Law & Governance for the Sustainable Development Goals
Global Research Centre Dedicated to Law & Governance on Sustainable Development
The CISDL supports understanding, development and implementation of law for sustainable development; leading international research through legal scholarship and knowledge-building, and education through legal dialogue and capacity-strengthening.
Remembering Prof Brigit Toebes
It is almost impossible to talk about global health law and the human right to health without a mention of Prof Brigit Toebes’ name and work. For three decades, Prof Brigit Toebes was one of the most respected voices in health and human rights. In 2022, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) recognised her significant contributions to the field of health, human rights and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly, Goal 3 on universal health coverage with a CISDL Annual International Legal Specialist Award.
Her 1999 thesis, The Right to Health as a Human Right in International Law, remains one of the most important contributions to the development of the international right to health within United Nations legal practice. Through her pioneering research and multidisciplinary approach, she made lasting contributions to health law. Her most recent book, Dat Maak Ik Zelf Wel Uit (“I’ll Decide That For Myself”) explored reflections on health, freedom, and law, cementing her status as a defining voice on the human right to health.
As the founder of the Groningen Centre for Health Law, Brigit nourished the next generation of health law experts through her books, teaching, and advocacy. She constantly pushed us to think harder about access to medicine, public health accountability, health in a global context and human dignity. Her ideas shaped a whole generation of scholars, policymakers, and students across the world; in fact, most people working in health law today have been influenced by her work in one way or another.
At CISDL, we remember and honour her important work on the right to health and sustainable development. Her legacy lives on in the students she mentored, the people she inspired, and in her lifelong commitment to making healthcare and society more just, humane, and equitable.
Our Global Network
Our Programmes
Democratising Legal Education
Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice shares new law and policy knowledge, skills, and networks to empower learners making a difference worldwide. This programme, co-hosted by Lucy Cavendish College and Hughes Hall at the University of Cambridge, in partnership with leading Cambridge and international expert institutions like CISDL, engages current and future law and policy leaders especially from highly climate vulnerable countries, in implementing sustainable development commitments.
Featured Research & Dialogue
Biennial Global Online Symposium: Human Rights, Sustainable Development & the Law | 10 July 2026
Toward Net Zero in 2040: Providing Legal Options for ECF’s “Future of Trade in a Net Zero World” Report
Featured Publications
Courage, Contributions and Compliance: The Routledge Handbook of Climate Law and Governance, edited by Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Prof Christina Voigt with assistant editor Adv Zunaida Moosa-Wadiwala and published by Routledge.
Research Handbook on Investment Law and Sustainable Development, edited by Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Prof Ted Gleason, Associate Professor, and Adv Sean Stephenson and published by Edward Elgar.
Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practices, and Prospects, authored by Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Prof Damilola Olawuyi with assistant editor Adv Tejas Rao and published by Oxford University Press.
Indigenous Peoples Inspiring Sustainable Development, authored by Prof Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Garnons-Williams W and published by Cambridge University Press
UN Human Rights Institutions and the Environment: Synergies, Challenges, Trajectories, authored by Prof Sumudu Atapattu and published by Routledge.