Academic Forum on ISDS 2025 Conference

The Academic Forum on ISDS brings together leading scholars to explore and discuss pressing issues in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The aim is to exchange perspectives, test ideas, and make constructive contributions to ongoing ISDS reform debates—particularly within UNCITRAL Working Group III (WGIII).

This year’s conference is supported by the Compliance Politics of International Investment Disputes (COPIID) project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Two panels are dedicated to COPIID’s research, featuring invited speakers who bring diverse expertise and perspectives on post-award compliance in ISDS.

To register: https://www.eui.eu/events?id=572749

Conference Programme

Day 1 – 29 April

09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome Coffee

09:15 – 09:30 | Opening Remarks

Jonathan Bonnitcha & Catharine Titi | Academic Forum on ISDS Co-Chairs
Sergio Puig | European University Institute

09:30 – 11:00 | Academic Forum Session 1

Theme: Theoretical Approaches

• Revisiting Due Diligence: A Critical Framework for Addressing Gaps in the International Economic System — Naimeh Masumy

• Sovereign or Merchant? State Promises in International Law and Investment Arbitration — Oliver Hailes

• Layering the Delegation of Adjudicatory Authority in Investor-State Dispute Settlement — Aikaterini Florou
  Chair & Discussant: Jonathan Bonnitcha

11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00 | Parallel Sessions

Session 2: Procedural and Cross-Cutting Issues

• Legal and Political Determinants of Joint Interpretations of Investment Treaties — Marcin Menkes

• Coordinating Subsequent Interpretation by State Parties and IIAs — Xiaotian Yu

• Costs and Funding Investment Arbitration Cases: Problems & Solutions — Can Eken

• ISDS Reform and the Problem of Discretion — Richard Chen
  Chair & Discussant: Simon Batifort

Session 3: Investment and Environmental Claims

• Investors’ Human Rights & Environmental Obligations in Counterclaims & Damage Assessment — Patricia Wiater

• The Duelling Moral Hazards of Climate and Investment Protection — Stratos Pahis

• The Reform of ISDS and Climate Change — Laura Létourneau Tremblay
  Chair & Discussant: Gloria Àlvarez

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 | Parallel Sessions

Session 4: Substantive Standards and Interdisciplinary Approaches

• Can Data Qualify as a Protected Investment? — Vy Ngo Nguyen Thao & Quyen Nguyen Ngoc Phuong

• Reconceptualizing Investment Treaties as Risk Allocation Devices — Josef Ostřanský & Lukas Schaugg

• Governing Foreign Investment Beyond Earth: International Investment Law and Outer Space Activities — Güneş Ünüvar
  Chair & Discussant: Steven Ratner

Session 5: Regional and Interregional Perspectives

• Caribbean Engagement with ISDS Reform in UNCITRAL WG III — Jason Haynes

• Dispute Resolution under the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment — Joel N. Mogesi

• Reform of ISDS by International Organizations — Yanwen Zhang

• A Legal Framework for Africa-China Investment Relations — Stanley U. Nweke-Eze
  Chair & Discussant: Anna de Luca

15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break

16:00 – 16:30 | Keynote Address

Shane Spelliscy | Chair, UNCITRAL Working Group III

16:30 – 17:45 | Roundtable Discussion

Speakers:

• Dafina Atanasova | UNCTAD

• Lauge Poulsen | OECD

• Shane Spelliscy | UNCITRAL WG III
  Chair: Taylor St John

18:15 | Shuttle to Le Lune Ristorante

18:30 – 21:30 | Aperitivo & Dinner for All Participants

Day 2 - 30 April

08:30 – 09:00 | Welcome Coffee

09:00 – 10:30 | Academic Forum Session 6

Theme: ISDS Reform – Institutionalisation, Lessons, and the Future

• From Annulment to Appeal — Michele Potestà & Johannes Fahner

• Investment Mediation: New Twists on Old Concepts — Agata Zwolankiewicz

• Institutional Design of the Advisory Centre at UNCITRAL WG III — Huaxia Lai
  Chair & Discussant: Catharine Titi

10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 | Academic Forum Session 7

Theme: Compensation and Damages

• Damages in International Courts and Arbitration — Chiara Giorgetti

• Temporalities and Legal Reasoning in Damages Valuation — Clara López

• Valuation in ISDS: Legal, Practical, and Reform Perspectives — Jonathan Bonnitcha, José Manuel Àlvarez Zarate, Marcin Menkes, Josef Ostransky & Yanwen Zhang

• Desert in Investment Law and the Return to Reasonable Return — Abdellatif Lahlou
  Chair & Discussant: Ana María Daza

12:30 – 13:00 | Introduction to the Compliance Politics of Investment Disputes Project

Malcolm Langford & Runar Lie

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 | Compliance Panel 1: Internal (State) Perspectives

Speakers:

• Ahmad Irfan Aslam | Former Minister for Law and Justice, Pakistan

• Shane Spelliscy | Trade Law Bureau, Canada

• Carlos Vejar | White & Case; former Director-General, Mexico

• COPIID Insights:

  • Tarald Gulseth Berge | University of Southeastern Norway

  • Yuliya Chernykh | University of Inland Norway, ICC

  • Daniel Peat | Leiden University
    Chair: Lauge Poulsen

15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break

16:00 – 17:30 | Compliance Panel 2: External Perspectives

Speakers:

• Enrique Molina | Omni Bridgeway

• Emilia Onyema | SOAS, Arbitrator

• Ayse Yazir | Bench Walk Advisors

• COPIID Insights:

  • Szilárd Gáspár-Szilágyi | Birmingham University

  • Sergio Puig | European University Institute

  • Nicola Strain | University of Oslo

  • Chair: Mavluda Sattorova