OVERVIEW

Dr Ivana Damjanovic is an Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Business Government and Law. Her areas of expertise include public international law, international investment governance and dispute settlement, the European Union (EU) law and its external investment and trade relations. She brings a practical, policy-focused perspective to her research, which engages with international law reform debates and the EU’s role as a global regulatory actor.

Dr Damjanovic is actively involved in academic networks and research collaborations in Australia and internationally, including as a project lead and key investigator. She currently leads the EU Centre of Excellence in Critical Minerals at UC. She has guest lectured and presented her research at conferences in Australia, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Chile and the US, and provided training to government and industry stakeholders. 

Dr Damjanovic has practical expertise in the field of international relations, including as a career diplomat, a trade advisor for the Delegation of the European Union to Australia and a consultant. Dr Damjanovic is a qualified Australian and Croatian lawyer, and accredited mediator in Australia. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. 

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

• The European Union and International Investment Law Reform: Between Aspirations and Reality, Cambridge University Press, 2023
• "From Climate Diplomacy to Enforcement in EU Trade Agreements?" in O Quirico, WF Baber & MA Adams (eds), Implementing Climate Change Policy, Springer, 2026
• "The Reform of International Investment Law: Whose Rule of Law?" (2024) 15(3) European Journal of Risk Regulation 524-540.
• "International Economic Law and the Rule of Law", Special Issue (co-editor), European Journal of Risk Regulation 15(3), 2024
• “Screening of Foreign Direct Investment in Europe: To have a Tiger by the Tail?” (co-authored) in O Quirico and KK Williams, The Evolving Architectures of International Economic Agreements, Springer, 2023
• “Intra-EU Investment Dispute Settlement in Light of Vattenfall and Achmea: A Matter of Priority” (co-authored) (2019) 26(1) Columbia Journal of European Law 102-156.

CURRENT PROJECTS

• Project Lead, EU Centre of Excellence in Critical Minerals, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of Canberra, 2024–2027 (100,000 EUR)
• Project Lead, The EU and Australia in a Changing Geopolitical World, EU Erasmus+ funded project, University of Canberra, 2025–2028 (33,000 EUR)
• Project Lead, The Rule of Law in the Pacific: Comparative Perspectives on EU Values, EU Erasmus+ funded project, Australian National University, 2025–2028 (33,000 EUR)
• Key investigator, Effectively Sustainable European Union, EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University for Foreigners Perugia (Italy), 2024–2027 (100,000 EUR)
• Key investigator, Designing EU Climate Adaptation in the Light of Mitigation Policies, EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of New England, 2025–2028 (100,000 EUR)
• Key investigator, EU Strategic Autonomy, EU Erasmus+ funded project, Australian National University, 2025–2028 (33,000 EUR)
• Key investigator, The EU, international law, the Indo-Pacific and Australia, EU Erasmus+ funded project, University of New England, 2024–2027 (35,000 EUR)
• Key Investigator, The EU and Indo-Pacific: Sustainability, Security and Trade, EU Erasmus+ funded project, UCLouvain St. Louis-Brussels (Belgium), 2023–2026 (30,000 EUR)
• Key Investigator, The EU in Global Context: Current Challenges, EU Erasmus+ funded project, University for Foreigners Perugia (Italy), 2023–2026 (27,500 EUR)

SELECT COMPLETED PROJECTS 

• Project Lead, Australia and the EU: Bilateral Perspectives on Global Governance, EU Erasmus+ funded project, University of Canberra, 2022–2025 (30,000 EUR)
• Project Lead, EU Climate Change Agenda in External Trade and Investment, EU Erasmus+ funded research project, Australian National University, 2020–2023 (60,000 EUR)

