I am a Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway. I come from Latvia where I took law degree at the University of Latvia (1994-1999) and LLM in European and International Law at the Riga Graduate School of Law (1999-2001). I am member of the multi-disciplinary Northern Areas Committee at the University of Oslo which works with dissemination and facilitation of research and teaching about the Arctic.
I have always been interested in maritime transport and shipping. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on competition law in liner shipping at the University of Oslo (doctor juris degree in 2007). My main fields of research are international law, law of the sea, European law, environmental law and, more recently, space law.
I have always been fascinated by the Arctic and read extensively about it as a child. I had several chances of experiencing the life above the polar circle for short periods during my childhood. However, my research turned to the Arctic law much later, when I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Law Faculty, University of Oslo (2008-2012). I worked on the safety and security at sea project, which also included the Northern Areas and Arctic. It was (and still am) fascinated by the North which pushes me to study the international law – especially law of the sea – perspective on the Arctic, as well as compare national approaches to regulation of Arctic shipping.
I became involved in teaching Arctic law at ‘A Changing Arctic’ course run by the International Summer School of the University of Oslo since 2013. This is a truly interdisciplinary course and an example of cooperation between geosciences, political science and law.
The role of law is invaluable in protecting Arctic environment, and ensuring a sustainable Arctic. Unfortunately, the law is not always capable of addressing complex challenges of pollution and climate change in the Arctic. While there have been significant accomplishments at the international, regional and national level, much remains to be done to develop and improve the legal framework. I hope my research and teaching will make a humble contribution to this work.
Presently, most of my research time goes to studying issues arising in the outer space law, especially as it interacts with other branches of international law such as the law of the sea. The sustainable space is incredibly important for the Arctic, where human activities are dependent on reliable satellite services.
Contact information:
Email: Alla.pozdnakova@jus.uio.no
Twitter : @AllaPozdnakova
Women in the Arctic and Antarctic 