Green Mirror: A Look at our Sustainable Future

First International Conference on Environment, Energy, Sustainability and the Law

The first international conference on the environment, energy, sustainability and the law, titled ‘Green Mirror: A Look at our Sustainable Future’, is a collaboration between the Law Society of the College of Law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA Padova). The conference will include two half-days of keynote speeches and panel discussions, along with invited peer-reviewed presentations of selected papers from the conference proceedings.

Read more

Dean Welcome Message

On behalf of Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Law, I am delighted to welcome you to our first student-initiated conference titled “Green Mirror: A Look at our Sustainable Future”. We are honored that our student Law Society has teamed up with the European Law Students’ Association at the University of Padua, Italy, to offer two days of engaging discussion on issues relevant to Qatar, the region, and the world.

The conference enables HBKU’s College of Law to strengthen its ties with the University of Padua. Over the past four years, both schools have worked together with students from each school attending a co-sponsored summer workshop that included faculty from the College of Law and the University of Padua. We owe words of thanks to the College of Law’s Dr. Zachary Calo and the University of Padua’s Dr. Andreas Pin who established the foundation for cooperation between the two institutions. We also thank the College of Law’s Dr. Barry Solaiman who has helped support this event.

With this web-based event, we hope to engage a broader audience, both in terms of students and faculty as well as others outside of the College of Law and the University of Padua. The conference’s topic, sustainability, is a driving force behind Qatar’s National Vision 2030, which in turn guides the College of Law in its mission. Within Qatar Foundation, sustainability, including legal aspects associated with it, is a strategic research initiative. Our faculty are at the forefront of research in energy, the environment, sustainability, and the law, with Dr. Damilola Olawuyi (SAN) (the faculty advisor to this conference) having founded and now leading the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North African Universities (ASSELLMU) in promoting the teaching of environmental law in the Middle East and North Africa region. We appreciate ASSELLMU’s support of this conference and Dr. Olawuyi’s guidance to the students in helping organize it.

We are grateful to the Law Society of the College of Law at HBKU and ELSA Padua for their hard work in making this conference a reality. Let me also thank our partners and stakeholders, including the University of Padua, Gianni & Origoni Law Firm, the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) as well as HBKU’s new Energy and Environment Club. And let me in advance thank all speakers, including our keynote presenters: H.E. Alessandro Prunas, the Ambassador of Italy to Qatar; and Mr. Vincenzo Pellegrini, Partner at BM&A Law Firm.

We wish we could meet you in person in Doha to show you our warm Qatari hospitality. We look forward to that opportunity when the pandemic recedes. In the meantime, we wish you all the best on a successful conference.

Susan L. Karamanian
Dean, College of Law, HBKU

ELSA Padova Welcome Message

We look forward to welcoming you to our first joint conference with HBKU’s Law Society on March 16-17, 2022.

‘Green Mirror: A Look at Our Sustainable Future’ was born out of the intention to highlight what unites our two jurisdictions, but mostly to discover what valuable insight is to be found in the ways they differ.

While this is a vision important for any area of the law, we wished to shine a light on the environment, energy and the concept of sustainability in Europe and the MENA region, and explore with our colleagues the legislation and policy that surround them.

We look forward to learning more about environmental law, and sustainability and how they interact with human rights from the accomplished array of academic, legal, and industry leaders who will join us as speakers. We are eager to learn what insights our fellow students have to offer during their essay presentations.

We will see you soon online, both in Doha, Qatar, and Padua, Italy. Next time, hopefully, even in person!

ELSA Padova Team

HBKU’s Law Society Welcome Message

We warmly welcome you to our inaugural international conference on environment, energy, sustainability and the law, titled ‘Green Mirror: A Look at our Sustainable Future’. The event is held in collaboration between the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA Padova), Italy, and the Law Society of the College of Law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar.

Our joint conference features two half-days of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and peer-reviewed presentations by top-tier academics, scholars, legal professionals, and students from around the world. The aim is to provide a rich forum for discussion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those relating to energy, climate change, human rights, sustainability, the environment, and the law.

We hope this collaborative forum between Italy and Qatar will enable participants from around the world to form friendships, exchange innovative ideas, and address environmental and sustainable issues and challenges in energy, environmental, and human rights in Europe and the MENA region today.

Although this time it is an online conference, our team looks forward to welcoming you to our beautiful Doha, Qatar, one day!

HBKU’s Law Society

About

The conference will include two half-days of keynote speeches and panel discussions, along with invited peer-reviewed presentations of selected papers from the conference proceedings.

