Founding Editor T.W. Wälde
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Professor Thomas W. Wälde (1949-2008) |
The Founding editor of OGEL was Professor Thomas W. Wälde (1949-2008). In February 2009 an editorial committee took over the various roles of Professor Wälde for the OGEL and TDM Journals and the associated discussion fora OGELFORUM and OGEMID. OGEL started publishing in 2003.
Professor Thomas W. Wälde, who has died aged 59, was a leading scholar and practitioner in the field of international energy and resources law. Though based in a small village outside St Andrews for the last 15 years, his reach and influence has been global. As he explained in a recording made in 2007, his aim in life was to understand "what lay underneath the emperor's clothes" and to reveal and explain this truth, however unpalatable it might be to listeners". He had no liking for political correctness nor for desires to please. The world of energy and mineral resources is replete with vested interests and empty rhetoric, with shady deals and plain corruption, and Thomas did not shirk from revealing such unpalatable truths. But at the same time, his objective was to support coherent and just policy making for the good of all, and to support those who wished to deepen their understanding of these challenging issues.
Professor Wälde excelled in developing and deepening international understanding of critical legal and policy issues relating to energy and natural resources. He achieved this in his roles as an adviser to governments and companies, as a mediator and arbitrator, as an academic researcher into the critical issues of the day, as an educator, and through his leadership of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee.
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