Associate Professor Cameron Jefferies is a 2019 recipient of the Martha Cook Piper Research Prize, the third UAlberta Law professor to receive the distinguished honour.
The annual award, which will be officially bestowed today at the Faculty Club, recognizes two faculty members in the early stage of their careers who enjoy a reputation for original research and show outstanding promise as researchers. It is named for Dr. Martha Cook Piper's significant contribution to the research community while vice-president (research) and vice-president (research and external affairs) at the University of Alberta in the 1990s.
Jefferies' research is focused in the areas of environmental law, natural resource law, ocean law and energy law/climate change and primarily on the operationalization of sustainability.
He teaches in the areas of international and domestic environmental law international law, oil and gas law, and oceans law, and is also keenly interested in public interest law and advocacy. He has accomplished significant research milestones early in his career. A revised version of his SJD dissertation was published by Oxford University Press in August, 2016 as Marine Mammal Conservation and the Law of the Sea. He co-authored the sixth edition of Tort Law (2017, Thomson Reuters) with Lewis Klar; this text is a staple for students, academics, and judges across Canada. Additionally, he co-edited a book titled Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law (2018, Cambridge University Press). Jefferies has also published numerous well-received journal articles and book chapters, and has presented his research nationally and internationally.
With respect to being recognized with the Martha Cook Piper Research Prize, Jefferies noted: "we are living through a period of rapid environmental change and I feel compelled to explore the ways law and policy can be used to improve our relationship with the natural world. It is an incredible honour to be recognized by the U of A community in this way."
Earlier this semester, Jefferies was honoured for his teaching in the Faculty of Law, as one of two 2019 winners of the Hon. Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award.
The Faculty of Law's two previous winners of the Martha Cook Piper Research Prize are Joanna Harrington (2007) and Prof. Timothy Caulfield (2000).