Dr Virginie Barral

Biography

Dr Virginie Barral Joined BIICL as a Visiting Research Fellow in 2024. Virginie is senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, and specialises in international law with a focus on environmental and global challenges. She is interested in issues of sustainability, environmental and climate justice, equity, biodiversity loss and natural resources, theories of sovereignty, and cultural identity (her list of publications can be consulted here)

Virginie holds a Ph.D from the European University Institute (Florence), and postgraduate degrees from University College London and Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas. Before joining Goldsmiths she was an Associate Professor and Associate Dean Research at Hertfordshire Law School and taught at Université Paris 5. Prior to this she worked for the French Commission for Sustainable Development and as a legal expert in the Paris office of Eversheds LLP. Virginie is a member of the European Society of International Law, the Société Française pour le droit international, the International Law Association (British Branch), and the Society of Legal Scholars.

Her current work explores the role and contribution that cultural rights play in furthering climate justice in particular through the emergence of cultural rights claims within climate litigation.