Rate My Professor Melanie Murcott

Melanie Jean Murcott is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law within the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town, a position she has held since May 2023. She previously served at the University of Pretoria in the Department of Public Law, progressing from Lecturer in 2012 to Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor until April 2023. Murcott holds an LLB (cum laude) from the University of Cape Town, an LLM in Constitutional Law from the University of Pretoria, and an LLD conferred in 2020 under the supervision of Professor Louis Kotzé. She also completed certificates in Advanced Administrative Law (with distinction) from the Nelson Mandela Institute at Wits School of Law and in Environmental and Sustainable Development Law.

Her research focuses on environmental law, climate change law and governance, and transformative environmental constitutionalism. Murcott is the author of the monograph Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism, published by Brill in 2022. She has co-edited collections on climate litigation in the Global South and contributed to scholarship on climate change litigation, administrative law, and constitutional environmental rights. She holds a Y1 rating from the National Research Foundation, awarded in 2022, and has received awards including the Exceptional Young Researcher Award from the University of Pretoria in 2023 and selection as a fellow of the Future Professors Programme. Murcott serves on editorial boards, co-leads the Global Network of Human Rights and the Environment Climate Litigation in the Global South Project, and participates in committees at the University of Cape Town Faculty of Law, including the Orientation Committee, Postgraduate Scholarship Committee, and Research Ethics Committee. She has delivered guest lectures and seminars at institutions such as Cambridge University, Columbia University, and the University of Florence.