Ph.D., European University Institute, Florence
LL.M. (Comparative, European and International Laws), European University Institute
LL.M. (Public International Law, with Distinction), London School of Economics and Political Science
LL.B. (Law and Political Science),Trinity College Dublin
Dr. Ríán Derrig is an Associate Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute of the World Maritime University. His research focuses on redistribution through international law, and in particular the law of the sea. He is co-principal investigator of two large, multi-year research and capacity-sharing programmes hosted at WMU-GOI, the Ireland & WMU-GOI BBNJ Clinic, and the Future Ocean Programme.
Ríán’s book, ‘The New Haven School: American International Law’, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2025. His research has been published by the European Journal of International Law, the Journal of the History of International Law, the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, the Irish Yearbook of International Law, and elsewhere. He regularly publishes on widely read legal blogs such as Opinio Juris, associated with the International Commission of Jurists; EJIL:Talk!, the blog of the European Journal of International Law; and Verfassungsblog, a prominent forum for debate on German and European constitutional law and politics.
Ríán has provided expert legal advice on law of the sea related topics to state delegations participating in international treaty making processes. He has advised national parliamentarians addressing law of the sea and ocean governance issues and has drafted legislation on these topics. Ríán is an elected officer of the committee of the International Law Association Irish Branch, and writes annually for the Irish Yearbook of International Law as the reporting correspondent on Irish state practice on the law of the sea.
Before joining the WMU, Ríán was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Global Constitutionalism of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. His research at the WZB focused on the influence of changing paradigms of psychological theory on twentieth century international law. Ríán defended his doctoral thesis, ‘Educating American Modernists: The Origins of the New Haven School’, at the European University Institute in September 2019. He was awarded the 2018 Young Scholar Prize of the European Society of International Law and the 2020 Antonio Cassese Prize for his work on the New Haven School. In 2016, Ríán was a Visiting Researcher at Yale Law School. Prior to his doctoral work, he received an LL.M. with distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specialising in public international law, and an LL.B. in law and political science from Trinity College Dublin.
Ríán has taught and lectured on a wide range of international law topics, including on a variety of specialised topics concerning the law of the sea, different methodological approaches to legal and interdisciplinary research, international human rights law, feminist legal methods, and jurisprudence and legal philosophy.
Dr. Ríán Derrig is an Associate Research Officer at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute of the World Maritime University. His research focuses on redistribution through international law, and in particular the law of the sea. He is co-principal investigator of two large, multi-year research and capacity-sharing programmes hosted at WMU-GOI, the Ireland & WMU-GOI BBNJ Clinic, and the Future Ocean Programme.
Ríán’s book, ‘The New Haven School: American International Law’, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2025. His research has been published by the European Journal of International Law, the Journal of the History of International Law, the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, the Irish Yearbook of International Law, and elsewhere. He regularly publishes on widely read legal blogs such as Opinio Juris, associated with the International Commission of Jurists; EJIL:Talk!, the blog of the European Journal of International Law; and Verfassungsblog, a prominent forum for debate on German and European constitutional law and politics.
Ríán has provided expert legal advice on law of the sea related topics to state delegations participating in international treaty making processes. He has advised national parliamentarians addressing law of the sea and ocean governance issues and has drafted legislation on these topics. Ríán is an elected officer of the committee of the International Law Association Irish Branch, and writes annually for the Irish Yearbook of International Law as the reporting correspondent on Irish state practice on the law of the sea.
Before joining the WMU, Ríán was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Global Constitutionalism of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. His research at the WZB focused on the influence of changing paradigms of psychological theory on twentieth century international law. Ríán defended his doctoral thesis, ‘Educating American Modernists: The Origins of the New Haven School’, at the European University Institute in September 2019. He was awarded the 2018 Young Scholar Prize of the European Society of International Law and the 2020 Antonio Cassese Prize for his work on the New Haven School. In 2016, Ríán was a Visiting Researcher at Yale Law School. Prior to his doctoral work, he received an LL.M. with distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specialising in public international law, and an LL.B. in law and political science from Trinity College Dublin.
Ríán has taught and lectured on a wide range of international law topics, including on a variety of specialised topics concerning the law of the sea, different methodological approaches to legal and interdisciplinary research, international human rights law, feminist legal methods, and jurisprudence and legal philosophy.
