Science, Technology, Policy and International Law

Justo Corti Varela is an Associate Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at National University of Distance Education (Spain). Deputy Dean of the School of Law and responsible of the Quality and Innovation Policy of the Faculty. Qualified in Spanish and in Argentina Law, he is member of the Bar in both countries. Previously, he has been Senior Fellow and EU Project Manager at the Royal Institute for European Studies (Madrid), Visiting professor of Université de Nanterre (Paris 10), Post-doctoral researcher at CNRS (Paris), visiting scholar at University College London and at Scoula Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa) and member of the Judicial Office in several jurisdictions. He obtained a PhD in law summa cum lauda under the supervision of Prof. Gil Carlos Rodriguez Iglesias, former President of the European Court of Justice (between 1994-2003). He also holds a LLM in EU Law by Complutense University (Spain), and a LLB in law by the National University of Littoral (Argentina). He holds a Jean Monnet Module on European Climate Law and leads as main researcher a National Project on Climate Migrations, awarded by the Spanish Research Agency, coordinating a multidisciplinary research team including biologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and lawyers. As project manager of the Royal Institute for European Studies he coordinated eight European projects involving universities and research teams from United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Brazil, and Argentina, organizing events, coordinating publications, and managing multilingual and multicultural research staff. His areas of expertise research are Global Governance, European and International Economic and Environmental Law and the New Technologies International Regulation. Being a leading expert in biotechnological regulation since his PhD, much more recently he has been involved in the regulation of the climate transition, studying the interactions of rules and proceedings at national, European and International levels, and how they impact on most vulnerable people. Energy security, climate migrations, climate justice (and injustices) and the new perspectives of role of law for managing the Anthropocene era are part of his recent interests, pushing his research to a much more holistic vision of societal problems linked to climate change. He has produced two monographs, seven books and more than 50 chapters, articles and working papers written in English, French and Spanish and published with international publishers. He is member of the board of the Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo (Ministry of Presidency, Spain) and chair of the interest group on Bio-Law at the European Society of International Law. He teaches at the Diplomatic School of Spain (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and gives advice, regularly, to national and international institutions on his areas of expertise.

This book presents innovative insights into the intersections between science, technology and society, and particularly their regulation by the law. Departing from the idea that law and science have similar methods and objectives, the book deals with problems, and solutions, that source from these interactions.

Science, Technology, Society and Law; 2. Facts Are the Moveable Furniture of the Legal Mind, Not Stones of Science; 3. The Interlinkages Science-Technology-Law: Information and Communication Society, Knowledge-Based Economy and the Rule of Law; 4. Using Flexibility Mechanisms for Addressing Technological and Scientific Developments: Examples from Selected Global Regulatory Frameworks; 5. The Precautionary Principle Under EU Law: A "Post-Modern" Principle in a "Post-Truth" Era; 6. The Precautionary Principle and the Burden of Proof in International Risk Regulation Trials; 7. Conscientious Objection: Rule of Law, Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and 8. Assessing the Soundness of Science to Determine Reactive and Proactive Regulatory Change. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Mitochondrial Donation, Treatment Add-ons and Future Challenges for Regulation; 9. Use of Smartphone Applications in the Democratic Decision-Making Process; 10. Procedural versus Substantive Approaches to Scientific Evidence in the Opinions of Advocates-General; 11. Climate Justice in the Anthropocene and its Relationship with Science and Technology: The Importance of an Ethics of Responsibility; 12. The Science-Based Decision-Making Process as Established in the Paris Agreement (2015); 13. The Intersections Among Science, Technology, Policy and Law: in Between Truth and Justice