Dean Paul Paton is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Péter Szigeti as a tenure-stream Assistant Professor, effective July 1, 2018.
Dr. Szigeti is currently 2016-17 Boulton Fellow at the McGill University Faculty of Law, which followed appointment as a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy in 2015-16. He received his SJD from Harvard in 2015, where he was advised by Professor David Kennedy, Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Director of Harvard's Institute for Global Law and Policy. Professor Kennedy wrote that Dr. Szigeti's doctoral dissertation was "one of the most imaginative and broad ranging dissertations I have read", and has described Dr. Szigeti as "truly an independent thinker, rigorous, careful and imaginative", with a "fascinating and original mind."
Before he joins UAlberta Law, Dr. Szigeti will begin an appointment as a Post-Doctoral Global Fellow in the prestigious NYU Global Fellows Program at the Hauser Global Law School Program. He will be affiliated with the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law.
"I have been struck by both the ambiance of friendliness and collegiality at the University of Alberta, and the impressive legal research work that they have created. The questions that I am most interested in researching - the interactions between property, public law, the natural environment and geographical facts - are already in the focus of interest in Alberta, and I hope to learn from my colleagues' thoughts and experiences," Dr. Szigeti said.
"I am also looking forward to expanding my teaching portfolio to include several courses that involve law and geography - property law, immigration law, and potentially environmental law and international law as well - and to experimenting with teaching methodologies that invite the maximum amount of engagement, interest and creativity from students. I hope that my experiences at numerous universities in both North America and Europe will prove useful in devising teaching approaches and emphasizing different approaches to similar problems," he added.
Dr. Szigeti holds a Master of International Law and International Organizations degree from the Sorbonne, and a JD in Hungarian Law from ELTE University in Budapest. He is admitted to the bar in the State of New York (2009) and previously practiced as a corporate lawyer in Hungary, as well as serving as a Consultant in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Economics Division of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization Fisheries Department in Rome.
His research spans geo-ecological information in property law, environmental law and international law; conceptions of space in public (international) law; and "immigration, mobility, belonging, and identification". His various publications include a forthcoming article (2017) entitled "The Illusion of Territorial Jurisdiction" in the Texas International Law Journal; and an article entitled "Territorial Bias in International Law: Attribution in State and Corporate Responsibility" published in the Journal of Transnational Law and Policy. His teaching interests are broad, and current responsibilities at McGill include a course in Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law.
We looking forward to welcoming Dr. Szigeti to the Faculty in 2018!