Position, academic & professional qualifications
Leon Gerber is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Law, and the Director of the Extractive Industry Law in Africa Unit (EILA) in the Faculty of Law. He holds the degrees LLB, and LLM in Constitutional and Administrative Law with specialisation in Environmental Law (Pret), as well an LLM in Mineral Law and Policy (Dund, UK). He is currently reading towards an LLD on the topic of the International Seabed Authority's contribution towards the development and regulation of deep seabed mining, particularly with regards to the operationalisation of the principle of common heritage of mankind. He was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 2009.
Academic & professional experience
Leon joined the Department of Public Law in 2015 to head the development of the Extractive Industries Law in Africa Programme. He also represents the Faculty of Law on the Management Committee of the Mining Resilience Research Centre, an inter-faculty, mining-related research institute.
He previously worked in academia and private practice in the United Kingdom and South Africa, specifically on matters related to the mining sector. He has produced and delivered various corporate and government training seminars across Africa, including for the African Development Bank, African Legal Support Facility, the Ghana Minerals Commission, and the Malawi Ministry of Mines. He has also participated in various funded research projects under the auspices of the UK Department for International Development, the European Union Framework 7 Programme, the Scottish Government-Malawi Development Programme, and the South Africa Department of Environmental Affairs.
Teaching activities
He is the Course Leader for the postgraduate LLM in Extractive Industry Law in Africa (coursework) and MPhil in Extractive Industry Policy, Management and Regulation (coursework) and, in this capacity, oversees and coordinates the modules Rights to and Regulation of Extractive Industries (EIL 801), and Sustainability Aspects of the Extractive Industries (EIL 802). He also oversees the elective distance learning modules EIL 803; EIL 804, and EIL 812, and acts as a supervisor for LLB and LLM dissertations in his fields of interest.
Representative publications
Areas of specialisation
Leon's expertise is in Mineral- and Environmental Law and Policy, with his research and teaching activities relating to the regulation and governance of mining, particularly the developmental, social and environmental aspects of the sector.
His primary research stream is on the incipient field of regulatory frameworks for seabed mining. and the development of blue economies. His secondary research streams include the relationship between mining and development in Africa; emergent mineral value chains; responsible mineral resource governance; the optimisation of mining agreements; security and conflict in the natural resource sectors, and the implications of international environmental law for mining operations.
Academic & professional memberships
Appointments
He formerly held the position of Rio Tinto Research Fellow in the Mining Group of the 'Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy' (CEPMLP) at the University of Dundee (UK) for five years. At present, he is the Director for the Extractive Industry Law in Africa Unit (EILA) under the auspices of the Department of Public Law.
Awards & bursaries
Leon was awarded a Rio Tinto-FCO-Chevening Scholarship (£25,948) for postgraduate studies in Mineral Law and Policy, in 2010, and is a member of the Golden Key International Academic Honours Society, University of Pretoria Chapter.
Representative participation at conferences and seminars
Contact details
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