Queen Mary-UNIDROIT Institute for Transnational Commercial Law announces its 2025-26 Guest Lecture Series
The QM-UNIDROIT Institute for Transnational Commercial Law, co-directed by Professor Anna Veneziano and Professor Rosa Lastra, is launching the QM-UNIDROIT Lecture Series coordinated by Dr Kamala Dawar. It will begin mid-October 2025 and run for the whole of 2026.
The speakers will be members of the Institute’s Advisory Board and UNIDROIT. The aim of the lecture series is to share the wide expertise of the Advisory Board along with the indispensable role of UNIDROIT in the harmonisation of transnational commercial law.
The lecture series will be a monthly event during academic semesters to ensure wide participation by academics and students, alongside practitioners, officials, and industry.
The Lectures Series will run on Wednesdays from 12.00 – 13.30 UK time. The lectures will be held in-person or virtually. The in-person lectures will be followed by a networking opportunity at CCLS to allow for further discussions and interactions.
Lecture schedule 2025
Wednesday, 15 October: Inaugural Lecture
- Speaker: Professor Maria Chiara Malaguti, UNIDROIT President
- Topic: “The role of UNIDROIT in the harmonisation of law.”
- Format: online
Wednesday, 19 November
- Speaker: Professor Ignacio Tirado, UNIDROIT Secretary General
- Topic: “Bank Insolvency and the work of UNIDROIT.”
- Format: online
Wednesday, 10 December
- Speaker: Professor Sir Roy Goode, Founder QM-UNIDROIT Institute
- Topic: “Transnational Commercial Law: Developments and Challenges.”
- Format: in-person
Lecture schedule 2026
Wednesday, 11 February
- Speaker: Professor Dominic Spenser Underhill
- Topic: “Ethics and International Arbitration.”
- Format: in-person
Wednesday, 11 March
- Speaker: Professor Thomas Keijser
- Topic: “Intermediated and digital securities: legal framework convergence.”
- Format: online
Wednesday 8 April
- Speaker: Professor John Taylor
- Topic: “Digitalisation of trade and trade finance.”
- Format: in-person
Wednesday 13 May
- Speaker: Mr Georges Affaki
- Topic: “The Codification of international commercial law: the case of the ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees.”
- Format: online
Wednesday 10 June
- Speaker: Professor Paul Ng
- Topic: “The Cape Town Convention: Genesis and Current Challenges in Asia.”
- Format: In-person
Wednesday 14 October
- Speaker: Professor Isabel Margarita Zuloaga Rios
- Topic: TBC
- Format: online
Wednesday 11 November
- Speaker: Professor James Dallas
- Topic: TBC
- Format: in-person
Wednesday 9 December
- Speaker: Professor Djakhongir Saidov
- Topic: “Long-Term Contracts and the UNIDROIT Principles.”
- Format: in-person