SELECT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• "Balancing Commercial and State Interests in Investor-State Disputes", invited panellist, Christchurch Conference on International and Transnational Legal Frameworks, Christchurch, 12-13 March 2026
• "Developing New Skills and Technologies for the Green Transition", invited panellist, Regional Erasmus+ Week 2025 for Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific, Colombo, 18-19 November 2025
• "Soft Power, Strong Impact: The ongoing role of non-binding instruments", invited panellist, Fourteenth International Law Colloquium, Attorney-General's Department, Canberra, 7 November 2025
• "Climate Rights as Human Rights in the EU External Policy", co-presented at the EU Values Jean Monnet Network Conference on "The European Union's External Action: EU-Values in Policy Making", Istanbul, 1-3 July 2025
• "A Multilateral Investment Court: Towards the Rule of EU Law?", presented at EU Values Jean Monnet Network Conference on "Promoting Democracy and the Rule of Law - Global Perspectives", Santiago de Chile, 4-6 December 2024
• "The European Union and International Investment Law Reform", invited speaker, RENEW Jean Monnet network webinar, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, 3 October 2024
• "The EU and Arctic Policies: Between Sustainability and Energy Exploitation", Arctic Congress, Bodo, 29 May-2 June 2024 
• “International Trade Outlook: Navigating Challenges in 2024”, invited speaker, Export Council of Australia and IP Australia webinar, 7 February 2024
• Book launch of the The European Union and international investment law reform: Between aspirations and reality, organiser and speaker, ANU Research School of Social Sciences, Canberra, 27 November 2023
• “The European Union’s reform of international investment law: Towards broader access to justice?”, invited speaker, Public Debate EUNMUTE, UCLouvain St. Louis Brussels, 16 June 2023
• "Enforcing Climate Change in International Trade Agreements", invited speaker at the Jean Monnet International Seminar, University for Foreigners of Perugia, 8 May 2023
• “Investment, Trade and Sustainable Development: International Law and Policy Perspectives from Indonesia and the EU”, invited speaker, Jean Monnet International Conference, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, 5-6 April 2023
• “The Evolving Nature of the Rule of Law in International Economic Law”, organiser and speaker, Maastricht University, 17 January 2023
• "Investment protection treaties and the clean energy transition", invited speaker, webinar by Volterra Fietta, 7 September 2022
• "Fit for 55: Challenges of implementation", co-presented at Jean Monnet seminar, Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Zagreb, 7 July 2022
• "Debating the future of the Energy Charter Treaty", organiser and speaker, Maastricht University Brussels, 29 June 2022
• "EU trade policy and Brexit", organiser and speaker, conference, Brussels, 21 June 2022
• “Investment Treaties and the EU Legal Order: Litigation, Modernisation and Sustainability”, invited speaker, Swedish Network for European Legal Studies Conference, Lund University, 19-20 May 2022
• “Towards Global Governance of Investment Law”, invited speaker, Jean Monnet International Symposium, Thammasat University, 4-5 April 2022
• “Climate Change and International Trade: The European Union’s Approach Through Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism”, organiser and presenter, Australian National University, 16 September 2021
• “EU free trade agreements with like-minded partners: acting together in facing global challenges?”, presented at the conference “Europe in Flux”, MacMillan Center, Yale University, 6-7 December 2019
• “Preliminary Ruling Procedure: How does it work and why it is important?”, organiser and co-presenter at the Jean Monnet Workshop, Croatian Bar Association, Zagreb, 2 July 2019
• “The Clash between International Investment Law and the Autonomy of the EU Legal Order”, lecture at the Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law, Luxembourg, 20 June 2019
• “Towards an International Investment Court?”, organiser and speaker, seminar, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, 20 February 2019
• “EU reform of international investment dispute settlement and its impact on EU-China relations”, invited speaker at the First China International Import Forum, Shanghai, 4 November 2018
• “Achmea judgment in the context of international investment law”, presented at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Brussels, 26 June 2018
• “Achmea judgment and the future of ISDS”, invited speaker at the UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee for Australia Fourth Annual Seminar, Canberra, 25 May 2018
• “Understanding Achmea: What does it mean for the future of ISDS in Europe?”, invited speaker at the German Australian Pacific Lawyers Association Conference, Sydney, 27 April 2018
• “The Dialectics of Public Grounds as an Exception to Freedom of Investment: Lessons from the EU in the Vattenfall Saga”, co-presented at the European Union Studies Association Asia Pacific (EUSAAP) Annual Conference, Tokyo, 1-2 July 2017.