Dr Mitchell Lennan

BSc (Hons), MSc, LLM, PhD

Lecturer

Accepting PhDs

51cg

Email Address: mitchell.lennan@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number: +44 (0)1224 272852
School/Department: School of Law

Biography

Dr Mitchell Lennan joined the Law School as a Lecturer in December 2022. He is Co-Director of the Aberdeen University Centre of Energy Law (AUCEL).

Mitchell teaches and researches Public International Law, focusing on Law of the Sea, Environmental Law and Human Rights. He is interested in the international regulation of fisheries and marine biodiversity in the context of global environmental change. He has also contributed to several consultancies in International Environmental Law for the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Trade Organization, national governments, and non-governmental organisations.

He holds degrees from the Universities of Glasgow, Southampton, Edinburgh and Strathclyde. His PhD focused on the international legal obligation to adapt fisheries conservation and management measures to the effects of climate change.

Mitchell has participated in international dispute settlement, serving as Assistant to Counsel for the Republic of Maldives in the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives) before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in 2020. He also interned in the ITLOS Legal Office in 2018.

He was previously a Researcher with the UKRI GCRF One Ocean Hub, where he worked on a range of inter- and transdisciplinary projects on inclusive ocean governance. He has held positions at the University of Strathclyde and City St George's, University of London. He is Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law and regularly represents the University at United Nations climate meetings.

Mitchell is is the Programme Lead for taught masters programmes under the Energy & Environment theme.

Mitchell welcomes enquiries regarding potential PhD projects related to his areas of research.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Marine and Freshwater Biology
2013 - University of Glasgow
MSc Marine Science, Policy & Law
2014 - University of Southampton
LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law
2017 - University of Edinburgh
PGCert Researcher Professional Development
2022 - University of Strathclyde
PhD International Environmental Law
2022 - University of Strathclyde

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships: Co-Director, Aberdeen University Centre for Energy Law

Member, Aberdeen Centre for Constitutional and Public International Law

Member, Law School Research Committee

Affiliate Researcher, Just Transition Lab

Member (LGBTQ+ Inclusion) School of Law Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
External Memberships: Member,

Member (non-solicitor), The Law Society of Scotland's

Latest Publications

Lack of capacity: the not-so-hidden factor undermining fisheries governance
2026 - E-pub ahead of print
Haas, B., Aqorau, T., Lennan, M.
Fish and Fisheries
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI:
OCEAN ACIDIFICATION & FOOD SECURITY
2026 - Published
Harrould-Kolieb, E., Kostas, I., Frosch, A., Turner, J., Dressler, I., Strong, A., Lennan, M.
4 pages.
Other Contributions: Other Contributions
- [ONLINE]
- [OPEN ACCESS]
Untangled: Workshop Report
2026 - Published
Lennan, M., Duffy, P.
Contributions to Specialist Publications: Reports
International Fisheries and Climate Change Adaptation
2025 - Published
Lennan, M.
The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 817-826
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
Response to the Call for Views on the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill by the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
2025 - Published
Ferguson, E., Lennan, M., Moran, C. F.
Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament (Webpage). 5 pages.
Other Contributions: Other Contributions
- [OPEN ACCESS]
- [ONLINE]
- [ONLINE]

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

Winner, Aldo Leucci and Ortensio Degli Atti Award (2^nd edition) for the article ‘Leveraging International Fisheries Law for Maritime Security in the Anthropocene: Addressing Conflicts in Fisheries' together with Julia Nakamura and Kyle Fawkes in ACSOMARE Yearbook on the Law of the Sea ().

Research

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Law.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Email Me

Law

Supervising
Accepting PhDs

View Research Area

Research Specialisms

Public International Law
European Union Law
Law

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.

Teaching

Courses

Public International Law LS2032
Course Coordinator
International Law of the Sea LS403D
Course Coordinator
Fundamental Issues in Environmental Law LS453H
International Energy And Environmental Law LS501C
Law and Sustainable Development LS504E

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Mitchell acts as personal tutor for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Law School.

He has given guest lectures at the Universities of Glasgow, Nottingham, Tromsø, and California, Berkeley.

Publications

Update

51cg

Biography

Qualifications

Memberships and Affiliations

Latest Publications

Lack of capacity: the not-so-hidden factor undermining fisheries governance

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION & FOOD SECURITY

Untangled: Workshop Report

International Fisheries and Climate Change Adaptation

Response to the Call for Views on the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill by the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Prizes and Awards

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

Law

Research Specialisms

Courses

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Lack of capacity: the not-so-hidden factor undermining fisheries governance

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION & FOOD SECURITY

Untangled: Workshop Report

International Fisheries and Climate Change Adaptation

Response to the Call for Views on the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill by the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Non-use of the Atmosphere and the Success Story of the Montreal Protocol

The World Trade Organization and Its Contribution to the Evolution of the Law of the Sea

Climate Change and the Limits of International Fisheries Law

Ensuring mutual supportiveness of the Paris Agreement with other multilateral environmental agreements: A focus on ocean-based climate action

Strengthening intergenerational equity at the ocean-climate nexus: Reflections on the uncrc general comment no. 26

Ocean-based Climate Action and Human Rights Implications under the International Climate Change Regime

International Legal Responses for Protecting Fishers’ Fundamental Rights Impacted by a Changing Ocean

Introduction: Applying a Human Rights Lens to the Ocean-Climate Nexus

Ocean-based Climate Action and Human Rights: edited by Mitchell Lennan and Elisa Morgera

Introduction to Smart Ports and Robotic Systems: Navigating the Waves of Techno-Regulation and Governance

Lessons Learned from Maritime Nations Leading Autonomous Operations and Remote Inspection Techniques

Towards an International Guideline for RIT End-Users: Spearing Through Vessel Inspection and Hull Cleaning Techno-Regulatory Elements

Fisheries Redistribution under Climate Change: Rethinking the Law to Address the ‘Governance Gap’?

Leveraging International Fisheries Law for Maritime Security in the Anthropocene: Addressing Conflicts in Fisheries

Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies

Strengthening Intergenerational Equity at the Ocean-Climate Nexus: Reflections on the UNCRC General Comment No.26+

World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies

The high seas: Adapting to changes in pelagic ecosystems

Transformative Governance for Ocean Biodiversity

The development of the law of the sea convention: the role of international courts and tribunals, by ØysteinJensen Published by Edward Elgar, 2020, xvii + 280 pp., £90.00, hardback.

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Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Journals

Contributions to Specialist Publications

Non-textual Forms

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