Hague trip perfect finale for PhD

24 June, 2013

Hague trip perfect finale for PhD

Last Monday Marie Brown handed in her PhD. Then on Tuesday the University of Waikato student learned she had been selected to attend the World Justice Forum IV in the Netherlands.

“What a finale to three and a half years of PhD study, being sent to The Hague,” she says.

Brown was selected to go to the forum on behalf of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS), with extra support coming from the University’s Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law (CEREL).

Professor Barry Barton from CEREL, who is also a director of the EDS, says there were several outstanding applications for this unexpected opportunity to attend the forum but Brown’s stood out as she has a track record in environmental advocacy and community work and has been a leader and strong contributor in student life, particularly among graduate students.

He says the backing from CEREL was a good opportunity for the centre to be engaged with Waikato students.

EDS Chairman Gary Taylor says Brown will be appointed a temporary EDS intern for the duration of the forum and hopes she will make some useful contacts for the organisation.

“We have asked Marie for a full briefing especially on developments in environmental governance and water law. We are pleased to support her especially at this turning point in her career,” he says.

"I'm also pleased that EDS and CEREL were able to work together to make this initiative possible."

Brown says the forum will be a great opportunity to network and also to hear world leaders from a broad range of areas.

“I’ve just been reading the agenda and I’ve been really impressed by the line up of speakers,” she says.

“There are conservationists, artists, lawmakers. To have so many of these people in the same room is amazing.”

She is particularly interested in sessions on environmental governance and sustainable water solutions but says there is so much on the agenda she would happily go to everything possible.

On Monday Brown handed in her PhD on ecological compensation and has already been getting plenty of interest shown in her work, with newspaper and radio interviews stemming from it.

“It’s good that I’ve made a practical contribution to the field,” she says.

“But I’ve never been to an international conference before, I’ve never been to Europe so my mind has been blown by this. I’m very fortunate.”

ENDS

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