A centre of expertise at the University of Dundee, which has helped mould energy law and policy in countries as diverse as China, Korea, Russia, Columbia and South Africa for 25 years has celebrated its silver anniversary with a reunion in London.
Judge Rosalyn Higgins QC, an honorary graduate of the university who was involved in the Centre for Energy Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy in its early days, gave the keynote address. Over 100 guests including former students, staff, honorary associates and friends gathered from their bases across the world, to celebrate the centre's silver jubilee. Among them were previous centre directors Professor Richard Bentham and Professor Thomas Waelde. An invite also went to the UK Rail Regulator Mr Tom Winsor, an alumnus of the centre.
Current Director of the Centre Philip Andrew Speed said: "We are delighted so many international friends were able to gather in London to help us celebrate this silver milestone. Since its origins in 1977, CEPMLP has established itself as the leading international postgraduate institution in the field of energy and natural resources law and policy. Over 100 postgraduates now enrol per year, many of them senior professionals in governments regulatory agencies and companies throughout the world."
Earlier this month 24 senior government officials, bankers and industrialists from 10 countries across Africa gathered for a week long seminar on Financing major infrastructure projects in Africa. A week later eight managers from the Korean Gas Corporation arrived for six months' training to help them prepare for the liberalisation of the Korean gas industry.
Notes for editors
Judge Rosalyn Higgins is the only female judge on the International Court of Justice and as such is one of Britain's most senior public international lawyers. In the 1970s she was practising in the field of petroleum law, and worked closely with Terence Daintith (the first director of CEPMLP) and Alan Page of theDepartment of Public Law at the University of Dundee. She was associated with the centre during the 1980s when Richard Bentham was director and she acted as external examiner. She continued her association with the centre when it came under the directorship of Thomas Waelde in 1991.
Picture caption: L-R Professor Thomas Walde, Director of Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) from 1986-1991; Dr Philip Andrews-Speed, current CEPMLP Director; Professor Richard W Bentham, CEPMLP Director from 1984-1991