Dr Daria Shapovalova

Biography

Dr Daria Shapovalova is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Law and Deputy Head at the School of Law. She directs the Centre for Energy Law and coordinates the Just Transition Lab, leading interdisciplinary work at the intersection of energy law, climate change, and just transition. Her research focuses on the legal frameworks governing fossil fuel phase-out, with particular attention to equitable transitions in fossil fuel-dependent communities. She leads the postgraduate energy law teaching at the Law School, including the on-campus and online Energy Transition LLM.

Daria has published widely on the environmental, climate, and human rights governance of the energy industry across jurisdictions and in international law. Her current work centres on the forthcoming monograph, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels Phase-Out, and Just Transition: The Role of Law and Place-Based Impacts to be published by Hart. 

She is Co-Investigator on major UKRI-funded projects, including JUST-Systems (£5.7m, 2025–2030) and TRANSECTS (£2.8m, 2024–2028), and was Principal Investigator on A Just Transition for Workers and Communities in North East Scotland (Uplift, £100k, 2022–2024). She regularly advises policymakers and works with NGOs and the industry on the issues related to the energy sector decarbonisation and just transition planning.

She holds an LLB (Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine), LLM in Public International Law (Groningen), and PhD in Law (Aberdeen), and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Daria sits on the board of the  North East Climate Action Network Hub, and represents the University on Aberdeen City Council’s Sustainable City and Community Empowerment groups.

Daria is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association, International Law Association, and IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. Daria chaired the Scottish Arctic Network (2023–2025) and is widely published across leading journals and edited volumes on Arctic governance.

Prizes and Awards

2025 Principal's Excellence Award Winner - Interdisciplinary Research (Just Transition Lab)

2024 Principal's Excellence Award Winner - Best Overall Course

Research Overview

Daria's research focuses on the intersection of energy law, climate change, and just transition, particularly in the fossil fuel-dependent regions. Her work examines the legal implications of fossil fuel phase-out, and the role of law in managing sustainable and equitable transitions in communities impacted by energy transition. Daria is a Co-I on a number of interdisciplinary projects including JUST-Systems: Systems Approaches for Accelerating a Just Transition (UKRI, 2025-2030, £5.7 mln); and TRANSECTS: TRANSitions in Energy for Coastal communities over Time and Space (UKRI and DEFRA, 2024-2028, £2.2 mln). She has previously led  funded projects, including  'A Just Transition for Workers and Communities in the North East of Scotland’ (Uplift, 2022-2024, £100,000).

Interdisciplinary and community-facing work is central to Daria's research, as she leads projects funded by the Scottish Government Just Transition Fund and the Just Transition Commission, examining the governance of just transitions in the North East of Scotland and the role of deliberative democracy in community engagement.

Critical approaches to the role of law in facilitating sustainability transformations, stakeholder and community engagement, as well as the use of mixed methods for legal research are at the core of Daria’s work as she is currently preparing a manuscript on fossil fuels phase-out and just transition.

Funding and Grants

Ongoing:

1) Co-I, 'JUST SYSTEMS: Systems Approaches for Accelerating a Just Transition' (2025-2030) UKRI, £5, 705, 834

2) Co-I, 'TRANSECTS: TRANSitions in Energy for Coastal Communities Over Time and Space' (2024-2028) UKRI and DEFRA, £2,259,133

3) Co-I 'Advancing Community Climate Deliberative Participatory Democracy within the North East Scotland/Just Transition Communities Project' (2022-2205) Scottish Government Just Transition Fund, £127, 250 

Completed:

1) Co-I, 'Nuclear Decommissioning and Just Transition in Dounreay' (2024) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and National Decommissioning Centre, £44, 448

2) PI, 'A Just Transition for Workers and Communities in the North East of Scotland' (2022-2024) Uplift, £100,000

3) Co-I, 'Transitions in an Energy City: The role of Civil Society in Securing a Just Transition in Aberdeen' (2022) Pump Prime, £9,500 

4) PI, ‘Just Energy Transition in Scotland and the Arctic: Managing Environmental and Social Impacts of Low-Carbon Energy Projects’ (2021) Scottish Government Arctic Connections Fund, £7,070 

5) Co-I, '(Un)earthing New Pathways for a Justice Transition: Cultivating Hope and Food on Contested Terrains in Scotland, Amazon, and the Arctic' (2021) SUUI, £13,500 

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Daria supervises research students in international, environmental, energy, and climate law.

Currently she supervises PhD students:

Alina Holzhausen, Human Rights-Based Climate Change Litigation (first supervisor)

Liliyana Kalinova, On the Provision of Environmental Law for Mars (second supervisor)