Dr Takele Bulto - 2011 Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize Winner

 

The Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize is awarded annually to the Melbourne Law School graduate research student judged to have presented the best thesis in the previous year, provided that the nominee meets an overall level of excellence required for the award. It is named for Emeritus Professor Harold Luntz, a world expert on torts law and a former dean and professor at the Melbourne Law School.

2011 Winner

Dr Takele Bulto

Rights, Wrongs and the River Between: Extraterritorial Application of the Human Right to Water in Africa

Dr Bulto was supervised by Professor Carolyn Evans and Associate Professor Jacqueline Peel.

Dr Bulto's PhD thesis brings together international environmental law and human rights law to examine the legal obligations States owe to other States with which they share water (particularly rivers). It is an excellent thesis that has made a real contribution to thinking about the difficult problem of water-sharing and access to water between States. His research has made, and continues to make, an impact in an area of growing international importance.

The Selection Committee for the Prize said that 'Both examiners' reports are particularly and consistently strong, emphasizing the quality and important contribution of the thesis. The principal supervisor's recommendation was also particularly strong, commending Dr Bulto on an excellent and important piece of scholarship that will make a very significant contribution the progressive development of international human rights law. Both examiners passed Dr Bulto without requiring any changes and the first examiner recommended Dr Bulto for the Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis ranking the thesis as
'near or at the very top of this scholarship'.