Nicola Strain

Nicola Strain is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. Her work focuses on international law, investor-state dispute settlement, and institutional design of international courts.

• Current affiliation: University of Oslo (Department of Public and International Law)
• Completed PhD in 2022 on WTO and investor-state jurisdiction
• Published monograph: "The Adjudicator's Toolkit and the Force of International Law" (Brill)
• Visiting research fellowships: Graduate Institute, Geneva; Columbia University Law School

Education:

• PhD in International Law (University of Oslo, 2022)
• LLM (University of Cambridge, 2017-2018)
• LLB (First Class Honours, University of Western Australia, 2007-2012)
• BA (First Class Honours, University of Western Australia, 2007-2012)

Research Focus: Nicola's research examines the interpretation of international treaties, compliance challenges in investment disputes, and intersections between global health law and trade/investment law. She has contributed empirical studies on methodological consistency in arbitration.

Publications Trends: Recent works emphasize data-driven analysis of compliance politics, methodological rigor in treaty interpretation, and pandemic-related legal challenges at the interface of health law and investment arbitration.

Projects: Key contributor to the Compliance Politics in International Investment Disputes (COPIID) project at PluriCourts. Her research often bridges legal theory with practical institutional design.