Joshua Curtis

Dr Joshua Curtis

Lecturer

Adelaide Law School

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Joshua joined Adelaide Law School as a Lecturer in 2021. He previously held positions as Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Liverpool, Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, Postdoctoral Fellow at Freie Universitaet Berlin, and Doctoral Fellow at the National University of Ireland Galway. He is an alumni of the University of Adelaide (1992-1997) and obtained his PhD from the National University of Ireland Galway (2014). In 2020 he gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Practice (Teaching in Higher Education) and became a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. External to academia, Joshua has engaged in a range of policy work and knowledge exchange, including human rights fieldwork in Nepal and consultancies to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the legal and public health departments of the Government of Oman, the International Federation for Human Rights, the South Centre, the Irish Cancer Society, and the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission. He is an academic member of the Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations (ETO) Consortium.

Joshua's research has a predominantly international focus, linking the fields of international economic and human rights law, business and human rights, development economics, and global governance. It takes an approach that is critical, socio-legal and inherently interdisciplinary, primarily built on a combination of law, heterodox economics and political economy aimed at constructing alternative models of economic governance, particularly in relation to foreign investment, financing for development and public health.

Human rights, foreign investment and financing for development

The core of my research to date has taken a critical approach to the interplay between human rights law, international investment law and its broader soft law context of financing for development. I incorporate heterodox economic theory, extraterritorial human rights obligations and aspects of international relations in a search for alternatives to mainstream economic ideology and the legal and governance structures largely determined by it. My PhD provided a macro human rights critique of the current global approach to foreign investment in law and economic policy, based on this interdisciplinary perspective. A forthcoming monograph refines the PhD and begins to situate a growing recognition of States' extraterritorial human rights obligations within current theories of global law. An offshoot of this theme is an article currently under review, which interweaves a dual critique of current (neo-liberal) competition law in the US and the EU, on one hand, and the supposed doctrinal neutrality of human rights with respect to national and international economic orders, on the other. Leading on from this line of research, my next long-term research project is on ‘The EU, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations and International Economic Governance'. This project will extend the analysis in my monograph to a broader set of economic processes and actors specific to the wider field of financing for development.

Public health and economic governance

In 2015 my research agenda also branched into public health when I authored a report addressing the impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on public health in Ireland. This led to the publication of a co-edited collection on global health and economic governance relating specifically to obesity, offering a conceptual map toward alternative models of governance in the field and offering methods for deepening linkages between the public health and legal communities.

An underpinning methodology merging socio-economic rights and heterodox economics

Going deeper into theory, I am working on developing the rigor of my underlying interdisciplinary approach or methodology, conducting an online series of interviews with economists and economic sociologists looking at the interplay between economics and the law. I am presently working this material into an article that expands on modalities by which to merge socio-economic rights and heterodox economics into a theory that offers practical means for realising their emancipatory and transformative potentials.

  • Journals

    Year Citation
    2023 Curtis, J. (2023). Socio-Economic Rights, Competition and Systemic Neutrality. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies.
    2017 Curtis, J. (2017). The U.S. Economic Polity, Social Identity, and International Human Rights. Sociological Forum, 32(1), 207-212.
    DOI
    2012 Curtis, J. (2012). The Economics of Necessity: Human Rights and Ireland's Natural Resources. Irish Yearbook of International Law, 7.
  • Books

    Year Citation
    2023 Curtis, J. (2023). Human Rights and Foreign Investment: Visions of Cooperation and Coherence in Global Law-Making. Cambridge University Press.
    2020 Garde, A., Curtis, J., & Schutter, O. D. (2020). Ending Childhood Obesity A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Book Chapters

    Year Citation
    2022 Curtis, J., de Moerloose, S., & Erdem Türkelli, G. (2022). Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations and International Financial Institutions. In M. Gibney, G. Erdem Türkelli, M. Krajewski, & W. Vandenhole (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations. Routledge.
    2020 Curtis, J. (2020). Bridging governance gaps with extraterritorial human rights obligations: Accessing home State courts to end childhood obesity. In A. Garde, J. Curtis, & O. De Schutter (Eds.), Ending Childhood Obesity: A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law (pp. 309-338). Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
    DOI
    2020 Garde, A., Curtis, J., & De Schutter, O. (2020). Ending childhood obesity: Introducing the issues and the legal challenge. In A. Garde, J. Curtis, & O. De Schutter (Eds.), Ending Childhood Obesity: A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law (pp. 1-28). Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
    DOI
    2020 Curtis, J., & Garde, A. (2020). Overcoming the legal challenge to end childhood obesity: Pathways towards positive harmonization in law and governance. In A. Garde, J. Curtis, & O. De Schutter (Eds.), Ending Childhood Obesity A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law (pp. 339-369). Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
    DOI
    2012 Curtis, J., & Darcy, S. (2012). The Right to a Social and International Order for the Realisation of Human Rights: Article 28 of the Universal Declaration and International Cooperation. In D. Keane, & Y. McDermott (Eds.), The Challenge of Human Rights Past, Present and Future. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Report for External Bodies

