dr Jasem Tarawneh is a Lecturer in Commercial & Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary, London University. Jasem worked for a number of years as a corporate lawyer and legal advisor in Europe and Middle East before joining academia. He currently teaches International Dispute Resolution and Intellectual Property Law. His main areas of research are Law and Economics, Intellectual Property Law and in a global context as well as Alternative Dispute Settlement Mechanisms with an emphasis on International Arbitration and Artificial Intelligence. Jasem has a number of publications in those areas of the law and his latest project is a book that primarily focuses on Trade Marks and their impact on market access, regulation and innovation. Dr Tarawneh worked and continues to work with a number of distinguished international organisations. He currently holds the position of a Legal Academic Associate at Kings Chambers. Jasem is also the co-principal investigator on a number of projects focused on the automation and commercialisation of legal services, as well as the international framework for trade and investment.
Anne Thies
Senior Lecturer in International and European Law, University of Glasgow
Expert in: International trade law, WTO law, European Union law, EU external relations law, trade and gender, international dispute settlement
Anne Thies is Senior Lecturer in International and European Law at the University of Glasgow. Her research and teaching spans EU and international law, with a particular focus on international trade law, EU external relations law and international dispute settlement. She has published on issues such as the effects of WTO law in the EU legal order, trade and gender, and the role of EU principles, values and objectives in the legal framework for EU external action, including trade policy and agreements. Anne is a qualified lawyer in Germany, holds an LLM from the University of London (LSE) and a Dr. iur. from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
Silke Trommer
Senior Lecturer in Comparative Public Policy, University of Manchester
Expert in: International political economy of trade, gender and trade, trade and development, trade and civil society, trade negotiations, trade governance
Silke’s work focuses on trade negotiations, development, social movements, and gender. She is a member of the WTO's Gender Research Hub and has provided expert testimony to trade policy-makers in the UK (DIT, DFID and House of Commons), Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa. She has appeared on BBC World Service Radio and on BBC Radio Manchester. She has published in leading journals in International Political Economy, Development Studies and European Studies. She has taught Trade Politics and WTO Law courses. She has work experience with DG Trade of the European Commission and the International Trade Centre, a WTO-UNCTAD co-agency.
Silke's recent policy outputs include a briefing on gender sensitive trade policy for the Women’s Budget Group and a Knowledge Synthesis Report on gendering global trade governance, which was co-sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Anna Ventouratou
Lecturer in International Trade Law, University of Sheffield
Expert in: Trade Restrictions on Non-Economic Grounds incl. Trade Sanctions, Gender and Trade, Trade in Services, Dispute Settlement
Anna is a Lecturer in International Trade Law at the University of Sheffield. She has studied law at the University of Oxford (DPhil; MPhil; MJur), the University of Athens (LLM in Public International Law; LLB), and Columbia Law School (Fulbright-Schuman Visiting Scholar), and she is admitted to practice law in Greece. Before joining Sheffield, she taught Public International Law as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and tutor in law at the University of Oxford, and she worked as a researcher on several projects relating to diverse areas of public international law. She completed her legal traineeship at a leading criminal law firm in Athens, Greece and she worked as a trainee at the Legal Service of the European Commission (CFSP and external relations team). Her doctoral dissertation at the University of Oxford was on 'General Defences in International Adjudication' and explored the applicability of the defences enshrined in Part I, Chapter V of the Articles of the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts in disputes before the ICJ, the WTO dispute settlement system, and investment arbitral tribunals. Her current research projects focus on the legality of economic sanctions and on issues relating to gender and trade.
Geraldo Vidigal
Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
Expert in: WTO Law, Regional Trade Agreements, Dispute Settlement, Trade and Sustainable Development, Trade and Environment, Trade and Climate, Trade and Security, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Trade and Domestic Regulation, Regulatory Equivalence, Food and Animal Trade, Mercosur, EU-Mercosur Trade, International Standardization, Services Trade, Trade and Human Rights, Trade Governance, Investment Governance
Geraldo Vidigal is Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he coordinates the LL.M. in International Trade and Investment Law. He is the Managing Editor of Legal Issues of Economic Integration (Kluwer), Theme Developer for International Economic Law at Oxford International Organizations, and a member of the WTO's roster of dispute settlement panelists. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cambridge, a Master’s in International Law from the Sorbonne Law School and a Bachelor’s in Law from the University of São Paulo.
