Windsor Law has appointed Patricia Galvão Ferreira as a tenure-track, assistant professor in Transnational Law, starting July 1, 2018.
Professor Galvão Ferreira teaches Environmental Law and International Environmental Law and supervises students at the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic, a joint program of Wayne State University Law School and Windsor Law.
“Given the comparative advantage of our border location, and the important issue of transboundary pollution, I am delighted to have Professor Galvão Ferreira join the Faculty,” said Dean of Law, Christopher Waters. “We are involved with many environmental and transnational initiatives, including through our partnership with Wayne State University, and are thrilled that she will be leading these activities.”
Galvão Ferreira holds an SJD from the University of Toronto, where she also earned a concurrent interdisciplinary doctoral degree at the Munk School of Global Affairs on “dynamics of global change.”
Her research examines how evolving international law principles and transnational regulatory initiatives contribute to state compliance with multilateral environmental agreements, particularly the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Her research agenda employs a transnational approach to sustainable development and global justice. She is particularly interested in the role of emerging economies in reshaping international law and global governance, and how this may affect efforts to promote global justice and sustainable development.
“I am delighted that Dr. Patricia Galvão is joining the University; with her vast knowledge of international climate change initiatives, she will be a great addition to our environmental advocacy team,” said colleague and Professor Tanya Basok who works in Department of Sociology and Anthropology and is an environmental sustainability advocate. “The University of Windsor is recognized for its unequivocal support for green initiatives, and the recent appointment of Dr. Galvão will help us to attain new heights in environmental sustainability.”
Galvão Ferreira spent the last year as a Law Foundation of Ontario Scholar at Windsor Law. Her current research focus is on international environmental law, particularly the transformation of the international environmental law principle of differentiation, and how it impacts the fair allocation of global environmental efforts and costs among developed and developing countries.
“I am thrilled to join the Windsor Law academic community as an Assistant Professor,” said Galvão Ferreira. “I thoroughly enjoyed engaging with Windsor Law students, faculty members and academic staff in this past year and relished the opportunity to contribute to the important interdisciplinary work on sustainability that academics from various disciplines at the University of Windsor are promoting.”
Before joining Windsor Law, Galvão Ferreira was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Law Research Program at the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), where she remains a research fellow. At CIGI, she worked as part of cross-disciplinary teams researching the economic, the security and the legal aspects of global governance. Galvão Ferreira has expertise in international climate governance and has attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Her research agenda on the international climate regime includes studies on climate finance and, more recently, technology development and transfer in the climate change context.
Galvão Ferreira looks forward to continuing her contributions to Windsor Law, particularly by expanding the focus of the Transnational Law and Justice Network, the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic and other Canada-US academic projects.