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Overview

Professor Michael Bohlander

Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy


Affiliations
Affiliation
Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy in the Durham Law School

Biography

Professor Bohlander has been the International Co-Investigating Judge in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia since 2015. From 2017 until 2022, he was also on the roster of international judges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. He joined Durham University in 2004, having previously been a life-tenured member of the German judiciary since 1991.  

He has published over 20 books, more than 160 chapters and articles, and over 60 book reviews on German law, English and Welsh criminal law, comparative and international criminal law, the judiciary and the legal profession, and Islamic law. His work has been cited over 85 times by and before courts and authorities in several national and international jurisdictions.

Since 2020, his main focus has been on the relationship between the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and human law in the wider sense. There are currently no legally binding regulations regarding the post-detection process or humanity's overall readiness for different forms of contact. 

 

Research interests

  • Legal aspects of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
  • International and comparative criminal law - Theory, practice, political and socio-legal implications

Publications

Authored book

Book review

Chapter in book

Conference Paper

Edited book

Journal Article

Manual

Other (Print)

Scholarly Edition

Supervision students