Michael Hennessy Picard

Dr. Michael Hennessy Picard is a Lecturer in International Environmental Law at the University of Edinburgh School of Law. His research focuses on transnational waste regulation, planetary boundary governance, and space sustainability law. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Quebec in Montreal and an LLB from the University of Strasbourg.

• Quebec Society of Law Professors Best Thesis Prize
• Quebec Society of International Law Best Thesis Prize

His work examines legal frameworks for:

• Global waste flows (plastic, space debris, shipwrecks)
• Circular economy transitions
• Postcolonial environmental justice
• Constitutional failures in occupied territories
• Historical connections between piracy and colonial sovereignty

Notable collaborative outputs include Wastiary: A Bestiary of Waste (UCL Press, 2023) and research on space debris governance with Edinburgh colleagues. Current projects explore EU circular economy compatibility with vehicle electrification and space sustainability standards.

• 2025: Resource nationalism history in Quebec
• 2024: Scotland’s space sustainability leadership
• 2023: Co-edited waste ontology compendium
• 2022: Gulf region postcolonial contamination
• 2021: Planetary boundaries legal frameworks
• 2020: Metal lifecycle waste regimes

He supervises postgraduate research in transnational waste law and earth-space sustainability regulation.