Dr Maria Antonieta (Antoinette) Nestor

Degrees, Awards and Prizes

BCL (University College Dublin UCD), LLM (University of California Los Angeles UCLA), PhD (Trinity College Dublin TCD), FHEA.

Research Themes

My research focuses on public law, land and environmental decision-making. I examine how public authorities identify and evaluate environmental consequences, use evidence, and justify decisions about land and development, particularly under conditions of risk and uncertainty.

My current research examines environmental decision-making and judicial review, environmental assessment, climate adaptation, and the relationship between environmental constraints and development. This includes work on water scarcity and planned growth and on the role of relevance, evidence and uncertainty in public decision-making.

A complementary part of my research examines environmental responsibility in land and property law, including conservation covenants, biodiversity net gain and the ways in which long-term environmental obligations can be incorporated into the legal governance of land.

I am also developing a comparative dimension to this research concerning Indigenous knowledge and territorial governance in Chile, examining how public decision-making processes recognise and respond to different forms of environmental knowledge.

Across this work, a central question is: how should public authorities identify, evaluate and justify the environmental consequences of decisions about land and development under conditions of risk and uncertainty?

Responsibilities

I am a Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies in Environment, Law, and Economics at Girton College.

As Director of Studies, I support and advise students in their academic development and coordinate their teaching and supervision. As a Tutor, I provide pastoral and academic support to students throughout their time at Girton.

My University teaching includes Public Law, Legal Methods, Real Property and Environmental Law. 

Other

Alongside my research and teaching, I have a longstanding commitment to public-interest, community and interdisciplinary work. My experience spans higher education, law, local government and international climate engagement, with a particular interest in ensuring that knowledge and institutions are accessible to, and informed by, communities whose voices may otherwise be underrepresented.

I am an elected Cambridge City Councillor and have held senior responsibilities. Currently, I am Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy and Skills. 

I am an Adviser to the Cambridge Pro Bono Project and a Centre Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for Property Law (CCPL). I am also a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-WCEL), the UK Environmental Law Association, the Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA) and the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA).

Roles within the University

Senior Teaching Associate in Law and Legal Methods, Department of Land Economy

My academic and public-facing work also engages with environmental and climate governance beyond Cambridge. I have participated in international climate processes, including UNFCCC COP and subsidiary-body meetings, contributing particularly to discussions concerning climate governance, implementation and the relationship between law, institutions and communities.