| Position in department | Director of the Essex Law Clinic, Associate Dean for the International Academy |
| Staff position | Senior Lecturer |
| E-mail | klhulm (non Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk) |
| Telephone | 2139 (non Essex users should add 01206-87 to the beginning of this number) |
| Fax | 3428 |
| Room | 5S.6.20 |
| Office hours | Tuesday 10.00-12.00 noon |
| Biography | Dr Karen Hulme is a senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Essex. Karen studied LL.B. Law at the University of Nottingham and decided to specialise in the area of public international law. She achieved her Masters in Public International law also at Nottingham. Karen joined the law school at Essex in 1997 as a Doctoral student and has particular interests in environmental law and the laws of war. Karen was awarded a doctorate in 2002 for her thesis on the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict. Her book entitled, ‘Worn Torn Environment: Interpreting the Legal Threshold’ won the American Society of International Law’s Francis Lieber Prize for 2004 for ‘outstanding scholarship in the field of the law of armed conflict’. She has taught on the following modules: public international law, international law of armed conflict, law of evidence, tort law, constitutional law, as well as human rights and the environment. Karen also teaches on the inter-disciplinary postgraduate MA/MSc degree in Environmental Governance: The Natural World, Science and Society.
Karen is also founder and Director of the Essex Law Clinic – a pro-bono legal advice service which runs on specified dates in the Autumn and Spring terms. |
| Qualifications | LL.B. Law, Nottingham, 1995
LL.M. Public International Law, Nottingham, 1996
PhD, Essex, 2002
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice, Essex, 2006 |
| Current research | international humanitarian law and climate change
human rights and the environment, including governance issues surrounding climate change, adaptation and resilience
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| Research interests |
- Laws of armed conflict
- Environmental law
- Human rights and the environment
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| Teaching responsibilities | Module coordinator for LW316 The Law of Evidence
Module coordinator for LW215 Public International Law
Module coordinator for LW222 Environmental Law
Module coordinator for LW925 Human Rights and the Environment
teaching on BS703 Economics and Law module on MSC/MA Environment and Society
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| Publications | Book
Karen Hulme, War Torn Environment: Interpreting the Legal Threshold, Martinus Nijhoff, 2004
Journal Articles
- "Taking care to protect the environment: A meaningless obligation?", (2010) 92 IRRC 879: 675-691.
- “The 2008 Cluster Munitions Convention: Stepping Outside the CCW Framework (Again)”, (2009) 58 ICLQ 1: 23-31.
- "Environmental Security: Implications for International Law", (2008) 19 YIEL 3-26.
- “Radiation Warfare: A Review of the Legality of Depleted Uranium Weaponry“, (2005) 43 Canadian Yearbook of International Law pp.197-296;
- “Of Questionable Legality: The Military Use of Cluster Bombs in Iraq, 2003“, (2004) 42 Canadian Yearbook of International Law pp.145-197
- “Armed Conflict and the Displaced“, (2005) 17, International Journal of Refugee Law, pp.91-116
- “Armed Conflict, Wanton Ecological Devastation and Scorched Earth Policies: How the 1990-91 Gulf Conflict Revealed the Inadequacies of the Current Laws to Ensure Effective Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment”, (1997) 2 Journal of Armed Conflict Law
Edited Book Contributions
- Karen Hulme, 'International Humanitarian Law', in Rayfuse and Scott, International Law in the Era of Climate Change, (forthcoming 2011/12).
- Karen Hulme, ‘Climate Change and Armed Conflict: Is It Time to Ecocentrise the Laws of War?’, in Quénivet and Shah-Davis, International Law and Armed Conflict: Challenges in the 21st Century (T.M.C. Asser Instituut, 2010), pp.142-160.
- Karen Hulme and David Ong, ‘The Challenge of Global Environmental Change for International Law: An Overview’, in Low, Global Change and Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2011).
- Karen Hulme, ‘Environmental Protection in Armed Conflict’, in Malgosia and Ong, Research Handbook on International Environmental Law (Edward Elgar, 2010) 586-604.
- Karen Hulme, ‘Natural Environment’, in Wilmhurst and Breau, Perspectives on the ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law Study (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Other Publications
- “Minority Rights Under the European Convention on Human Rights”, Pamphlet No.7, United Nations: Guide for Minorities (Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights) United Nations 2001, co-authored with Professor Geoff Gilbert.
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| Conferences/presentations |
- March 2009 UNEP/ ICRC Expert Panel on the 30 year anniversary of the Additional Protocol provisions protecting the environment (Nairobi, Kenya).
- Sept 2008 “Human Rights and Climate Change: Human and National Security Concerns”, SLS Annual Conference (London).
- Sept 2008 "Climate Change and Armed Conflict: Is It Time to Ecocentrise the Laws of War”, Conference on the Challenges to the Laws of Armed Conflict (UWE).
- Feb 2008 “Do we need a human right to a healthy environment?”, Human Rights Centre Panel on Environment and Human Rights (Essex).
- March 2007 “Warfare and Climate Change”, Triangle Institute of Strategic and Security Studies, (North Carolina University, US).
- Nov 2003 “The Legality of the Attack on Iraq, 2003”, in the Essex Law Department.
- Oct 2003 Invited to give two papers, “International Law and Politics Since September 11 and Case Study: The Iraq Crisis and Beyond – The Future Role of the United Nations”, for the MA in International Politics at the University of Brussels.
- Sept 2003 “The Legality of the Use of Cluster Weapons in Iraq”, Annual Conference of the Society of Legal Scholars (Oxford).
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| Additional information | Karen is the founder and Director of the Essex Law Clinic, for appointments at the Clinic please contact Fiona Harvey on 01206 874030 or fjharvey@essex.ac.uk Please note that Clinic appointments are only available during the autumn and spring terms (October to March).
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