International environmental law honored by the Nexans 2020 Award

Valérie Wyssbrod, a doctor of law and lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel, is the latest winner of the Nexans Prize. The prize, worth CHF 10,000, is the highest distinction awarded to graduates of Neuchâtel’s alma mater. This year, it rewards this young researcher for the excellence of her work, her exemplary career and her human and pedagogical qualities. Due to the health situation, the award ceremony will take place next spring.

Valérie Wyssbrod grew up in Biel and graduated from high school. She went on to study at the universities of Neuchâtel, Heidelberg (Germany) and Newcastle (Australia). She obtained two masters degrees, the first in humanities and social sciences (2005), the second in law (2009). She then worked as a doctoral assistant at the Chair of Innovation Law and the Institute of Health Law at the University of Neuchâtel, and completed two research stays at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) with funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

In 2017, she obtained a doctorate in law under the supervision of Professor Daniel Kraus, with highest honors for her thesis on the exploitation of marine genetic resources outside national jurisdiction. This work focused on the international legal framework relating to the use of living resources taken from the high seas and deep seabed for the development of various products such as medicines, cosmetics or even food additives or depollutants. This issue is currently at the heart of discussions at the UN.

Valérie Wyssbrod continues her research on protected areas and sustainable development at Stockholm University (2018-2019) with the support of the SNSF. Since 2020, she has been a lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel as well as a visiting researcher at the University of Lausanne, working on international environmental law, biotechnology law and the law of the sea. She is currently conducting research on biodiversity conservation and international governance.

This scientist has published in several internationally recognized scientific journals and books, and presented her research at international conferences.

Starting in the spring semester of 2021, she will be teaching students from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Law at the University of Neuchâtel a new subject entitled ’Introduction to the law of biodiversity conservation’, enabling students to acquire knowledge in this particularly important and relatively new field.

Established in 1979 to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the electrical cable industry in Cortaillod, the Nexans Schweiz AG Cultural Fund awards an annual prize of 10,000 Swiss francs to one or two researchers from UniNE.

Exploitation of marine genetic resources from areas outside national jurisdiction. Issues and prospects between patent law, law of the sea and environmental law.