Michael Waibel
Professor of International Law, University of Vienna
Expert in: Foreign investment, definition of investment, portfolio investment, international monetary law, International Monetary Fund, sovereign debt, financial services, dispute settlement and arbitration, treaty interpretation
Michael Waibel is a professor of international law at the University of Vienna. His teaching and writing focus on international law, international economic law, sovereign debt and international dispute settlement. He is an Editor of the ICSID Reports and the Journal of International Economic Law. Previously, he taught for a decade at the University of Cambridge, und was from 2015-2019 co-deputy director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Director of Studies at Jesus College.
Zheng Wang
Professor of International Economics, University of Dundee
Expert in: Political economy of trade and policy, institutional economics, migration, innovation, media economics, the economies of the UK and China, policy evaluation
Zheng Wang is Chair Professor of International Economics at the University of Dundee and an external fellow at the research centre on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP), University of Nottingham. His research focuses on international trade, political economy, and institutional economics. His most recent interest is in examining how geopolitical tensions and media markets influence policy by shaping consumer perceptions. His work appears in leading journals and has been featured in Nature and the Financial Times. He serves on the editorial board of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications and holds dual PhDs in economics from the University of Nottingham and Zhejiang University.
Rebecca Wilde
Reader, Head of Business Innovation, Supply Chain and Trade, Warwick University (WMG)
Expert in: Environment; Impact Assessment; Trade facilitation; Trade negotiations; Labour mobility, Supply Chain Management
Rebecca is currently head of the International Business and Trade discipline group at Warwick University (WMG). As an economist, her teaching and research interests lie in the field of International Economics and Trade with a keen focus on trade policy and trade agreements; trade engagement and barriers; and international labour mobility. Rebecca is also an academic advisor for the UK Department of International Trade's Thematic Working Groups, and a member of the Institute of Export and International Trade.
Ines Willemyns
Teaching Fellow for the International Economic Law Business and Policy LL.M program and Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School
Expert in: Digital economy, digital trade law, services trade law, digital policy, international trade law, free trade agreements, regionalism
Dr. Ines Willemyns is the Teaching Fellow for the International Economic Law, Business and Policy (IELBP) LL.M program and Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School. Ines’ research focuses on the intersection between the digital economy and international trade law. Her research has been published in leading academic journals and her monograph on digital services in international trade law was published with Cambridge University Press in 2021. Before joining Stanford Law School, Ines practiced EU and international trade law as a senior associate in the Brussels offices of Baker McKenzie and Sidley Austin. Prior to entering practice, Ines conducted her PhD research at KU Leuven. Ines also interned at the Appellate Body Secretariat of the WTO in 2019.
L Alan Winters
Professor of Economics, University of Sussex
Expert in: UK trade policy, trade and development, world trading system, regional trading agreements, services
L Alan Winters is Professor of Economics in the University of Sussex. He was the Founding Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. He was Chief Economist DFID (2008-11), Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank (2004-07) and editor of The World Trade Review (2009-20). L Alan Winters is a leading specialist on the empirical and policy analysis of international trade, including that of Europe and of developing countries. He has published over two hundred and fifty articles and chapters and over thirty books. His current work is mostly devoted to research and policy analysis on UK trade policy following Brexit.
Katja Ziegler
Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law and Co-Director of the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation (CELI), University of Leicester
Expert in: Accountability in foreign policy, Human rights and trade agreements, EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, Brexit, EU law (especially interactions with international law and autonomy of the EU legal order), Parliamentary scrutiny of treaties
Katja Ziegler is the Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law at the University of Leicester and Co-Director of the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation (CELI). She is a qualified Rechtsanwältin and member of the Düsseldorf Bar, Germany. Her research spans international, European and comparative law, focusing on the interaction of legal orders; the autonomy of the EU legal order; Brexit and EU-UK relations; human rights; the balancing of economic/trade rules and non-economic interests; and comparative and EU foreign relations law. She is a member of the editorial board of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Previously, she researched and taught for a decade at the University of Oxford where she also was a Deputy Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law and Fellow of St Hilda’s College. She practiced law in the Brussels office of the international law firm Hengeler Mueller before returning to academia. In 2021-22 she has been seconded to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office under a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
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