About the chair

As a university professor, Nollkaemper will primarily focus on the system transition needed to limit climate change and the crossing of planetary boundaries, and on the contribution of international law to that transition. International law has been instrumental in facilitating the global practices of states, international organisations, national and multinational companies, and consumers, that have combined to create global harm such as climate change. Yet it is also indispensable for achieving solutions.

Insights from other disciplines will similarly be indispensable in this work. As a university professor, Nollkaemper will not only focus on contributions to his own field, but will have an explicit UvA-wide responsibility to further stimulate and bring together research and education in the fields of sustainability and climate change. He will seek connections with scientists from other disciplines, both inside and outside the UvA, and work with social partners to ensure that the UvA develops new ideas and insights for a more sustainable future.

About André Nollkaemper

Prof. P.A. Nollkaemper obtained his PhD from Utrecht University in 1993 on the legal regulation of pollution of international watercourses. Since then, he has conducted groundbreaking research on such areas as protection of the oceans, responsibility for climate change, endangered species protection and international animal welfare regulation. Themes that are crucial for the global regulation of sustainability - such as system criminality, liability of actors who contribute to global harm and the impact of international regulation on national law and policy - also play a major role in his work. Nollkaemper has been professor of Public International Law at the UvA since 1998. In 2016, he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Law. Previously, he was director of the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL), which he founded, and headed the International Law department. From 2011 to 2020, Nollkaemper was the external legal advisor to the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also president of the European Society of International Law, is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and was elected as a member of the prestigious Institut de Droit International in 2018. Since 2022, he has led the UvA Sustainability Platform.