People

Dr Erin Pobjie

Lecturer
Essex Law School
Dr Erin Pobjie
  • Email

  • Telephone

    +44 (0) 1206 874899

  • Location

    4SB.6.18, Colchester Campus

  • Academic support hours

    Thursdays from 4 - 5pm via Zoom during the Spring Term

Profile

Biography

Dr. Erin Pobjie is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Law at Essex Law School. Her work focuses on how international law interacts with foreign and security policy, addressing issues such as the use of force, space security, climate change, and emerging technologies. She is the author of Prohibited Force: The Meaning of ‘Use of Force’ in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2024) and serves as co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force: Military Assistance on Request and as a Convener of the European Society of International Law’s Interest Group on Peace and Security. She also regularly peer-reviews for leading journals, including the American Journal of International Law (AJIL) and the European Journal of International Law (EJIL). Dr. Pobjie holds the British Academy Global Innovation Fellowship at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, where she works with policymakers on the legal dimensions of foreign and security challenges. She is also affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. Her career spans academia, international organisations, and legal practice, including roles with the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. Dr. Pobjie is admitted to practice as a solicitor in Australia.

Qualifications

  • PhD in International Law (summa cum laude) University of Cologne,

  • LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Distinction) University of Essex,

  • Bachelor of Arts (Development Studies), Bachelor of Laws (Honours) University of Melbourne,

Appointments

University of Essex

  • Lecturer (Assistant Professor), School of Law (1/10/2021 - present)

Other academic

  • British Academy Global Innovation Fellow (Technology & International Affairs), Center for Climate and Foreign Policy, German Council on Foreign Relations (23/9/2024 - present)

  • Fellow, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) (1/1/2024 - present)

  • Senior Research Affiliate, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (1/10/2021 - present)

Research and professional activities

Research interests

the use of force by States (jus ad bellum)

Key words: article 2(4)
Open to supervise

outer space security

Key words: jus ad bellum
Open to supervise

victims of aggression

Key words: crime of aggression
Open to supervise

international human rights law

international peace and security law

Key words: jus ad bellum
Open to supervise

UN collective security

Key words: UN Security Council
Open to supervise

new and emerging technologies and use of force

Open to supervise

Current research

Space Security

The meaning of prohibited force in international law

international peace and security law

military uses of outer space

UN collective security framework

Conferences and presentations

Use of force in outer space

Invited presentation, UN Outer Space Conference 2024, Geneva, Switzerland, 10/9/2024

Prohibited Force: the meaning of 'use of force' in international law

International Law and the Regulation of Resort to Force: Exhaustion, Destruction, Rebirth?, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 14/9/2023

The meaning of prohibited 'use of force' in international law

Cornell Law School Inter-University Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States, 13/4/2023

Covid-19 as a threat to international peace and security: The role of the UN

Invited presentation, Seminar for senior officers on ‘International security: Military policy and decision making processes within NATO, UN and EU’, 25/2/2021

Victims of aggression

Invited presentation, Aggression and its victims: Exploring recent developments in international law’, NUI Galway, 15/2/2021

Climate change and the UN Security Council

Invited presentation, Joint workshop on climate change and international security, MPIL and German Federal Foreign Office, 3/12/2020

Publications

Journal articles (1)

Pobjie, E., (2021). COVID-19 and the Scope of the UN Security Council’s Mandate to Address Non-Traditional Threats to International Peace and Security. Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht / Heidelberg Journal of International Law. 81 (1), 117-146

Books (2)

Pobjie, E., (2024). Prohibited Force The Meaning of 'Use of Force' in International Law. Cambridge University Press. 100902289X. 9781009022897

King, E., Letschert, R., Garkawe, S. and Pobjie, E., (2022). Victim Advocacy before the International Criminal Court. Springer. 3030567311. 9783030567316

Book chapters (5)

Pobjie, E., (2024). Military Uses of Outer Space. In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Editors: Peters, A., . Oxford University Press

Pobjie, E., Declercq, F. and van Steenberghe, R., (2018). The Killing of Khalil al-Wazir by Israeli Commandos in Tunis – 1988. In: The Use of Force in International Law A Case-Based Approach. Oxford University Press. 019878435X. 9780198784357

Pobjie, E., Declercq, F. and Van Steenberghe, R., (2018). The Killing of Khalil al-Wazir by Israeli Commandos in Tunis—1988. In: The Use of Force in International Law. Editors: Ruys, T., Corten, O. and Hofer, A., . Oxford University Press. 403- 407. 019878435X

Pobjie, E., (2018). Moving Images: A Reflection on the Use of Force by UN Peacekeepers in Haiti. In: The Irish Yearbook of International Law. Editors: de Londras, F. and Mullally, S., . Bloomsbury

Pobjie, E., (2017). Victims of the crime of aggression. In: The Crime of Aggression: A Commentary. Editors: Kreß, C. and Barriga, S., . Cambridge University Press. 816- 860. 9781107015265

Reports and Papers (2)

Pobjie, E., (2024). Понятие запрещенного "применения силы" в международном праве

Pobjie, E. and Azcárate Ortega, A., (2024). Outer Space & Use of Force - Space Security Legal Primer 1

Other (3)

Pobjie, E., (2021).Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: Beyond Humanitarian Intervention – Human Rights and Jus Ad Bellum,Opinio Juris

Pobjie, E., (2021).The Threat from Outer Space: Russia Tests Kinetic DA-ASAT Weapon,Just Security

Pobjie, E., (2020).Covid-19 as a threat to international peace and security: The role of the UN Security Council in addressing the pandemic,EJIL: Talk!

Grants and funding

2024

Global Innovation Fellowship (Technology and International Affairs)

British Academy

Use of Force and the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space.

University of Essex (Research England - PSF)

Non-Resident Consultant: Space security, report authorship & workshop organisation

United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

Contact

e.pobjie@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 874899

Location:

4SB.6.18, Colchester Campus

Academic support hours:

Thursdays from 4 - 5pm via Zoom during the Spring Term