Dr Erin Pobjie

Biography

Dr Erin Pobjie is Assistant Professor of International Law at Essex Law School, where she is Deputy Director of the Human Rights Centre Clinic and co-leads the Essex Digital Verification Unit. She is a Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and a Non-Resident Fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. She is a 2024-25 British Academy Global Innovation Fellow (Technology and International Affairs) at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. Dr Pobjie researches in the field of public international law, with a focus on the illegal use of force by States and new and emerging threats to international peace and security. Her recent monograph is Prohibited Force: The Meaning of 'Use of Force' in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She is co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force: Military Assistance on Request, a Convener of the European Society of International Law's Interest Group on Peace and Security and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law. Prior to joining the University of Essex in 2021, Dr Pobjie was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and a Research Fellow at the Institute for International Peace and Security Law of the University of Cologne, where she completed her PhD summa cum laude under the supervision of Professor Claus Kreß. She has been a visiting scholar at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, and was appointed as a visiting professional at the International Criminal Court’s Victims Participation and Reparations Section. Dr Pobjie is admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. She speaks English, German and Spanish.

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

• 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)