Recent engagements by Dr. Eddy Wifa, Senior Lecturer in Energy Law at the University of Aberdeen and Co-Director of the Aberdeen University Centre for Energy Law (AUCEL), demonstrate a commitment to advancing sustainable energy governance across research, policy, and international collaboration.
Health and safety regulation in offshore wind sits at the heart of Dr. Wifa’s work. During a recent visit to the COAST Law Centre at the University of Bergen in April, Dr. Wifa shared insights from over a decade of research in this area that depict how safety issues ripple across workers, project timelines and day-to-day operations, thereby necessitating regulatory systems that adequately integrate safety standards with project delivery. This theme carried into a second seminar, which he delivered as part of the Centre’s Governance Frameworks for the Nordic Energy Transition at Sea (GNTS) Network Seminar Series. There, he examined extant decommissioning challenges and expanded on the relevance of the oil and gas sector’s “Safety Case” approach to the development of a fitting safety regulation for offshore wind projects.
Earlier, at another seminar hosted by the Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE Research) in March, Dr. Wifa delivered a lecture on the intersection of just transition principles and offshore workers’ health and safety, emphasising the complexities surrounding the regulation of labour conditions in evolving energy systems. His work in this area is supported by the National Decommissioning Centre and continues to contribute to ongoing debates about how law adapts to major industrial shifts.
Beyond Europe, Dr. Wifa has also been active in strengthening academic and institutional partnerships. Engagements across Ghana and Nigeria in February led to the development of collaborative links, including establishing a partnership between the University of Aberdeen and Nile University of Nigeria. These visits also included guest lectures and ongoing research discussions. His interest in governance challenges in resource-rich regions is further reflected in his contribution to the University of Aberdeen School of Law podcast in January, where he discussed the “resource curse” and the legal complexities surrounding natural resource extraction in Africa. Dr. Wifa also contributes to journalistic commentary and public debate through media engagement, including a recent BBC discussion in January on oil ownership and state control across different jurisdictions.
Alongside these activities and his appointment as AUCEL Co-Director in December 2025, Dr. Wifa has continued to consolidate scholarship in offshore energy law. His co-edited volume, Offshore Energy Law: Challenges and Opportunities for Renewables and Hydrocarbons (Hart Publishing, 2025), examines the legal and regulatory dimensions of the shift from offshore oil and gas to renewable energy, predicated on themes such as licensing, safety, environmental governance, and energy justice.
Through the work of its members, AUCEL continues to support research and policy development on offshore energy governance and the energy transition.