Ms. Elizabeth Kirk

Senior Lecturer

Email: e.a.kirk@dundee.ac.uk

Direct Dial: +44 (0)1382 384638

Room No: 4.04

Degrees

LL.B
Dip. LP
LL.M
Solicitor, Scotland
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Biography

Elizabeth Kirk joined the then Department of Law in Dundee in 1995 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003. Prior to that she qualified as a solicitor in Scotland and worked as a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia.

Ms Kirk’s research focus has led her to publish on issues such as the relationship between law and science, compliance with and implementation of international environmental law, the international regulation of marine pollution from land-based activities, public participation, and regulatory approaches to environmental protection. It has also led to work with intergovernmental, non-governmental and governmental bodies such as UNEP's GPA programme, the Viet Namese Ministry of the Environment, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the South China Sea Informal Working Group. She is currently one of two co-editors for the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law’s “E-Journal”.

Teaching

Undergraduate:- International Law Levels 3 & 4, International Law of Marine Resources, Levels 3 & 4, Law and Society, Level 2

Postgraduate:- Principles of Public International Law, Level 5 and International Law of Marine Resources, Level 5

Supervisor to 2 PhD students researching the climate change Clean Development Mechanism and international liability in relation to civil aviation incidents.

I offer postgraduate supervision in the fields of international environmental law; marine resources law.

Research

Ms Kirk is currently undertaking research into governance in the Arctic. Her work examines the ability of the governance framework to meet the challenges posed by changing uses and changing impacts on a fragile environment. In particular it draws out the impact of a governance framework which consists of multiple bodies and which is heavily reliant on soft law in delivering adaptable governance. The objective of this project is to add to current understanding of the concept of governance in international environmental law.

She is also undertaking research on mechanisms to support the institutional change within regulatory bodies that is on occasion required by new legislation. (Such change was required for example as a result of implementation of the Water Framework Directive). Some mechanisms that may be used to support this already exist, such as, public participation, but they are primarily designed to address risk and uncertainty in decision making. This research examines the extent to which they can also be used to facilitate institutional change within the regulatory bodies.

Selected Publications

Articles

2012 Elizabeth Kirk, "The production of normativity: A comparison of reporting regimes in Spain and the UK" with Jan Bebbington and Carlos Larrinaga in 37 Accounting, Organizations and Society, pp. 78�94
2012 Elizabeth Kirk, "Marine Governance, Adaptation, and Legitimacy" in (22) Yearbook of International Environmental Law, pp. 1-30
2011 Elizabeth Kirk, "Regulatory Agencies and Regulatory Change: Breaking Out of the Routine" with A.D. Reeves in 13 Environmental Law Review, pp. 155-168
2011 Elizabeth Kirk, "Enhanced Decision Making: Balancing Public Participation Against 'Better Regulation' in British Environmental Permitting Regimes" with K.L. Blackstock in 23 Journal of Environmental Law, pp. 97-116
2008 Elizabeth Kirk, "Non-Compliance and the Development of Regimes Addressing Marine Pollution from Land-based Activities" in 39 (3) Ocean Development and International Law, pp. 1-22
2007 Elizabeth Kirk, "Path Dependency and Environmental Regulation" with A.D. Reeves and K.L. Blackstock in Vol 25 Issue 2 Environment and Planning, pp. 250-268
2007 Elizabeth Kirk, "The Limitations of Regulatory Science in the Effective Control of Diffuse Pollution" with A.D. Reeves and K.L. Blackstock in Vol. 3 Law, Science and Policy, pp. 123-156
2006 Elizabeth Kirk, "Harmonisation in the Baltic Sea region" with H. Silfverberg in 21 (2) International Journal of Coastal and Marine Law, pp. 235-258
2005 Elizabeth Kirk, "Sociology, Science and Sustainability: Developing Relationships in Scotland" with K.L. Blackstock and A.D. Reeves in 2005 10 (2) Sociological Research Online
2004 Elizabeth Kirk, "SUDS Law: Non-State Actors and the Haphazard Route to implementation of International Obligations" with K. Sherlock and A.D. Reeves in 4 Non-State Actors and International Law, pp. 87-109
2004 Elizabeth Kirk, "Just the Usual Suspects? Policy Networks and Environmental Regulation" with K. Sherlock and A.D. Reeves in Environment and Planning C Government and Policy 2004, volume 22(5) October, pp. 651-666
2003 Elizabeth Kirk, "A Regime Theory Perspective on Regulating Environmental Reporting" with J. Bebbington and C Larrinaga in Accountability Quarterly, pp. 15-19
1999 Elizabeth Kirk, "The Mismatch of Jurisdictional Zone and Ecosystems" in 8 Review of International and European Community Environmental Law, pp. 67-72
1999 Elizabeth Kirk, "Ospar Decision 98/3 and the Dumping of Offshore Installations" in 48 International and Comparative Law Quarterly, pp. 458-464
1997-2004 Elizabeth Kirk, "Marine Pollution from Land-based Sources, Current Developments" in vols. 8 - 15 (1997-2004) Yearbook of International Environmental Law

Book Chapters

2003 Elizabeth Kirk, A.D. Reeves 'Disciplinary Interactions: Ontological Commitments and Environmental Standard Setting' in J. Holder and C. Harrison(eds) Law and Geography 5 CURRENT LEGAL ISSUES 2002 (Oxford University Press, pp. 557-573)

Reports

2007 "Global Environmental Outlook GEO-4 Report, Chapter 4 " with Multiple co-authors
2006 "Public Participation and Consultation in SEPA Regulatory Regimes" with K. Blackstock, Y.C. Chang and G. Davidson in Report to SEPA
2006 "Strengthening The GPA At The Regional Level Through Land-based Sources and Activities Protocols" with S. Vinogradov in UNEP/GPA, The Hague
2003 "Disciplinary Interactions: Science and the Law" with A.D. Reeves and K. Sherlock in Report to SEPA
2003 "Disciplinary Interactions: Ontological Commitments and Regulations" with A.D. Reeves in ESRC End of Award Report, Award No. R000223838