--- title: "Endowed Professorship in climate law" description: "Laura Mai becomes Endowed Professor of Climate Law and Society at the University of Bern. The professorship is funded by the Bloom Foundation for ten years." url: https://unibefoundation.ch/en/news/endowed-professorship-climate-law-society-filled updated: 2026-09-16 --- # Endowed Professorship in climate law > Laura Mai becomes Endowed Professor of Climate Law and Society at the University of Bern. The professorship is funded by the Bloom Foundation for ten years. News 27. May 2026 # Endowed Professorship for Climate Law and Society filled Read the original media release [here](https://mediarelations.unibe.ch/medienmitteilungen/2026/medienmitteilungen_2026/stiftungsprofessur_klimarecht_und_gesellschaft/index_ger.html#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=f9f74239-c4ac-45d4-a85e-8a2343570200) (in German). The Executive Board of the University has appointed Dr Laura Mai as Endowed Professor of Climate Law and Society. The endowed professorship was established in 2025 with the support of the Bloom Foundation and is intended to help foster legal innovation and develop new approaches to effectively combating climate change. Laura Mai will take up her position on 1 August 2026. Legal systems structure coexistence and processes in society at both national and international level. Climate law is playing an increasingly important role in this. However, there is still a lack of legal expertise to create legal frameworks for reliable and fair solutions for dealing with climate change. To close this gap, the University of Bern and the Bloom Foundation established the Endowed Professorship “Climate Law and Society” in 2025. The aim of the professorship is to build up expertise in climate law – in Switzerland and in an international context. The knowledge developed by the new professorship will be relevant for legislation in the coming years and will serve as legal know-how for court proceedings. Following a competitive international selection process, a committee of the University of Bern has now appointed Dr Laura Mai to the endowed professorship. Mai received her doctorate from King’s College London in 2022. From 2022 to 2025, she conducted research at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the Amsterdam Centre for International Law at the University of Amsterdam. Outside academia, Laura Mai has worked for private law firms in London, Brussels and Hong Kong and as an adviser to the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn. ## “Looking at climate law from a holistic perspective” [\#](#looking-at-climate-law-from-a-holistic-perspective "Direct link to “Looking at climate law from a holistic perspective” ") Laura Mai’s research focuses on the social preconditions and the effects of legal requirements. “I am not only interested in which new climate laws are passed and what they stipulate. It is also important how law emerges and is applied in practice,” she says. “That is why I find it extremely appealing to build up a focus in research and teaching at the University of Bern that looks at climate law from a holistic perspective and combines law and the social sciences.” At the level of society, the knowledge developed by the endowed professorship is intended to feed into discussions and decision-making processes. “This can happen, for example, in the context of legislation or in the work of associations and NGOs. It can also take place through research collaborations or through participation in panels and events,” explains Mai. The new Professor of Climate Law and Society will take up her position on 1 August 2026. From September to December 2026, she will visit the New York University School of Law as part of a Hauser Global Fellowship. She will then begin her work at the University of Bern: among other things, Mai will set up an interdisciplinary Master’s programme at the interface of climate science, social sciences and law, and will participate in the new National Centre of Competence in Research NCCR Clim+. Mai also leads the project Legal Geographies of Climate Change, in which she investigates where the law locates the causes and effects of climate change and which questions of responsibility and climate justice can be derived from this. “That may sound abstract, but it is central in practice: the law cannot assign responsibility or compensate for damage unless it has first been clarified where exactly damage and responsibility are to be located in legal terms,” says Mai. The multi-year project is funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO. ## A practice-oriented approach [\#](#a-practice-oriented-approach "Direct link to A practice-oriented approach ") The new professorship will be based at the Institute of Public Law of the Faculty of Law of the University of Bern and affiliated with the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR). Judith Wyttenbach, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Professor at the Institute of Public Law, is delighted with the choice of Mai: she brings outstanding professional qualifications and proven expertise in the field of climate law. She also has a strong interest in interdisciplinary research and teaching. This is very important for the subject: “As a comprehensive university, the University of Bern offers the best conditions for interdisciplinary exchange, and interdisciplinary collaboration is deliberately encouraged in Bern. With her research at the interface of law and society, Mai will complement the diverse and innovative climate research at the University of Bern in an extremely important area.” Thomas Stocker, former President of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) and a driving force behind the climate law professorship, stresses the new challenges that human-made climate change poses for society. “Our coexistence is based on agreed legal foundations, which, in a time of such rapid change, must be considered with foresight and expanded accordingly,” he explains. This, he says, is the central task of the Professorship for Climate Law and Society. The Bloom Foundation is supporting the development of the new professorship for a period of ten years. Founded in 2024, the foundation aims to promote forward-looking approaches for a healthy, biodiverse and regenerative world. “In our view, the further development of climate law is a key lever for advancing climate protection,” explains Ines Najorka, President of the Bloom Foundation. Mai was particularly convincing thanks to her practical understanding of climate law and its anchoring in society, as well as her nuanced view of how law can be designed effectively and applied in complex contexts. “We are convinced that she has the best qualifications to develop this topic further together with relevant stakeholders at national and international level – and at the same time, as a foundation, we look forward to receiving valuable impetus from this work.” ### Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research [\#](#oeschger-centre-for-climate-change-research "Direct link to Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research") The Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) is one of the strategic centres of the University of Bern. It brings together researchers from 14 institutes and four faculties. The OCCR conducts interdisciplinary research at the cutting edge of climate science. The Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research was founded in 2007 and bears the name of Hans Oeschger (1927-1998), a pioneer of modern climate research who worked in Bern. Further information: [oeschger.unibe.ch](https://www.oeschger.unibe.ch/) ### Institute of Public Law [\#](#institute-of-public-law "Direct link to Institute of Public Law") The Institute of Public Law covers the entire field of public law in teaching, research and services. Its main areas of focus include fundamental and human rights, constitutional law on state organisation, general and special administrative law, public procedural law and international law. 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