Get to know our Hubs

Lucy Gavaghan is based in Scotland and studied International Law and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh and Sciences Po Paris. Research interests and focuses include corporate ecocide, campaign messaging and the defense of activists. Following many years of environmental and animal rights activism in her mid-late teens, Lucy became increasingly drawn to ecocentric framings and approaches and in 2021 she became a part of the GARN Academic Hub. Since then, Lucy has been co-producing the GARN podcast, ‘Conversations with Mother Nature’. From January 2024, Lucy has been the communications facilitator for the European Hub and has recently taken up the role of UK representative for the EJM. Lucy is also a member of an emergent UK RoN Network and the initiator of the ‘pollen project’ – a space for people to explore the climate and nature emergencies in imaginative and artistic ways.

Coordinator of GARN’s European Hub and its Francophone network – Léa completed a Master’s degree in transdisciplinary political science entitled “risks, science, health and the environment” at Sciences Po Toulouse, which focused on risk management and adaptation to climate change. She completed a second master’s degrees specializing in environmental law at the Universities of Paris: Panthéon-Sorbonne and Panthéon-Assas. Her research focuses on the links between science and law.

Environmental lawyer, university professor and parliamentary advisor. Climate and Energy Coordinator, Project Manager and Legal Advisor of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, co-founder of the Global Parliamentary Front for the Rights of Nature. Member of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South. Judge of the International Rights of Nature Tribunal.

Graphic designer and web developer (UCSE, Argentina) with more than ten years of experience. Specialized in UX/UI at (UBP, Córdoba). Member of the Argentinian Association of Environmental Lawyers since 2019, member of the Communication Team of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South. Self-taught musician. His interdisciplinary training in communication and design, allows him to understand the developments as pieces in continuous progress and unlimited scope, where the basis is the strategy and vision that underpin each step. Throughout his career he has worked in advertising campaigns and political propaganda in different agencies in Córdoba, Argentina. He is a freelance consultant for social, cultural and political organizations.

With a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences and Genetics from the University of Cape Town and an MSc in Biodiversity, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Health from the University of Edinburgh, Jess is passionate about the interplay between societal well-being and environmental preservation. Her past research involved investigating the illegal trade in African leopards and exploring the impact of perceived land tenure security on sustainable practices among smallholder farmers in Africa. Committed to inclusivity, Jess actively supports community engagement programs, promoting environmental awareness and empowerment within marginalised South African communities. Dedicated to ecological and environmental justice, she is fervent in her advocacy for the rights of Nature. Jess Tyrrell currently serves as the Operations Officer at the Wild Law Institute.

Dr. Somabha Bandopadhay teaches at The West Bengal National University for Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata where she also completed her doctoral work. An awardee of the Indo-Canadian Shastri Mitacs Scholarship she pursued research on victimization of transgender persons at the School of Criminology, University of Montreal, Canada. She pursued BA.LLB (International Law Honors) from School of Law, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar and pursued LLM (Human Rights Law) National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore. She was awarded the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Gold Medal at NLSIU Bangalore and the Chancellor’s Gold Medal and Nanibala Devi Memorial Gold Medal at KIIT University. She has more than fifteen research publications to her credit including a few in Scopus indexed journals and numerous blog and magazine articles. She has presented extensively at international platforms like the European Society of International Law.  Her papers titled “Steering Earth Justice with Principles of Environmental Ethics” and “The Indian Culture of Agricultural Commons” was selected to be presented at 6th International Eco Summit by Elseiver in Gold Coast, Australia in 2021. Her paper “Agricultural Commons: Where Does India Stand?” was selected for presentation at Annual New York State Political Science Conference, Manhattan College, New York in 2020. She regularly undertakes trainings of police officials, judicial officers and advocates in India on transgender sensitization. She has undertaken several research endeavours and has recently concluded a collaborative project with University of Leicester, UK on Ponzi schemes in Bengal. She also volunteers for the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature (GARN) and facilitates the Asia-Pacific Hub and Youth Hub. As the most recent moot court judging experience, Somabha judged the national and international (US and Nepal) rounds of the Phillip C Jessup Moot Court competition. Apart from her law career, she is a classical Manipuri dance artist and has been awarded two Government of India scholarships. She is presently pursuing research on Glyphosate and Rights of Nature in collaboration with Earth Thrive, United Kingdom, and another with WBNUJS, Kolkata on Transgender trauma and stigma. She is the Governance Facilitator of the GARN Youth Hub and a member of World Youths for Climate Justice. She also serves on the advisory boards of various organizations.

A licensed environmental planner, Candy Hidalgo is the Deputy Coordinator of the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), a social development network of more than 230 civil society organizations in the Philippines. At PMPI, she has helped oversee the implementation of diverse projects and activities of PMPI nationwide since 2013, with thematic concerns including climate change adaptation/ mitigation, disaster risk reduction and management, and the Rights of Nature. 

She holds a BS Community Development degree and a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines, as well as a Certificate in Applied Humanitarian Logistics Management. Before joining PMPI, she worked as a project officer at PHILSSA and was a research associate at the Institute of Philippine Culture of Ateneo de Manila University.

Inspired by her work in PMPI, she continues to participate in activities and programs like the Deeptime Network’s Leadership and Personal Empowerment Program, REGEN-Nations program, and Development Entrepreneurship that help her reflect on her role and respond to the challenges of this ever-changing world.

