{"id":30,"date":"2026-10-15T10:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T09:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/nonhumanlaw\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2026-10-15T10:21:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T09:21:01","slug":"newsletter-archive","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/nonhumanlaw\/newsletter-archive\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsletter Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nonhuman Law Newsletter, Issue 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to the third newsletter from Newcastle University\u2019s Non\/Human Law Research Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forthcoming Events<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Select News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful Funding – Connecting ancestral owners with dispersed material culture<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Sue Farran (Newcastle Law School) is a member of an interdisciplinary team led by Lisa McDonald (St Andrews University) that recently secured Royal Society of Edinburgh funding for a collaborative project looking at how best to preserve and protect decorated ‘bark cloth’ known as ‘Nemas’ from the island of Erromango, Vanuatu. These Indigenous expressions of culture represent traditional knowledge, local identity and the importance of place, linking people and nature to depict people, animals, spirits, the moon and stars, historical and ceremonial events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations Sue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keynote Lecture – Energy justice and data centres \u2013 what role for law?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, Prof. McCauley delivered a keynote lecture at the conference Contested Transitions: Law and Energy Justice, organised by the Groningen Centre for Law and Sustainability in the Netherlands. His presentation, \u2018Energy justice and data centres \u2013 what role for law?\u2019 examined how legal frameworks engage with the distribution of costs, benefits and responsibilities associated with digital infrastructures, situating data centres within wider debates on sustainable energy transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, images from the event in Groningen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research Project: On Listening to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the BBNJ Agreement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newcastle Law School colleague, Professor Gina Heathcote, together with Nulungu Research Institute, UNDA community researcher Lloyd Pigram presented at the ANZSIL Annual Conference in New Zealand. Their co-authored research paper examines the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the BBNJ Agreement and questions the capacity for place-based and relational legal systems to be adequately heard within international legal institutions. Through the story of the gift of pearl shells to Indigenous communities from the sea serpent, the paper, titled, On Listening to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the BBNJ Agreement<\/em>, drew on ongoing wider research on two-way research methodologies, as well as the work behind Indigenous managed marine parks and two-way (Turtle and Dugong) research in the North West of the Australian continent, and informs the Phillip Leverhulme Trust International Fellowship titled Saltwater Law.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo One: Gina Heathcote and Lloyd Pigram presenting at ANZSIL Annual conference, Wellington 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Two: Riji (Pearl Shell) that form part of the saltwater stories from the Bardi peoples in the North West of the Australian continent held by Bardi elder Aubrey Tigan Galawi (dec). Image drawn from: Tanya Edwards and Sarah Yu (eds), Lustre: Pearling and Australia,<\/em> (Western Australian Museum, 2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD Day with the Ocean Voices Programme<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, Newcastle\u2019s Dr Emily Jones and Dr Harriet Hardon-Davies (Edinburgh) ran a joint PhD day, bringing together PhD candidates from Newcastle\u2019s Non\/human Law Research group together with candidates based in the Ocean Voices Programme at the University of Edinburgh. Throughout the day, PhD candidates were able to present and discuss their work. The day also provided space for a wider discussion of the struggles of undertaking a PhD and of careers. With thanks to various Faculty members at the University of Edinburgh for also taking the time to come and give feedback and join the wider discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pictured above from right to left:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aixin Yu (Edinburgh), Lucy Tomkins (Edinburgh), Christine Gaebel (Edinburgh),Mariana Caldeira (Edinburgh), Cristian van Eijk (Newcastle), Harriet Hardon-Davies (Edinburgh), Emily Jones (Newcastle), Louisa Dassow (Newcastle), \u015eebnem Susam-Saraeva (Edinburgh), Johannes Graetschel (Edinburgh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With thanks to the Ocean Voices Programme for kindly funding our attendance.
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Event: Feminist Solidarity and Resistance in a More than Human World<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr Emily Jones presented alongside Astrida Neimanis, Rosi Braidotti and Jetske Brouwer alongside poet Nele Buyst and moderator Jasmijn Leeuvenkamp in SPUI25 in Amsterdam in July 2026. Dr Jones spoke about her developing work on the legal personhood of whales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientific Advisory Board Membership: Norwegian Centre for Sustainable Land Use Through Transformative Research and Practice<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Darren McCauley has taken on a significant international research leadership role as one of five members of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Norwegian Centre for Sustainable Land Use Through Transformative Research and Practice (LANDFUTURES). Funded for the period 2026 to 2031, the centre brings together research and practice to address questions of sustainable land use and environmental change. The centre’s first kick-off meeting is scheduled for the end of August 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conference presentation: Enacting energy justice in the context of data centres and overconsumption in California, US \u2013 more affirmative or prohibitive justice?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor McCauley presented related research at the 17th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference at Uppsala University in Sweden. His paper, Enacting energy justice in the context of data centres and overconsumption in California, US \u2013 more affirmative or prohibitive justice?, explored different approaches to governing energy-intensive forms of consumption and its multiple impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Visit: Stefansson Arctic Institute, University of Akureyri, Iceland<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newcastle\u2019s Dr Emily Jones undertook a research trip to Iceland to work with Dr Romain Chuffart (Nansen Professor in Arctic Studies, University of Akureyri). Together, Dr Jones and Dr Chuffart worked on their forthcoming article on the temporal loop that international law’s response to climate change finds itself in, promising a future it has already foreclosed. They also began drafting a grant application on posthuman geoengineering governance for future collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Above: Dr Emily Jones with Dr Romain Chuffart<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n