Dr. Maria Antonieta (Antoinette) Nestor

Degrees, Awards and Prizes

BCL (University College Dublin UCD), LLM (University of California Los Angeles UCLA), PhD (Trinity College Dublin TCD), AFHEA

Research Themes

My main research interests are the intersection between public interest law, access to justice, community economic development, sustainability and the environment, and linking private law, planning, environmental/climate change and international law to combat urban poverty and to redress social exclusion. 

I also look at the role of National Determined Contributions (NDCs) within the Paris Agreement and their relationship with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Ecosystem Services. 

My current research at the national level focuses on the use of conservation covenants in local development and how they can benefit nature. At the international level, I am looking into the green transition and its effects on indigenous communities in the Andean and Mapuche regions of South America, particularly the extraction of minerals and its effect on biodiversity. I am also further looking at the role of women in climate litigation, highlighting how their leadership challenges colonial power structures.

Responsibilities

I lecture on Paper 2: The Public Sector: Institutional and Legal Frameworks and Paper 16: Land, Food and Ecosystem Services.

Other

I am an academic lawyer with a background in Community Economic Development Law and Policy, Public Interest Law and Climate Change Law. I hold a PhD from Trinity College Dublin specialising in public interest law, access to justice and community economic development, an LLM from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA David J Epstein Programme in Public Interest Law & Policy), and Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) from University College Dublin. I am also a trained legal interpreter and translator (Spanish/English) and have a diploma in journalism. 

Centre Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Property Law (CCPL), Associate Fellow at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), Secretariat member at the Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI), member of IUCN-WCEL (World Commission on Environmental Law) and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). 

Faculty Advisor, Cambridge Pro-Bono Project (CPP) 

Bye-Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College and Murray Edwards College 

Member of Cambridge City Council elected to office in May 2023.

Roles within the University

•  Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Land Economy