Advisory Board

Prof. Nicholas A. Robinson

University Professor on the Environment Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University, New York

Professor Robinson is widely recognized in the U.S. and globally as a pioneer of modern environmental law. He began developing environmental law in 1969, when he was named to the Legal Advisory Committee of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. During his career, he drafted New York’s wetlands and wild bird laws and was inaugurated as the first chairman of both the statutory Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board and Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. He has also contributed extensively to international law, including editing the proceedings of the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has engaged in drafting treaties and counselling different countries on preparation of environmental laws.

Professor Nicholas A. Robinson has been a distinguished member of the faculty at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University since 1978. In 2009, Pace University conferred the prestigious position of University Professor for the Environment on Professor Robinson for his significant contribution to scholarship in the field of environmental law, both in the USA and abroad. He holds the title of inaugural Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus.

Professor Robinson is a prolific legal scholar with hundreds of books, chapters, law review and scholarly journal articles and citations to his credit on pressing topics including conservation, historic preservation, climate change, sustainable development, zoonosis, human rights, international environmental law and more.

Prof. Kirk W. Junker

Vice Rector for Sustainability at the University of Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Prof. Kirk Junker is Director of the Environmental Law Centre. In 2023 he was elected to become University of Cologne’s first vice rector for sustainability. He studied philosophy and political science at Pennsylvania State University and received his J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law (1984) and the University of Pittsburgh (1996). He has worked as a lawyer for the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the European Commission. He has taught at universities in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany. Professor Junker’s research interests include US law, international law, comparative law, environmental law, European law, law and the natural sciences, and law and rhetoric. Since 2009, he has held the Chair of American Law at the University of Cologne.

Prof. Armin Rosencranz

Lawyer and Political Scientist, Founder, Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University, India

Armin Rosencranz is a renowned lawyer and political scientist. He is the founder of Jindal Global School of Environment and Sustainability at OP Jindal Global University, in Sonipat, India. In 1987, he founded the international environmental NGO, Pacific Environment, which he led until 1996. He has also had a long-standing association with Stanford University, where he also served as a Trustee. He also taught climate, energy and global environmental law at Boalt Hall – UC Berkeley. Owing to his enormous contribution to legal practice and academia, he has received five Fulbright grants – two to India, and one each to Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Prof. Rosencranz is the author of several books, including Environmental Law and Policy, published by Oxford Publications, and considered a key textbook in its field.

Prof. Kelly Alley

Professor, Author and Water Management Expert Alma Holladay Professor Emerita Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work Auburn University, US

Dr. Kelly Alley has worked with the World Water Forum and UNESCO to incorporate understanding of cultural diversity into water management. She is now working on water governance in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin. In a project funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Alley has been examining the potential of decentralized programs of wastewater management to meet the wastewater challenge in India. She has, in fact, carried out research in India for over twenty years, focusing on environmental issues. She was awarded the President’s Outstanding Collaborative Units award with members of the Center for Forest Sustainability at Auburn. Her latest book titled, On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River (University of Michigan press 2002), explores religious interpretations in light of environmental problems of the river Ganga. Dr. Alley serves as the Alma Holladay Professor of Anthropology at Auburn University. She did her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her B.S. from Cornell University.

Prof. Dr. Abhiroop Chowdhury

Professor & Dean, Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India

Dr. Abhiroop Chowdhury is Professor and Dean at Jindal Global School of Environment and Sustainability. He completed his graduation in Botany (Hons.) and M.Sc. in Environmental System Management and earned his PhD degree from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) on the research question ‘how development and climate change is impacting mangrove ecology at Indian Sundarbans?’ He has published around 25 Scopus/ Web of Science indexed journal articles between 2016-22 with over 500 citations. He was awarded with Inder Mohan Thapar best researcher award- 2016 by IIT for his research contributions. His areas of expertise are: Climate-change Ecology, Pollution assessment and management, blue carbon sequestration, Mangrove restoration, and Environmental Social Work. As an environmental scientist, Abhiroop had explored various biodiversity conservation sites (Kachchh Biosphere Reserve, Sundarban Ramsar wetland site), river systems (Subarnarekha and Damodar) and mining regions (Sukinda Chromite mine and Jharia coal fields). He is also actively involved in conservation and alternative livelihood initiatives at Indian Sundarbans.

Prof. Aliya Naz

Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India

Dr. Aliya Naz is an Assistant Professor at ‘Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities’, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. She has completed her Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Dhanbad with an MHRD fellowship in Environmental Science. Her research topic focused on hexavalent Chromium pollution in water, soil and plants at Sukinda (the largest chromite mine of India) and its impact on human health in the mining belt. Along with her Ph.D. research she has been involved in enviro-social work project in the Indian Sundarbans (the world’s largest delta), working towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), primarily- SDG 1,2,3,6,7,8,10,13,15. She has also worked in the Indian Sundarbans for different projects from 2017-2021 as an environmental consultant.
She has also worked as a Project Scientist at the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology in Bhuj, Gujarat on different socio-environmental issues such as pollution assessment, health risk assessment, and ethno-medicines along Kachchh biosphere Reserve in India. She also worked at IIT Kanpur on the status of water pollution along middle reach of Ganges river basin and its impact on human health.
Dr. Naz’s research focuses on environmental pollution, human health, and Sustainable developmental goals. She has expertise in environmental and human health risk assessment models and has published more than 15 research articles in different national and international SCOPUS indexed journals.