International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group on Public Law Responses to Public Health Emergencies  

The International Association of Constitutional Law—in association with Trinity Research in Social Sciences and the Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance—will hold the first webinar of the recently formed Research Group on Public Law Responses to Public Health Emergencies. State responses to COVID-19 engage the full breadth of public law. Comparative constitutional scholarship is critical in enabling countries to learn from the experiences of others as we face a common challenge.  

This webinar will address one of the central themes of the Research Group, namely the balance between executives and parliaments in both the enactment and oversight of legal measures. Prof Cheryl Saunders will reflect on the topic, ‘Constitutional emergency frameworks: Experiences with COVID-19’.  

The webinar will be moderated by Prof Oran Doyle.  

Cheryl Saunders is Laureate Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne Law School. She has specialist interests in Australian and comparative public law, including comparative constitutional law and method, intergovernmental relations and constitutional design and change. She is a President Emeritus of the International Association of Constitutional Law, a former President of the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies, a former President of the Administrative Review Council of Australia and a senior technical advisor to the Constitution Building program of International IDEA. She has held visiting positions in law schools in many parts of the world and is an officer of the Order of Australia and a Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur of France.  

Oran Doyle is professor in law at Trinity College Dublin, director of the COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory, and co-convenor of the IACL Research Group on Public Law Responses to Public Health Emergencies.