Professor Rossana Deplano

Rossana Deplano is Professor of International Space Law at the Leicester Law School and Co-Director of the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation. She holds an LLB and LLM from the University of Cagliari (Italy), a PhD from Brunel University London and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Her research interests fall within the area of public international law, in particular international space law, United Nations law and general theory of international law.

Prof. Deplano is a member of the Institute for Space, where she acts as the co-lead for the Life in Space research theme. She is also the convenor of the Institute's Humanising Space working group.

My research interests lie in the field of public international law, including international space law, United Nations Law, international legal theory and international law research methods.

I have been Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University (2016), the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (2017), the Library of Congress, Washington DC, U.S.A. (Scholar-in-Residence 2018 and 2019) and Rey Juan Carlos University (2023). I have presented at the 12th Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum (2019).

My publications have appeared in the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, the Leiden Journal of International Law and the German Yearbook of International Law. I am the co-editor of Research Methods in International Law: A Handbook (with N Tsagourias, Edward Elgar 2021) and Interdisciplinary Research Methods of EU Law: A Handbook (with G. Gentile, L. Lonardo and T. Nowak, Edward Elgar 2024). I have also edited the volume Pluralising International Legal Scholarship: The Promise and Perils of Non-doctrinal Research Methods (Edward Elgar 2019).

In August 2022, I have published Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on International Law: How States Use the UN General Assembly to Create International Obligations for Cambridge University Press.

Selected publications

BOOKS

Monographs:

R Deplano, Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on International Law: How States Use the UN General Assembly to Create International Obligations (Cambridge University Press 2022).

R Deplano, The Strategic Use of International Law by the United Nations Security Council: An Empirical Study (Springer 2015).

Edited collections:

A. Berkes, R. Collins and R. Deplano (eds), Reassessing the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations: From Theory to Practice (Edward Elgar 2024).

R. Deplano, G. Gentile, L. Lonardo and T. Nowak (eds), Interdisciplinary Research Methods in EU Law: A Handbook (Edward Elgar 2024).

R. Deplano and N. Tsagourias (eds), International Law Research Methods: A Handbook (Edward Elgar 2021).

R. Deplano (ed), Pluralising International Legal Scholarship: The Promise and Perils of Non-Doctrinal Research Methods (Edward Elgar 2019).

JOURNAL ARTICLES

R. Deplano, 'Inclusive Space Law: The Concept of Benefit Sharing in the Outer Space Treaty' 72(3) International and Comparative Law Quarterly (2023) 671-714.

R. Deplano, ‘The Artemis Plan: A Paradigm Shift in International Space Law?’ 46(1) Journal of Space Law (2022) 101-134.

R Deplano, 'The Artemis Accords: Evolution or Revolution in International Space Law?' 70(3) International and Comparative Law Quarterly (2021) 799-819.

R Deplano, 'The Parliament of the World? Reflections on the Creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly' 33(1) Leiden Journal of International Law (2020) 577-599.

R Deplano, 'Assessing the Role of Resolutions in the ILC Draft Conclusions on Identification of Customary International Law: Substantive and Methodological Issues' 14(2) International Organizations Law Review (2017) 227-253.

R Deplano, 'Building Pragmatic Utopias: The UN Security Council, International Law and the United Nations Dream' 60 German Yearbook of International Law (2017) 608-636.

BOOK CHAPTERS

R. Deplano, 'International Space Law' in MD Evans (ed), International Law (6th ed, OUP 2024), Chapter 22, pp. 667-692.

R. Deplano, 'The Peaceful Settlement of Space Disputes: Prospects and Challenges' in R. Buchan, D. Franchini and N. Tsagourias (eds), The Changing Character of International Dispute Settlement: Challenges and Prospects (Cambridge University Press 2023), Chapter 14, pp. 403-438.

I welcome PhD proposals in the following areas:

• International space law
• United Nations law
• Public international law, in particular general theory of international law and sources of international law.

Current teaching (2024/25):

• An Introduction to International Space Law (LLM)
• Law of United Nations (LLM)
• Study Skills (LLB)

I welcome media enquiries in the area of international space law, especially space resource utilisation (e.g. the lawfulness of space mining), the Artemis Accords and human spaceflight.

I am the recipient of a UKRI/AHRC Innovation Scholar grant to carry out a research project at the intersection of international space law and architecture (2023/2024).

I received multiple grants from the Society of Legal Scholars.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.