In February, the University of Nottingham School of Law hosted Professor Andrea Bianchi as its JC Smith Trust Fund Visiting Scholar for 2025. Previous JC Smith Visiting Scholars in the field of public international law have included Professor Hilary Charlesworth (2017), Professor Karen Knop (2004) and Professor Joseph Weiler (2003).
Andrea Bianchi is a Professor of International Law and Director of Studies at the Geneva Graduate Institute. He is the JC Smith Trust Fund Visiting Scholar at the University of Nottingham School of Law in 2025. Andrea's publications address topics that range from international legal theory and treaty interpretation, human rights and international humanitarian law, terrorism and counterterrorism, to the law of jurisdiction and jurisdictional immunities, state responsibility, non-state actors, and the law of treaties. Andrea's recent books include Demystifying Treaty Interpretation (CUP 2024; co-authored with Fuad Zarbiyev); International Law's Invisible Frames: Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Law (OUP 2023; co-edited with Moshe Hirsch); International Law Theories (OUP 2016); Interpretation in International Law (OUP 2015; co-edited with Matthew Windsor and Daniel Peat); and Transparency in International Law (CUP 2013; co-edited with Anne Peters).
During his time at the School of Law, Professor Bianchi’s activities included a ‘fireside’ chat with LLM and PhD students about his scholarship and career, and an International Law Association seminar titled ‘When Theatre Meets Law: The Quest for an International Lawyer’s Cathartic Moment’.
Professor Bianchi’s visit culminated in a workshop in his honour titled ‘For a Practice of Theory’. The programme of the workshop, convened by Dr Matthew Windsor, was as follows:
Welcome
- Professor Nigel White (Professor of Public International Law and Deputy Head of School (Research), University of Nottingham School of Law)
- Professor Andrea Bianchi (Professor of International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva; JC Smith Scholar 2024/25, University of Nottingham)
Panel 1
Refusing to Operationalise, or In Defence of ‘Fancy Intellectual Frames’
Theory and Practice from the Archive
- Dr Matthew Windsor (Associate Professor in Public International Law, University of Nottingham School of Law)
The Pragmattack! On Method for Mandarins
Panel 2
- Chair: Giserd Marqeshi (Teaching Associate and PhD Candidate, University of Nottingham School of Law
- Professor Akbar Rasulov (Professor of International Law, University of Glasgow)
The Political Economy of ‘Theory’: Knowledge Production, Exclusion, and Neocolonialism in Contemporary International Law
- Dr Devika Hovell (Associate Professor in Public International Law, LSE Law School)
The ‘Collective’ in Collective Security
Beyond the Ideational: Practices of Theory in Algorithmic Times
Panel 3
- Chair: Dr Mando Rachovitsa (Associate Professor in Human Rights Law and Deputy Director of the Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham School of Law)
- Dr Tommaso Soave (Assistant Professor, Central European University)
The Politics of Pracademia: Strategic and Self-Serving Deployments of Theory by International Lawyers
- Dr Hemi Mistry (Associate Professor, University of Nottingham School of Law)
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck: reflections on writing an inadvertent “(successful) theoretical paper”
Final Reflections
- Professor Andrea Bianchi (Professor of International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva; JC Smith Scholar 2024/25, University of Nottingham)
- Dr Matthew Windsor (Associate Professor in Public International Law, University of Nottingham School of Law; JC Smith Workshop Convenor)
The School of Law is grateful to Professor Bianchi for enriching its research culture and environment during his visit.
Posted on Tuesday 11th March 2025