On November 4, the Chinese Law Society announced the list of the 9th National Outstanding Young Jurist Award, and Prof. Qin Tianbao of our school was awarded.

The National Outstanding Young Jurist is a major award and has received great attention and interest from the society. The 9th selection and recognition campaign was launched in May 2019 and was later postponed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Qin Tianbao was jointly recommended by the Environmental Resources Law Research Society of the China Law Society, the Hubei Law Society, the Wuhan University Law School and the Yangtze River Maritime Law Society, and was selected from among 115 candidates for the Outstanding Young Jurist Award nationwide. In addition, alumnus Du Huanfang, a professor of Renmin University of China, and Huo Zhengxin, a professor of China University of Political Science and Law, are nominated for the award.

Before that, Huang Jin, Zeng Lingliang, Zhou Yezhong, Wang Xigen, Xiao Yongping, Feng Guo and He Qisheng of our school had won the title of National Outstanding Young Jurist.

Prof. QIN Tianbao is a Luojia Professor of Law, and serves as the Director of the Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL) and the Associate Dean for Research and International Affiliations for the School of Law, Deputy Director of the Research Center of the Supreme Court of China on Environmental-related Judicial Theory, Professor of China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies and the European Studies Centre, Wuhan University; Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law; Member of the Compliance Committee of the Nagoya Protocol on ABS.

Dr Qin received his LL.B and LL.M degrees from Wuhan University. He finished his Doktorarbeit (doctoral dissertation) in Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt in Germany and obtained his Dr. iur degree from Wuhan University. He has been a Post-doctor Research Fellow in Ghent University, Belgium.

He is a Legal Advisor for the Ministry of Water Resources, Wuhan Municipal Government and Xiangyang Municipal Government, a Legislative Expert for China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, and Hubei Provincial Parliament, and headed or participated in drafting of several major environmental bills. He is an Advisor for Chinese negotiations on biodiversity, ocean and climate change issues; and he was a Legislative Expert for the UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, and an Environmental Law Expert for several projects of International Institutions (GEF, UNDP, ADB) in China. He was the Head of Environmental Rights Department of the Centre of Protection of Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC) which is a prestigious NGO for Human Rights in China.

He is a Part-time Professor of China Minzu University, South-West University of Political Science and Law, China; Legal Research Fellow of Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL); Co-Editor of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Journal, member of Advisory Board of Law, Environment & Development Journal (LEAD); Lead Author and Review Expert of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Dr. Qin is the Vice President & Secretary-General of Chinese Society of Environment and Resources Law (CSERL), Vice Chairman of the Division of Environmental Damage Assessment of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, a Member of the Board of Directors of Chinese Association of European Law, and Chinese Association of WTO Law; a Member of IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and Commission on Ecosystem Management, a Member of Governing Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law; and a member of the Committee on the Legal Principles relating to Climate Change of the International Law Association.

He was a Visiting Professor at Macau University of Science and Technology from January to March of 2018, a Distinguished International Environmental Law Scholar at the Vermont Law School in July, 2017, an EU Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Turin from December 2014 to February, 2015, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Göttingen from June 2012 to June 2014, a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from June to Jul 2011, a Visiting Professor at the Ghent University in Belgium from April to September 2011 and from July to August 2006, at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica in Chinese Taipei from December 2008 to May 2009; and at the University of Manchester in UK from June to September 2007; a DAAD Scholarship holder at Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt in Germany from June 2003 to June 2005.

Currently, he is concentrating his researches in law and policy concerning biodiversity and biotechnology, water and ocean, climate change and energy, environment and health, and trans-boundary environmental issues. Prof. Qin is author of several books and more than 100 articles in these fields. His recent publications include: Research Handbook on Chinese Environmental Law (Edward Elgar, eds), Principles of International Biodiversity Law (CUPL Press), Legal Issues on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing (WHU Press), Arctic Law and Governance: The Role of China and Finland (Hart Publishing, with Timo Koivurova, eds).

Edited by Yuan Yuhang & Wu Liuqing