Jina was struck by the idea and philosophy of the Rights of Nature while she was writing her master’s thesis on standing in environmental litigations. After reading the article “Should Trees Have Standing?”, she started to question the present anthropocentric system and became more hopeful of making a paradigm shift on Mother Earth where Nature is appreciated. In 2023, she worked as an intern in GARN to engage in the movement and to deepen her knowledge. 

After she pursued an LLB from the Sookmyung Women’s University in South Korea, she worked as an assistant at the Supporter Service Team at Greenpeace where her interest in the environment and Nature grew more sincerely. She recently graduated with an LLM in Transnational Law at the University of Bremen in Germany. 

Currently, she is interning at UNEP in the legal and policy unit at the Secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions which aim to protect human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and waste. With a passion for raising awareness of the Rights of Nature, she has been working as a Communications facilitator in the Asia-Pacific Hub of GARN.

Caitlyn is from the Kansas City area in the Midwest of the U.S. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University and currently resides in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she is working towards her Ph.D. in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Technological University. Her research looks at the intersection between local adaptation and the principles of Buen Vivir and the Rights of Nature in California, Usulután, El Salvador. She is actively involved in the Protect the Porkies movement and the Great Lakes Bill of Rights coalition. She is also a Dandelion Fellow with the Earth Law Center.

Alessandro is an Associate Professor in the School of Law and Society at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He completed his LLB/LLM at the University of Turin in Italy, specializing in comparative law and legal anthropology with a field research project conducted in the Andes. His doctoral research, conducted at the University of Wollongong, focused on native title and legal pluralism in the Illawarra region. 

Alessandro has been exploring the emerging discourse on Rights of Nature, Wild Law, and Earth Jurisprudence since its inception, with a particular focus on the intersection between this emerging discourse and different legal ontologies. In addition to having published extensively in the area, he has organized numerous events in Australia on Wild Law and Earth Jurisprudence, he is one of GARN’s founding members and of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance, and he has been a moderator at the UN General Assembly Dialogue on the Harmony with Nature. 

Alessandro is currently an Executive Committee Member at GARN and an expert member of the UN Harmony with Nature program. Alessandro’s main areas of research are legal anthropology, legal theory, comparative law, ecological jurisprudence, constitutional law, sovereignty, and Indigenous rights.

Lauren Tarr lives by the shores of Lake Michigan and is a lifelong student of the Great Lakes. She’s an environmental social scientist with a background in teaching and public administration. She helped advise GARN’s Youth Hub from 2020-2023 and is now helping to co-facilitate the Academic Hub. She joins GARN from the United States, where she is an Environmental Policy PhD Candidate at the State University of New York (SUNY ESF). Her research focuses on Rights of Nature, Environmental Justice, and Community-based Conservation, with an overall interest in restoring human-nature relationships.

Caitlyn is from the Kansas City area in the Midwest of the U.S. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University and currently resides in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she is working towards her Ph.D. in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Technological University. Her research looks at the intersection between local adaptation and the principles of Buen Vivir and the Rights of Nature in California, Usulután, El Salvador. She is actively involved in the Protect the Porkies movement and the Great Lakes Bill of Rights coalition. She is also a Dandelion Fellow with the Earth Law Center. 

Margaret serves as the Faculty Advisor at the Center for Earth Jurisprudence. She oversees CEJ’s programs and operations and has created educational forums throughout the United States and abroad. She also serves as the key Advisor to Barry University law students that work with CEJ as Earth Law & Policy Fellows.

She is on the Executive Committee of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), a network of organizations and individuals committed to the universal adoption and implementation of legal systems that recognize, respect and enforce “Rights of Nature” and to make the idea of Rights of Nature an idea whose time has come. She currently facilitates the GARN Legal Hub, a global connection of legal experts in the areas of Earth law and environmental justice.  At Barry University, she serves on the Laudato Si’ Committee, the Adrian Dominican Institute Roundtable (ADIR), and as an Inclusive Teaching and Learning Consultant through the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) office. Margaret formerly served on the Executive Committee and chaired the Legal Committee of the Florida Springs Council.

Margaret is a contributing author to the first ever Earth Law textbook, Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law: A Guide for Practitioners and has written on the intersection of Earth law and environmental justice.

She earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, her Masters in Non-Profit & Human Resources Management from Penn State University, her Juris Doctor from Barry University School of Law, and her LL.M. from Western New England School of Law. While in law school, Margaret earned her Environmental Law Honors Certificate and worked two semesters in the Environmental and Earth Law Clinic. She now lectures on Earth Jurisprudence and Earth Law at Barry and around the world.

She is a member of the Florida Bar.

Legal Hub representative.

Councilwoman and Hereditary Drumkeeper of the Womens’ Scalp Dance Society, of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma. Longtime activist, environmentalist, actress, and published author. First taking up the cause of Native and Human Rights in the early ’70s; it has been in the last 15 years that she began her plea for Environmental Justice for her Ponca people as well as people around the globe. Internationally renowned Environmentalist, speaking on such prestigious stages as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, marching on Washington DC with Moms for Clean Air, supporting the efforts of the Indigenous Environmental Network, and now serving as a Board Member of Movement Rights as well as on the International Advisory Committee of WECAN. Instrumental in the drafting, and adoption of the first-ever International Indigenous Women’s Treaty protecting the Rights of Nature.