Dr Nathanael Tilahun

Biography

Nathanael joined Essex Law School as senior lecturer (associate professor) in international law in April 2023. Prior to that, he has held various academic positions since 2010 at Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands), including most recently assistant professorship at Erasmus and Coventry Universities. He studied law in Rotterdam (PhD and LLM) and Mekelle, Ethiopia (LLB). Nathanael's research interest lies in the areas of international law relating to economic sanctions, peace and security, and financial crime. He has published on the use and limits of sanctions in promoting international law norms, on the EU global human rights sanctions regime, the accountability of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the emergence of dynamic and experimental governance in global security. He has also broader interest in international institutional law, global governance structures, and critical and African approaches to international law. He has undertaken various consultancy works for national governments and international organizations, including the European Union, particularly in the area of sanctions reform. He is currently as Advisory Board member for the Swiss thinktank PoliSync Centre for International Policy Engagement, and Core Expert Group member of an international multi-stakeholder (governmental and non-governmental) sanctions reform project called Advancing Humanitarianism through Sanctions Reform (AHSR - sanctionsreformproject.org) He has held visiting faculty and research fellowship positions at University of California Berkeley, Queen Mary University of London, University of Cambridge, and Hofstra University (New York). He is a frequent speaker at international academic and policy conferences, including as an invited contributor to the annual symposium of Yale Journal of International Law (2023), and has been a guest lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Kiel University (Germany). He has appeared on numerous national and international news media as expert commentator on sanctions and counter-terrorism topics, including an extended documentary (The Cost of Economic War) on BBC Radio 4 with world-leading subject experts.

Qualifications

• PhD in International Law Erasmus University Rotterdam, (2015)

Appointments

University of Essex

• Senior Lecturer in International Law, Essex Law School, University of Essex (3/4/2023 - present)

Other academic

• Assistant Professor of Law, Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity, Coventry University (1/7/2020 - 2/4/2023)

• Assistant Professor of Public International Law, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam (1/11/2017 - 30/6/2020)

• Lecturer in Public International Law, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam (1/12/2014 - 31/10/2017)

• Visiting Scholar, Berkeley Law, Centre for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley (1/2/2017 - 1/2/2018)

• Visiting Scholar, Law School, Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context, Queen Mary University of London (1/9/2016 - 31/12/2016)