    Year Citation
    2018 Curtis, J., Daly, A., & McDermott, Y. (2018). Enhancing the Status of UN Treaty Rights in Domestic Settings.
    2015 Curtis, J., & Reynolds, J. (2015). TTIP, ISDS and the Implications for Public Health in Ireland.
  • Internet Publications

    Year Citation
    2016 Curtis, J. (2016). Merging Socio-Economic Rights and Heterodox Economics: Emancipatory and Transformative Potentials. Series on Economics and Law in Conversation, Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE.
    2016 Curtis, J., & Chang, H. -J. (2016). History, Law and the Myth of Economic Neutrality. Series on Economics and Law in Conversation, Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE.
    2016 Curtis, J., & Somers, M. (2016). Socially Embedding the Market and the Role of Law. Series on Economics and Law in Conversation, Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE.
    2016 Curtis, J., & Balakrishnan, R. (2016). Advancing Human Rights Through Economics. Series on Economics and Law in Conversation, Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE.

2018 - Consultancy, UK Equality and Human Rights Commission - Report: "Enhancing the Status of UN Treaty Rights in Domestic Setting" - with Dr Aoife Daly and Prof Yvonne McDermott - £18,000

2017 - Building Legal Capacity in the Caribbean - University of Liverpool International Netwrok Fund - with Prof Amandine Garde - £3,000

2015 - Consultancy, Irish Cancer Society - Report: "TTIP, ISDS and the Implications for Irish Public Health Policy" - with Dr John Reynolds - €5,000

2012 - Doctoral Fellowship, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway - €30,000

Currently at the Adelaide Law School I am teaching Administrative Law (LAW 2504), Intellectual Property (LAW 2514) and Foundations of Law (LAW 1501) at the undergraduate level, and Public International Law (LAW 7170) at the postgraduate level.

My teaching interests extend more broadly, however, as indicated by the following experience over the last decade.

Undergraduate:

Law of Tort - 2nd Year LLB, University of Liverpool

Contemporary Issues in the Law of Business Enterprise - 3rd Year LLB, University of Liverpool (Coordinator)

Law and Social Justice: Human Rights and Economic Policy - 2nd Year LLB, University of Liverpool

Development and Human Rights - 3rd Year BA, National University of Ireland Galway (Coordinator)

Postgraduate:

Interdisciplinary and Mixed Doctoral Research Methodologies - PhD, Freie Universitaet Berlin (Coordinator)

International Peace and Security - LLM, University of Liverpool (Coordinator)

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - LLM, National University of Ireland Galway

Governance and Human Rights Challenges in Trade, Investment and Development - MSc (Public Policy), Universitaet Erfurt (Coordinator)

I have also co-supervised two PhD candidates to completion:

Dr Ioannis Kampourakis, Freie Universitaet Berlin - Topic: Dialectics of Transparency in the Information Age: Whistleblowing and the Right to Know (Co-Supervisor with Professor Klaus Hoffmann Holland)

Dr Frederik Schmiddinger, Freie Universitaet Berlin - Topic: Impact of Human Rights Discourses on Rule-Making and Rule-Finding at the International Level: A Discourse Analysis of the International Law Commission's Work on State Official Immunities from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction (Co-Supervisor with Professor Heike Kreiger)

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Non-conventional threats in the Domain of Space: Contemporary Cases and Future Threats Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Adam Sell
    2023 Co-Supervisor Unfulfillable Promises: On the Limits of International Humanitarian Law Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Emma Louise Lush
    2023 Principal Supervisor What are the Causes Precluding India’s Compliance with the Due Diligence Obligation to the Women’s Convention? Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Shritha Kapisthalam Vasudevan
    2023 Principal Supervisor Reforming Section 270 of the Local Government Act 1999 (SA): An analysis of local council internal reviews from an administrative law perspective Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Ms Deborah Monique Horton
    2022 Principal Supervisor Investment Protection and Dispute Settlement Reforms in the Solomon Islands: Navigating the turbulent waters of reform from a critical law and political economy perspective. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Freddie James Namo
    2021 Principal Supervisor Intellectual Property in the 21st Century’s Space Race Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Art Cotterell
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2015 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Impact of Human Rights Discourses on Rule-Making and Rule-Finding at the International Level: A Discourse Analysis of the International Law Commission's Work on State Official Immunities from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction Freie Universitaet Berlin Joint Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program "Human Rights under Pressure - Ethics, Law, and Politics" Doctorate Part Time Frederik Schmiddinger
    2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Dialectics of Transparency in the Information Age: Whistleblowing and the Right to Know Freie Universitaet Berlin Joint Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program "Human Rights under Pressure - Ethics, Law, and Politics" Doctorate Full Time Ioannis Kampourakis
  • Position: Lecturer
  • Phone: 83136302
  • Email: joshua.curtis@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ligertwood, floor 3
  • Org Unit: Adelaide Law School

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