Raphael Heffron is a Professor for Global Energy Law & Sustainability at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee. As of July 2019, he is also a Jean Monnet Professor in the Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy awarded by the European Commission. He is also Senior Counsel at the law firm Janson in Brussels (Belgium). Professor Heffron is a qualified Barrister-at-Law, and a graduate of both Oxford (MSc) and Cambridge (MPhil & PhD). All his work has a principal focus on achieving a just transition to a low-carbon economy and combines a mix of energy law, policy and economics. He has published over 140 publications of different types and is the most cited scholar in his field worldwide (1150+Scopus). Professor Heffron has given just over 125 keynote or guest lectures in 44 countries worldwide.
Raphael was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland in 2018. His research and teaching has been recognised by the award of a Jean Monnet Professorship by the European Commission twice in 2016 (-2019) and 2019 (-2022). His teaching has also been recognised in the UK by becoming a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy in 2018. In addition, Raphael is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.
He is a reviewer for the next IPCC Report. Raphael is on the Editorial Board of the International Energy Law Review, the Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review and is Consulting Editor of the current Halsbury’s Laws of England volumes on Energy Law (the leading practitioner energy law series). Raphael is also co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford University Press Handbook for International Energy Law and Editor-in-Chief of the Edinburgh University Press journal Global Energy Law & Sustainability.
Raphael is currently or has been in the past the following positions: the Co-Chair of the UK Energy Law and Policy Association; Visiting Professor in Energy Law at the International Hellenic University (Greece); an Associate Researcher at the Energy Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge (current); a Visiting Professor at Paris-Dauphine University (Paris, France – current), Queen Mary University of London (UK – current), the University of West Indies (Trinidad-based), Javeriana University (Colombia) and University Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique – current); a Visiting Lecturer at the ESCP Business School (London and Paris); and a Visiting Scholar at MIT (US), University of Sydney (Australia), University Of Texas at Austin (US) and the British Institute for International and Comparative Law (UK).
Raphael read for his PhD at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. He is also a trained Barrister-at-Law and was called to the Bar in July 2007 in the Republic of Ireland. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (MPhil-Darwin, PhD-Trinity Hall), the University of Oxford (Christ Church) (MSc) the University of St. Andrews (MLitt), and Trinity College Dublin (BA, MA).
Raphael’s energy research has involved funding from UK national research councils (the ESRC and the EPSRC), the EU and currently through the European Commission Jean Monnet Professorship 2019-2022, UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and ERA-ACTOM. He has given professional expert advice on energy law and policy issues (low-carbon energy and electricity systems) to the EU, UN, Commonwealth Secretariat, World Bank, and various international thinktanks – he currently serves on the UNECE Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity Systems. More recently, he has performed due diligence on low carbon energy projects for the 10 Member States of the ASEAN Center for Energy; produced a law and policy report on the energy transition for the 54 Member States of the Commonwealth, advised Nigerian Ministries on oil and gas law and Colombian professionals on climate and green finance.