Aberdeen Centre for Constitutional and Public International Law

Overview

The Aberdeen Centre for Constitutional and Public Law (ACCPIL) promotes research in constitutional law, legal theory, and public international law in all their aspects - normative, theoretical and practical. The Centre conducts and supports high quality research on UK, regional, and global issues of good governance and the rule of law.

ACCPIL members conduct research on many aspects of UK Public Law, including the constitutional challenges the UK faces following Brexit and recent debates on its role in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) system. In addition, the Centre adopts a comparative approach to constitutional law and emphasises the internationalisation of constitutional law.

The Centre also offers a broad expertise in public international law. It questions the evolution of public international law in a changing world. The topics of research range from matters of international peace and security (such as the regulation of arms trading or international cybersecurity law), to global legal environmental challenges (including in outer space) and new international economic legal issues.

Objectives

The Centre promotes:

• High quality research and scholarship;
• Vibrant research, debate and knowledge transfer practices;
• Inclusive research culture and environment;
• Collaboration nationally, regionally and globally with experts who have common interest and expertise.

To achieve these aims, the Centre:

• Gives the opportunity to its members to present and discuss working papers
• Follows recent developments in constitutional and international law
• Discusses research proposals and develops funding applications
• Invites external speakers to present their research in the Law School Research Seminar Series
• Organises conferences
• Promotes research-led teaching
• Integrates PhDs students into a nurturing research environment
• Encourages public engagement

Areas of Expertise

Constitutional Law and Legal Theory

• UK public law
  • Constitutional law
  • Administrative law
  • Human rights law
  • Criminal law and criminal justice
• Comparative constitutional law
  
  • French constitutional law
• Legal theory
  • Legal reasoning
  • Legal scholarship

Public International Law

• The laws of war and peace
• International law on cyber security
• International law and tech regulation
• Space law
• International criminal law
• International and European human rights law
• International environmental law
• International water law
• The law of the sea
• International energy law
• The law of international organisations
• International economic law
• International law and Africa