Current graduate students

Laurel Besco

Laurel has been a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law since 2010. She also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies and a Master of Arts, both from the University of Waterloo. While working on her Masters' thesis, entitled Climate Policy and International Tourism Arrivals to the Caribbean Region, Laurel was drawn to the legal and policy aspects of her work. These interests ultimately lead her to the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law.

Laurel’s doctoral research draws on different disciplines to explore how the economic measure of productivity can better reflect the (mis)use of natural capital. The results of this work generate a discussion about law and policy that is reliant on conventional economic measures and work towards informing future government priorities. Within this research, Laurel is also looking at the Canadian System of National Accounts and the way this system assists in producing environmentally adjusted economic measures. Laurel’s work is also closely related to principles of sustainability such as intergenerational equity and polluter pays given their close connection with the use of natural capital.

As she nears the end of her PhD, Laurel is looking forward to post-doctoral fellowships and faculty positions in which she can grow her research and pass along her passion for learning to students.

Thomas Burelli

Thomas is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law  since September 2012. He holds an LL.M in Law from the University of Ottawa (2008), an MA in anthropology of law from the University of Paris I (2009) and a Master's of Industrial Property from the University of Paris 8 (2012).

Thomas' doctoral thesis, supervised by Professor Sophie Thériault, covers the movement of traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity in France and Canada.

Thomas has already carried out several natural science research missions with French institutions. He also played an important role in research on access to biodiversity and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples in the French overseas territories. These experiences have led Thomas to make a series of field missions in New Caledonia, French Polynesia and French Guyana.

Under the supervision of Regis Lafargue, judge at the Court of Appeal Noumea, Thomas also assisted with the review and drafting various versions of the draft law of the country on safeguarding intangible heritage of indigenous New Caledonia (a particularly innovative and unique project in France). 

Carla Gomez Wichtendahl

Carla is a Bolivian Energy, and Environmental Lawyer, currently pursuing a Doctorate of Law at the University of Ottawa.  Her current research focuses on the legal implications of creating ecosystem services markets, most precisely, on the feasibility of establishing a regulatory offset system to address the biodiversity loss emerging from oil sands activities on Alberta’s public lands allocated to privates. 

Carla’s main research interests are in Sustainable Development, Energy and Environmental law and policy. Carla also has an LLM in Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Law from the University of Houston Law Center and a Masters in Sustainable Development, Environment and industry from the Universidad Internacional de Andalucia. Her experience comprises of : (1)participating in, and leading, academic research and national and international consulting projects with a focus on the use of economic instruments and other policy options to overcome environmental problems; and (2) writing national and international reports. 

Semie Sama 

Semie Memuna Sama holds a Bachelor of Law from Buea University (Cameroon), a Master of Science from Mid Sweden and Stockholm Universities (Sweden) and a Master of Environmental Law from Ottawa University. She is currently undertaking a Doctorate of Philosophy in Law at Ottawa University, under the supervision of Professor Nathalie Chalifour. Her thesis is titled “Harnessing environmental protection to promote foreign investment.” Her current research is therefore focusing on the relationships between international environmental law, foreign investment, environmental justice, and the Third World. Her overarching objective is to develop a framework for integrating environmental justice in to investment agreements. 

Semie Sama served on the executive councils of the University of Buea Law Society and Faculty of Social and Management Sciences Students Association. Semie also served on the executive council of the Association of Cameroonians in Östersund (Sweden)—2008. Semie has considerable experience as an environmentalist and a legal researcher. She has served as a Research Assistant to Professor Lynda Collins, Professor Sophie Theriault, Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray and Professor Nathalie Chalifour. Semie has gained a number of scholarly awards including the Edmund Weledji Foundation prize and the Faculty of Law Scholarship in Environment and Sustainability. She speaks and writes English, French and Swedish. 

Adebola Ogunba

Adebola Ogunba is concluding her Doctoral Student at Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada. She commenced her Doctoral studies in the Fall of 2010. Her doctoral thesis which focusses on accomplishing a sustainable legal regime for groundwater in Lagos, Nigeria, takes into account the social context of the groundwater problems in deriving legal solutions.

Adebola obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws from the University of Ife, Nigeria, in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. In 2004, she obtained a Master’s Degree in International Laws from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In 2005, she commenced her academic career as Lecturer at Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Adebola held senior managerial positions in the industrial sector both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. These included being Company Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Honeywell Group, and Administrator in the United Kingdom with responsibility for ensuring legal compliance with pre-shipment regulations of both Nigeria and Britain.

Adebola has written and published articles dealing with many aspects of her research in peer-reviewed international journals, and looks forward to contributing solutions to national and international development goals.

Adebola is the recipient of the prestigious Fullbright Fellowship from the United Statesè Government in 2008, as well as a recipient of the Doctoral Research Award of the International Developement Research Centre (IDRC) in 2012. She speaks English fluently and french moderately and she also plays the piano.