People at the Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law

Meet CEREL's dedicated faculty members, whose research focuses on critical legal issues surrounding energy, natural resources, and climate change.

Centre for Environmental Resources and Energy Law.Huntly Power station

Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law

Director

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Professor Trevor Daya-Winterbottom

Associate Dean of Research

Associate Dean Research - Te Wānanga o Ngā Kete - Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences
Director - Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law - Te Putahi o te Ture Taiāo

Dr Trevor Daya-Winterbottom is a Professor of Law at Te Piringa Faculty of Law in the University of Waikato. He holds a BA (Hons) in Law from Liverpool John Moor…

Management Committee

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Dr Sam Campbell

Lecturer

I am an environmental law academic interested in the balancing of values in water law and policy. My work features a particular focus on protected areas and environmental impact assessment. Prior to academia, I was a practising lawyer at a leading international law firm in Australia. I am a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN A…
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Associate Professor Nathan Cooper

Associate Professor

Associate Professor & Convenor of International Engagement

I work at the interface of environmental law and human rights law, and in particular on questions around the compatibility of ‘rights claims’ with ecologically sustainable governance. I am interested in the way that formal law shapes norms and interacts with other norms, and in the role of ‘vern…
profile
Professor Trevor Daya-Winterbottom

Associate Dean of Research

Associate Dean Research - Te Wānanga o Ngā Kete - Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences
Director - Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law - Te Putahi o te Ture Taiāo

Dr Trevor Daya-Winterbottom is a Professor of Law at Te Piringa Faculty of Law in the University of Waikato. He holds a BA (Hons) in Law from Liverpool John Moor…
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Dr Dee Raman

Lecturer

Dr Durgeshree (Dee) Raman completed her LLB, LLM (Hons) and PhD from Te Piringa-Faculty of Law, University of Waikato. Her PhD was on "Governance of International Rivers: Threats, Gaps and Challenges". In her teaching role across 14 law papers, Dee has taught New Zealand Legal Methods and Systems, Equity, Succession and Trusts, Crimes, Evidence and Famil…

Members

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Dr Alberto Alvarez-Jimenez

Senior Lecturer

Kia ora and many thanks for your interest.

I am a Colombian, Canadian, and soon to be New Zealand citizen, who enjoys literature, art, architecture and music.
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Professor Barry Barton

Professor

Barry Barton has been a member of the Faculty of Law since 1991. His field of research is energy, natural resources, and climate change law. He studied law and geography at the University of Auckland, practised law in Auckland, and spent a decade in Canada, first at the University of British Columbia and then the Canadian Institute of Resources Law at th…
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Dr Anna Marie Brennan

Research Associate

Dr Anna Brennan BCLGA(Hons) (Law and Irish), LL.B. (Hons), LL.M. (First Class Honours), PhD is a Senior Lecturer (Above the Bar) at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. In 2024, she was awarded the Borrin Foundation's Women Leaders in Law Fellowship. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Te Piringa Faculty of Law from 2019 to 2024 she served…
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Dr Sam Campbell

Lecturer

I am an environmental law academic interested in the balancing of values in water law and policy. My work features a particular focus on protected areas and environmental impact assessment. Prior to academia, I was a practising lawyer at a leading international law firm in Australia. I am a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN A…
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Ms Jennifer Campion

Associate Dean Academic - Special Projects

My research interests are in property law, especially land law and intellectual property law, and extend to energy, climate and natural resources law. I am a former Board Member of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc. I am also particularly interested in copyright and I am the University of Waikato Copyright Officer and the Waikato member of Universities…
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Associate Professor Juliet Chevalier-Watts

Associate Professor

Dr Juliet Chevalier-Watts is an Associate Professor in Law, Convenor of Research and former Co Director of the Waikato Public Law and Policy Research Unit, and former Associate Dean Research at the University of Waikato and Editor in Chief of the Waikato Law Review.

