Profile

Professor Wenhua Shan holds a PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and a PhD from Xiamen University, PR China (PRC). He is currently Yangtze River Chair Professor of International Economic Law (by the PRC Ministry of Education) and the Dean of both the School of Law and the School of International Education at Xi'an Jiaotong University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law of the University of Cambridge, UK. Previously he worked as a Professor of International Law at the University of New South Wales in Australia and Oxford Brookes University in the UK, Assistant President of Xi'an Jiaotong University and Vice President of the Judicial Case Academy of the PRC Supreme People's Court.

Professor Shan's research area is international and comparative law, particularly investment, trade and public international laws. He has published over a dozen books by English, Chinese and Russian publishers including Oxford University Press (OUP) and Cambridge University Press (CUP) and numerous articles in journals such the European Journal of International Law and American Journal of Comparative Law.

As a "State Specially Recruited Expert" and "State Council Special Allowance Expert" by the Central Government of China, an Expert Member of the International Commercial Experts Committee of the PRC Supreme People's Court, a Conciliator of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an Arbitrator of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and other arbitration institutions, and a licensed PRC Attorney-at-Law, Professor Shan has practiced international and Chinese laws since 1992. He has led a team to provide comprehensive support for the Chinese government on certain key investment treaty negotiations, and for the CIETAC in the drafting of the CIETAC International Investment Arbitration Rules. He also advised foreign governments, international organizations, and transnational corporations on aspects of international investment, trade and public international law matters.

Professor Shan is a Titular Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL), a Member of the American Law Institute (ALI), Vice President of the Chinese Society of International Economic Law (CSIEL), a Member of the Executive Council of the Chinese Society of International Law, and had been a Member of the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law.

He is the Honorary Editor-in-Chief of The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law (OUP); Editor-in-General of the "China and International Economic Law Series" (Hart/Bloomsbury) and "Silk Road Studies in International Economic Law" (Martinus Nijhoff/BRILL); and a Member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the ICSID Review: Foreign Investment Law Journal (OUP). He also serves as an International Advisor for the Fourth Restatement of the U.S. Foreign Relations Law, an Expert Member of the WEF/ICTSD E15 Task Force on Investment Policy, and a Core Adviser for the IBA Subcommittee on Investment Treaty Arbitration.

Professor Shan is a frequent speaker and has talked/taught at European Parliament (Testimony on EU-China investment treaty), International Congress of Comparative Law (General Report on the Protection of Foreign Investment), International Congress of Commercial Arbitration (Substantive aspects of international investment law), Energy Charter Ministerial Conference (ISDS Reform), UNCTAD/APEC Regional IIA Training Course, American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Conference and the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) Biennial Conference, among others.