Media

OTTAWA, June 30, 2010  —  Professor Markus Gehring, Vice-Dean, Research, Civil Law Section, has received a prestigious ad personam Jean Monnet Chair in sustainable development law for a three-year period.

This is the first Jean Monnet Chair awarded to a University of Ottawa professor and the only Chair to ever be awarded in this leading-edge area of law.

“I will humbly join this exclusive group of academics specializing in European law, teaching a subject at the meeting point of economy, environment and social justice, namely sustainable development law.”

Funded by the European Commission of the European Union, the Jean Monet program awarded seventeen research chairs this year to leading professors all over the world whose teaching and high quality published work deal with European integration. Beginning September 1, 2010, Professor Gehring’s Chair in sustainable development law will seek to increase research and teaching pertaining to all legal aspects of sustainable development. The Chair will help to better prepare Canadian graduates dealing with globalization and to increase understanding of the major questions affecting Europe and sustainable development, in universities, the federal public service and throughout the country.

Professor Gehring is an undeniable expert in European law, having taught this subject for more than a decade. This Chair will enable him to deepen his research in this area, as well as in European sustainable development law.

Professor Gehring began his career at the University of Hamburg, in Germany, where he taught European law. At the University of Cambridge he served as Lecturer in European and International Law, Centre of International Studies and remains a Fellow in Law (Robinson College). He holds an M.A. from Cambridge University, an LL.M. from Yale University and a Dr jur from the University of Hamburg. He is a member of the Frankfurt Bar and a former associate member of the Brussels Bar. He also serves as lead counsel for sustainable trade, investment and finance law at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law. Before entering the academic world, Professor Gehring practiced European competition and and trade law at Cleary Gottlieb (Brussels). He was a tutor in law at University College, Oxford, and he recently taught European law at the University of Chile, where he was a visiting professor.

Professor Gehring is the youngest recipient of an ad personam Jean Monnet Chair this year, and only the fourth Canadian academic to receive this honour.