PROFILE
Professor Erika Techera
Started at UWA: 2012
Academic and lawyer tackling critical marine environmental governance challenges across the Indian Ocean
I love legal research, including multidisciplinary projects, and my job allows me to work with colleagues across the Indian Ocean region to tackle some of the critical marine environmental governance challenges. I am consistently inspired by my students, from Australia and overseas. Professor Erika Techera
Professor Erika Techera is an international and comparative law academic at the UWA Law School who is focused on improving legal frameworks across the Indian Ocean to enhance marine environmental governance.
Born in England, Professor Techera came to Australia for a gap year, studied in Sydney and worked as a barrister before becoming an academic. She has always been an environmentalist and is fortunate to combine her passion for environmental protection with legal research and teaching. She has held several positions at UWA including Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), Director of the UWA Oceans Institute, and Dean of the Faculty of Law (2013–2016).
Professor Techera’s research has focused on marine wildlife conservation and fisheries regulation in the Pacific, and more recently in the Indian Ocean since moving to Perth. She is continuing research on laws for the conservation and management of sharks, and small-scale fisheries regulation, as well as the use of space-based technologies to address illegal fishing. She is currently working on collaborative research through The Indian Ocean Rim Association Academic Group (IORAG) exploring laws to prevent marine plastic pollution from ships.
Professor Techera is regularly involved with research centres and groups at UWA including the Centre for Mining, Energy and Natural Resources Law, and the UWA Public Policy Institute, as well as the UWA Oceans Institute and Perth US Asia Centre.
Qualifications:
- LLB (Hons), University of Technology Sydney
- Grad Dip Legal Practice, University of Technology Sydney
- Master of Environmental Law, Macquarie University
- LLM, Macquarie University
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, Macquarie University
- PhD, Macquarie University
External positions:
- National Focal Point, Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG)
- Board Member, WA Heritage Council
- Member, WA Maritime Museum Advisory Committee
- Elected Director and Fellow, Australian Academy of Law
- Commissioner, WA Speedway Commission
- Co-lead, Matariki Network of Universities, Research Theme on 'Oceans and the Blue Economy'
- Host of the 2020 Frontiers in Environmental Law Colloquium, an annual event that brings together leading environmental lawyers across Australia
Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards, ‘Academic of the Year’, 2016
Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Law, 2016
ARC Discovery Grant on ‘Improving the Global Governance of Sharks’, 2013–2016
So you want to be a space lawyer?
Professor Erika Techera shares the history of space law and the rise of the space lawyer
Read moreIllegal Fishing and Australian Security
Illegal fishing is increasingly recognised as an ecological catastrophe. However, framing it as a resource-based issue ignores the full range of security challenges that illegal fishing poses for Australia.
Read moreRigs to reefs
Is it better to leave disused oil platforms where they stand? The global offshore oil and gas industry has installed a wide variety of infrastructure throughout our oceans, including tens of thousands of wells, thousands of platforms and many thousands of kilometres of seabed pipelines.
Read moreFunding
2019
Research Development Fund Grant
- Legal Cultures and New Regional Policies towards Forced Migrants
Techera, E.
2018
UWA Research Income Growth Grant
- Leveraging the Australia–Indonesia Joint Declaration on Maritime Cooperation
Techera, E.
2017
UQ–UWA Collaboration Award
- Enhancing maritime security: Unconventional responses to evolving maritime crimes
Techera, E., Lindley, J.
Supervisor opportunities
Professor Techera has been a supervisor of PhD students for 10 years, covering topics such as:
- Climate justice in small island states
- World heritage protection in the Solomon Islands
- Hot pursuit under the Law of the Sea
- Space law and policy
- Heritage governance in Saudi Arabia
Teaching
I particularly enjoy teaching students from different disciplinary and national backgrounds. They bring their own perspectives and experiences to the classroom, enriching the learning environment. Professor Erika Techera
