International Advisory Board

Our International Advisory Board brings together leading scholars and practitioners in environmental and indigenous law, as well as in water and river governance, from New Zealand, the US, Brazil, and Colombia.

• Prof Elizabeth Macpherson, Faculty of Law, University of Canterbury (New Zealand)

Elizabeth is a lawyer and interdisciplinary researcher who focuses on the design and implementation of water law and policy in community and justice settings. Her research focuses on the potential for comparative constitutional law, human rights, and Indigenous rights, relationships, and jurisdiction to enable better outcomes in water governance. She hopes to deepen her research and engagement with legal rights for rivers and Indigenous rights in other places, especially Aotearoa New Zealand, in engaging with the Brazilian project context.

• Prof Léo Heller, former UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation / Leading researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Brazil)

Léo Heller is a senior researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He has extensive experience in water and sanitation studies, with a particular focus on environmental health, public policies, and human rights. A key area of his research has been water privatization, especially in the Brazilian context, investigating drivers behind these processes and their effects on human rights and public health. As member of the advisory board of the project, Heller sees a valuable opportunity to explore the integration between the emerging debate on river rights and the framework of the human right to water.

• Dr Johanna Del Pilar Cortes Nieto, Constitutional Court of Colombia

Johanna is an Associate Professor at the School of Law of Rosario University (Colombia) and an Auxiliary Magistrate at the Constitutional Court of Colombia. Her research focuses on the intersections between law, development, and poverty, particularly in relation to economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. She has also served as a governmental expert for the Working Group of the Organization of American States on the San Salvador Protocol.

• Prof Andrea K. Gerlak, School of Geography, Development and Environment; Director, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona (USA)

With a background in human geography and international relations, Andrea’s research agenda addresses cooperation and conflict in water governance, including questions of equity and access, institutional change, learning, and adaptation. She is interested in exploring governance dynamics to inform improved protections of river basins and engagement of communities.