Fulbright Senior Fellowship to US
UniSA
scholar brings the Law on Water to the US
UniSA’s water law specialist and Professor of Business Law, Prof Jennifer McKay has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Senior Scholarship at the 2008 Fulbright presentations in Western Australia and will be heading to the US in August to make sense of US water policy law.
Prof McKay will take up the scholarship at the Boalt School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where she will complete three-month study into changing current water allocation and use laws in the United States and Australia to incorporate sustainability goals and considerations.
As Director of UniSA’s Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, Prof McKay has already been instrumental in developing a comparative framework for analysing legal institutional aspects of natural resources management in Australia and India. She is also a leading researcher at the Cooperative Research Centres for Water Quality and Treatment and Irrigation Futures and holds a ministerial appointment on the Natural Resources Management Council. “The need for a sustainable development law for water is becoming increasingly urgent for both Australia and the US as we grapple with the triple bottom line of economically balancing sustainable water use with environmental protection,” Prof McKay says.
“I will be reviewing state water laws in the West and East of the US and comparing them with the sustainable development laws for water use in Australia. I want to get a broader understanding of the evolving concept of sustainable development law and how that is being defined within the judiciary – so I will be looking at different cases and noting the judges’ views, making comparisons, and I also hope to interview activist judges about their decisions,” she says. Prof McKay says there is enormous value in comparing water laws, their interpretation and administration in two countries which operate as federations and have similarly mature water economies.
“The water supply issue will provoke controversy for farmers here and in the US when water is removed from the pool of water currently allocated to farmers for consumption, and as urban residents are required to change water use habits. Judges are going to bear the brunt of this anger as they strive to reach sensible and sustainable decisions that promote community acceptance,” Prof McKay said. Prof McKay hopes her Fulbright Scholar research will have relevance to other federations such as Canada, as well as less mature economies.
UniSA Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Høj says he is delighted to see significant research into sustainability being supported internationally. “Professor McKay is undertaking important and somewhat pioneering research into the pressing legal issues that surround our resources and how we manage them into the future,” Prof Høj. “We are very proud that the calibre and international significance of her research has been acknowledged through the Fulbright Scholarship.”
Prof McKay plans to share her research outcomes with senior water public policy makers and lawyers in Australia and the US through a calendar of professional appointments and presentations; senior membership of international water, law and resources organisations; and her through roles on the editorial boards of international water policy and environmental management journals. She is also considering cases in the European Union on the water framework directive. The largest educational scholarship of its kind, the prestigious Fulbright program was created by US Senator J William Fulbright and the US Government in 1946 to promote mutual understanding through educational exchange. The program operates between the US and 150 countries.
Prof McKay is one of 24 Australians to be awarded a Fulbright Scholarship this year. The scholarships are funded by the Australian and US Governments and corporate partners, and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra.
“As mature water economies, Australia and the United States grapple the with triple bottom line and balancing use with environmental protection.”
Dr Jennifer McKay, Professor of Business Law at the University of South Australia, is the recipient of a 2008 Fulbright Senior Scholarship. Jennifer will travel to the Boalt School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, to research water allocation and sustainable development law for water use. A graduate of the University of Melbourne with a PhD in geography and Bachelor of Arts, Jennifer also holds of LLB from the University of Adelaide and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the University of South Australia.
Jennifer’s
research, From water allocation and use laws to sustainable development laws
for water use - toward a jurisprudence called sustainable development law in
the US and Australia, will commence in August 2008 for three months.
“In my research state water laws will be reviewed in West and Eastern U.S. and the ambit of the sustainable development laws for water use compared to Australia. In some jurisdictions judge’s cases will be compared and activist judges will be interviewed. This will define the evolving concept of sustainable development law,” explains Jennifer. Jennifer wants to compare laws, interpretation and administration of them in U.S. and Australia, both mature water economies in Federations.
"The issue will provoke controversy when water is removed from consumption pool for farmers and as urban dwellers need to change water use habits. Judges will be at the forefront of this angst, in reaching sensible decisions that promote community acceptance. This study will have relevance to other federations such as Canada, as well as to less mature water economies.”
Upon returning to Australia, Jennifer plans to disseminate and share her research outputs with senior water public policy makers and lawyers in Australia and the U.S. through professional appointments, presentations, and through senior membership of international organizations such as the International Water Association and International Water Law association, International Water Resources Association and her roles on editorial boards of journals Water Policy, Water International, and Australian Journal of Environmental Management.
Over the last 20 years Jennifer has edited three books for Oxford University Press, the Melbourne University Press and National Groundwater Association (USA), published over 60 refereed journal articles, been an invited guest at Rosenberg International Water policy forums on four continents, been an editor for the Resources for the Future series on International Water policy and received the key to the City of Austin for lectures on groundwater management.
The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and the U.S. Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the U.S. and 150 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and U.S. Governments and corporate partners and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra. Jennifer is one of 24 talented Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2008. Applications for Fulbright Scholarships in 2009 open on 1 June, visit www.fulbright.com.au