The inaugural conference will provide an opportunity for sharing ideas and perspectives on the importance of the environment, energy and sustainability, and its legal, political and social implications, particularly in Europe and the MENA region. Discussions will cover national, regional, and international law aspects on four main substantive topics, including a student panel:

Environmental Law in Italy and Qatar
Investments, Labor, and Sustainability in Italy and Qatar
Human Rights and the Environment
Environment, Energy, Sustainability and the Law

For more information and submission guidelines, please CLICK HERE.

About Hamad Bin Khalifa University

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), was founded in 2010 to continue fulfilling QF’s vision of unlocking human potential. A homegrown research and graduate studies, the university acts as a catalyst for positive transformation in Qatar and the region while having a global impact.

Located within Education City, HBKU seeks to provide unparalleled opportunities where inquiry and discovery are integral to teaching and learning at all levels utilizing a multidisciplinary approach across all focus areas.

HBKU is committed to actively contribute to achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030 by building and cultivating human capacity through an enriching academic experience and an innovative research ecosystem. Through applying creativity to knowledge, students will have the opportunity to discover innovative solutions that are locally relevant and have a global impact.

At HBKU our students, faculty, staff, partners, and leadership all share a common belief in the power of higher education and research to make a positive impact on the development of nations.

More information at www.hbku.edu.qa

About Education City

Qatar Foundation’s flagship initiative is a campus of more than 12 square kilometers that hosts branch campuses of some of the world's leading educational institutes, a homegrown university, and other research, scholastic, and community centers. Together, these institutes make Education City a unique model of academic and research excellence, pioneering a new approach to multidisciplinary, global education and enabling breakthroughs that benefit Qatar and the rest of the world.

Total number of students across our universities and schools: 8,000+
Universities located in Education City: 9
Schools as part of our pre-university education network: 11

More information at https://www.qf.org.qa/education/education-city

About Qatar

Qatar has been an independent sovereign state since 1971. Qatar comprises an 11,500 square kilometer peninsula extending northwards into the Arabian Gulf. It has 563 km of uninterrupted coastline. The country’s population stands at 2.69 million and its capital city is Doha.

Local time is GMT/UCT + 3 hours. There are no daylight savings adjustments.
Qatar has a desert climate with year-round sunshine, very hot summers and mild winters. Mean monthly temperatures range from 17°C in January to 36°C in July, sometimes reaching highs of 40°C+ during the summer. Rain is infrequent, falling in brief showers mainly in winter.
Capital: Doha
Population: 2.69 million
Area: 11,500 sq. km
Language: Arabic
Religion: Islam
Currency: Riyal
Power Connection: The power plugs and sockets are of type D and G. The standard voltage is 240 V and the standard frequency is 50 Hz.

More information at https://www.visitqatar.qa

Call for Papers

The conference will include two half-days of keynote speeches and panel discussions, along with invited peer-reviewed presentations of selected papers from the conference proceedings.

Environmental Law in Italy and Qatar
Investments, Labor, and Sustainability in Italy and Qatar
Human Rights and the Environment
Environment, Energy, Sustainability and the Law

Papers:

We are inviting abstracts for papers falling within any of the above topics that will propose groundbreaking academic-style contributions to environmental, energy and sustainability topics on law in the European and MENA regions. The contributions can take a continental approach to the issues they cover, or focus on sub-regional or country-level case studies. In so far as methodology is concerned, papers adopting multidisciplinary and empirical approaches are welcome. The papers can also address innovative approaches to carrying out research in and litigating environmental law.

Submission Guidelines:

Environmental and energy law scholars, legal practitioners and students, and other persons interested in the discipline of environmental and energy law and policy from Europe and the MENA region, are invited to submit an abstract on any of the above four main substantive topics. The proposals should be of no more than 500 words and include the following elements:

Name of the author(s)
Institutional affiliation of the author
Author’s contact details
Hyperlink to author biography
Title and short description of the topic to be addressed in the paper
The methodological approach taken
A brief overview of the expected outcomes of the final paper

The submission must be original and not have already been published or submitted elsewhere. Please ensure that submissions do not infringe other people's intellectual property rights.

Submission of abstracts and publication timetable

The selection panel will consider the submitted abstracts and inform only the selected authors on or before March 3, 2022. On acceptance of an abstract by the selection panel, the author will be invited to present their paper for discussion at the Green Mirror: A Look at Our Sustainable Future Conference on the Environment, Energy, Sustainability and the Law, to be held March 16-17, 2022.

The closing date for submission of abstracts is March 1, 2022.

Any questions on this call for abstracts should also be directed to elat32212@hbku.edu.qa.