Juliet is a specialist in charity law, equity and trusts and religious law, and she lect…
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Associate Professor Nathan Cooper

Associate Professor

Associate Professor & Convenor of International Engagement

I work at the interface of environmental law and human rights law, and in particular on questions around the compatibility of ‘rights claims’ with ecologically sustainable governance. I am interested in the way that formal law shapes norms and interacts with other norms, and in the role of ‘vern…
profile
Professor Trevor Daya-Winterbottom

Associate Dean of Research

Associate Dean Research - Te Wānanga o Ngā Kete - Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences
Director - Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law - Te Putahi o te Ture Taiāo

Dr Trevor Daya-Winterbottom is a Professor of Law at Te Piringa Faculty of Law in the University of Waikato. He holds a BA (Hons) in Law from Liverpool John Moor…
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Dr Dara Dimitrov

Lecturer

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Professor Alexander Gillespie

Professor

Professor Alexander Gillespie obtained his LLB and LLM degrees with Honours from The University of Auckland. He did his PhD at Nottingham and post-doctoral studies at Columbia University in New York City. His areas of scholarship pertain to international and comparative environmental law; the laws of war; civil liberties; and a number of pressing issues …
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Ms Carolyn Hill

Lecturer

Carolyn Hill is a lecturer in environmental planning. She is also an architect and has worked in heritage roles across public and private sectors in Aotearoa, Australia and the UK.

Her work explores architecture as part of broader urban form and life, with issues of social and cultural justice being central to her applied work and writing. Carolyn's ma…
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Associate Professor Robert Joseph

Director of Maori Indigenious Goverance Centre

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Dr Leo Liao

Senior Lecturer

Dr Leo Z Liao graduated from Renmin University of China (RUC) with degrees of Bachelor of Economics, Master of Laws, and Doctor of Laws. He also completed his Bachelor of Laws, Master of Professional Studies (with First Class Honours in Translation), and Master of Laws (with First Class Honours in Commercial Law) at University of Auckland.

Dr Liao has b…
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Professor Taciano Milfont

Professor

Taciano L. Milfont is a committed human rights defender, advocating for justice, equality, and the protection of marginalised communities. He is a Professor in the School of Psychological and Social Sciences, and member of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study.
Known for applying insights from social and behavioural sciences to address environmental…
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Ms Unaisi Narawa

Lecturer

Unaisi Narawa joined Te Piringa Faculty of Law in 2023 as a Lecturer in Law and Convenor of Pacific Engagement. She is of Fijian and Solomon Island descent. Unaisi studied law at the University of the South Pacific (USP) where she completed undergraduate and post graduate studies in law and tertiary teaching. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, she stud…
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Dr Dee Raman

Lecturer

Dr Durgeshree (Dee) Raman completed her LLB, LLM (Hons) and PhD from Te Piringa-Faculty of Law, University of Waikato. Her PhD was on "Governance of International Rivers: Threats, Gaps and Challenges". In her teaching role across 14 law papers, Dee has taught New Zealand Legal Methods and Systems, Equity, Succession and Trusts, Crimes, Evidence and Famil…
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Associate Professor Linda Te Aho

Associate Professor

Linda Te Aho is an Associate Professor in Te Piringa Faculty of Law and is the 2023 Judith Binney research fellow. Linda has long served as the Associate Dean Māori for the faculty, and more recently for the newly created Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences. An experienced governor, Linda continues to hold senior governance positions…
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Professor Valmaine Toki

Professor

Professor Valmaine Toki is of Ngati Rehua, Ngatiwai, Ngapuhi descent. Valmaine holds a BA LLB (Hons) MBA, LLM and a PhD in law and has a current practicing certificate as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court. As a He Ture Pumau scholar Valmaine worked at Te Ohu Kaimoana where she completed her MBA. Valmaine joined Te Piringa after five years lectu…
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Dr Amanda Turnbull

Research Associate

I am a Lecturer in (Cyber) Law at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, School of Law, Politics, and Philosophy at the University of Waikato. My PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) investigates how law, language, and authority function in the "Algorithmic Turn" in society, wherein algorithms are becoming the main mediator through which power is carried out. …
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Dr Joe Ulatowski

Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sustainability

Joe specialises in the nature and value of truth and collaborates with New Zealand and overseas colleagues on projects that involve the nature of truth, the problem of action individuation, self-narratives, and applied ethical problems involving security and research ethics.