Professor Margherita Pieraccini
MA(Aberd.), MPhil(Cantab.), PhD(N'cle)
Expertise
Margherita conducts socio-legal research on environmental matters. Her main areas of research are environmental law and justice, sustainability, marine conservation and the governance of the commons.
Current positions
Professor of Law
University of Bristol Law School
Contact
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Biography
My work is interdisciplinary as it is my academic background, having degrees in anthropology and International Relations prior to conducting a PhD in Law. The initial focus of my research was on common land and its interactions with environmental law in England, Wales and Italy. More recent work has explored marine conservation law in the United Kingdom and theoretical aspects of enviornmental law, justice and sustainability. I have recently published a monograph with CUP entitled Regulating the sea, which combines my interest in the commons and commoning with that on marine regulation.
Research interests
Margherita joined the University of Bristol Law School in 2011. She was formerly a lecturer at the University of Exeter, Cornwall campus (2010-2011).
She conducts socio-legal research in environmental matters.The main focus of her research is on environmental law and justice, sustainability and the governance of the commons.She has held ESRC grants to carry out research and impact work on marine protected areas governance in the UK and Italy. She sits on the ESRC Peer Review College and in the editorial board of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment.
PhD Supervision:
Margherita has and is supervising PhD students working on the regulation of new technologies, climate change and human rights, renewable energy policy, commons. She welcomes applications in environmental law, esp. in nature conservation law, marine policy and environmental governance of common pool resources.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The Invisibility of the Sea
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
The following research questions are central to our project:
• How has the cultural invisibility of the sea resulted in its overexploitation and pollution, and in inadequate regulatory standards? How might this…Managing organisational unit
Dates
19/01/2017 to 31/07/2017
Building environmental stewardship to address compliance gaps in the SINIS Marine Protected Area, Sardinia.
Principal Investigator
Description
This interdisciplinary pilot project that brings together the University of Bristol Law School and the National Research Council of Oristano (Sardinia) is divided in two phases, the first consisting in…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/01/2015 to 30/06/2015
Ecologies and Identities: a socio-legal exploration of the Marine Protected Areas network in English seas
Principal Investigator
Description
The project explores legal issues surrounding the establishment and governance of the marine protected areas network in English waters and its social and ecological implications. Using a case study approach,…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/10/2012 to 01/10/2015
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
01/12/2022Regulating the sea: a socio-legal analysis of English Marine Protected Areas
Regulating the sea: a socio-legal analysis of English Marine Protected Areas
Recent publications
05/02/2025Major data gaps and recommendations in monitoring regulations of activities in EU marine protected areas
npj Ocean Sustainability
Thalassophilia and marine identity
Journal of Environmental Management
The public interest in environmental decision-making
Journal of Environmental Law
Beyond enclosures?
Environmental Law Review
Marine citizenship
PLoS ONE
Teaching
Over the years, I have led many UG and PG environmental law units and acted as the programme director for the MRes and PhD Sustainable Futures programme, one of the interdiciplinary pathways of the ESRC South-West Doctoral Training Parternship. I have also taught on socio-legal, EU law, land and trusts units. I have acted as the Law PGR director as well as the deputy director of the SWDTP.
