Rate My Professor Shawkat Alam

Professor M. Shawkat Alam is a Professor of International and Environmental Law at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University. He holds an LLB with Honours from Rajshahi University, an LLM from Dhaka University, and a PhD from Macquarie University awarded in 2005 for his thesis titled Ecologically Sustainable Development and Free Trade: Pressing Issues for Developing Countries. Prior to joining Macquarie Law School, he taught in the LLB programs at Rajshahi University and Dhaka University in Bangladesh. At Macquarie Law School, he has served as Dean, Director of the Centre for Environmental Law since 2012, Director of Postgraduate Programs, Director of Higher Degree Research, and Director of International Engagement. He has undertaken visiting appointments including Visiting Scholar at Singapore Management University, Visiting Professor at University of Hamburg and Singapore Management University, Visiting Researcher at The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Indonesia, and Senior Academic Fellow at Universitas Airlangga.

Professor Alam's research specializations encompass international trade and the environment, sustainable development and natural resource governance, and governance, law reform, and capacity building, with a focus on the Global South. His key publications include edited volumes such as International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2016), International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability (Routledge, 2017), and Implementation of Sustainable Development in the Global South: Strategies, Innovations and Challenges (Hart Publishing, 2024); monographs like International Trade Law and the WTO (Federation Press, 2013), Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law (Routledge, 2012), and Sustainable Development and Free Trade: Institutional Approaches (Routledge, 2008); and recent works such as Investment Protection, Human Rights and Biodiversity Conservation (Routledge, 2024). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research (2012), multiple Faculty of Arts awards for supervision, research culture, and productivity (2010-2017), and the Rosalind Croucher Award for Most Productive Researcher (2008). Professor Alam has held editorial roles as Co-Editor in Chief of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Journal (2017-2019) and board member for Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law and Indonesian Journal of Environmental Law. He contributes to committees including the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and International Law Association, delivers public lectures on sustainable development goals, climate change, and trade agreements, and collaborates with governments of Australia, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, as well as UNDP and UNIDO on capacity-building projects.