1. Comparative Legal Systems

Analyze each original BRICS country’s constitutional, administrative, and economic laws.

2. Legal Pluralism & Governance

Examine interactions among civil law, common law, socialist law, and indigenous legal traditions.

3. BRICS as a Geopolitical and Legal Bloc

Discuss BRICS collaboration in AI and law, climate change, and UN reform.

4. International Legal Relations

Investigate the New Development Bank (NDB) and legal frameworks for integration.

5. Future of BRICS in a Multipolar World

Consider how BRICS legal systems adapt to emerging global governance challenges.

The program integrates lectures, panel discussions, case studies, and interactive workshops, led by diplomats, policymakers, and professors from UFMG and the co-sponsoring institutions. Participants will also engage in simulations of international legal negotiations and judicial decision-making in transnational disputes, gaining hands-on experience in global legal processes.

A fee of US$1,000 covers tuition, accommodations, a daily breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon coffee break, as well as the field trip.

Lectures will be held every morning and afternoon throughout the week. On August 9, participants will undertake a study visit to Ouro Preto, the historic former capital of Minas Gerais and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Renowned for its significance in colonial gold mining and the development of early legal and administrative frameworks, Ouro Preto offers a unique case study on the interplay between economic exploitation, sociopolitical control, and emerging movements of independence. In this immersive context, students and scholars will gain firsthand insight into how colonial legal structures shaped Brazilian governance and continue to inform broader discussions on legal systems across the Global South.

English will be the language of instruction throughout the program to ensure a common linguistic framework for all participants.

The following lecturers have been confirmed so far (additional names to be announced):

• Aziz Tuffi Saliba (UFMG, Brazil)
Dr. Aziz Tuffi Saliba holds a PhD in Law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and an LLM in International Law from the University of Arizona under a Fulbright scholarship. He was a visiting researcher at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, and completed a postdoctoral period at Université Laval. Prof. Saliba served as Visiting Professor at the University of Ljubljana through the Erasmus program in 2016. He was Vice-Dean of the UFMG Law School (2014–2018). Prof. Saliba is a Professor in the Department of Public Law at UFMG and Vice-Provost for International Relations at the same institution. He is President of the Brazilian Branch of the International Law Association and is a member of the Instituto Hispano Luso Americano de Derecho Internacional.

• Lucas Carlos Lima (UFMG, Brazil)
Lucas Lima is a Professor of International Law at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He holds a PhD from the University of Macerata, with research experience at the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for International Procedural Law. He completed postdoctoral research at Université Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne and, in 2024, served as Visiting Professor there and at the China University of Political Science and Law. He has also been a Visiting Researcher at iCourts (University of Copenhagen). He earned a master’s degree from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, holds a law degree from the same institution, and studied at the Università degli Studi di Firenze. He coordinates the Stylus Curiarum Research Group on International Courts, is the current Director of Studies of the Brazilian Branch of the International Law Association, and is a Società Italiana di Diritto Internazionale member. He is Associate Director of the UFMG Law Review, Editor of the International Law Agendas blog (ILA/Brazil), and Director of the East Asia Studies Center at UFMG.

• Jiangyuan Fu (Maynooth University, Ireland)
Dr. Jiangyuan Fu is an Assistant Professor of Law at the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth University, Ireland. Before joining Maynooth, she was a faculty member and Assistant Dean (International Collaboration) at the School of Law, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Dr. Fu has also worked as a trade policy consultant with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) and as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She obtained her Ph.D. from University College Dublin, where her research focused on international trade regulation. Her current academic interests lie in international trade law, particularly emphasizing governance issues in the agriculture and renewable energy sectors.

• Guo Liang (Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China)
Guo Liang holds a Ph.D. in Law from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and serves as a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Law School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). He currently holds concurrent positions as a Researcher at the HUST Human Rights Law Institute, Wuhan University’s China Rural Governance Research Center, and Nanjing Normal University’s China Rule of Law Modernization Institute. Additionally, he serves as Vice President of the Hubei Provincial Association for Agricultural and Rural Rule of Law, Vice President of the Hubei Provincial Emergency Management Society, and holds memberships in several academic committees, including the China Association for Agricultural and Rural Rule of Law, the Youth Work Committee of the Chinese Political Science Association, and the Hubei Provincial Legal Education Research Association. His research focuses on interdisciplinary legal sociology, with long-term studies on critical societal issues such as social governance, grassroots rule of law, and land systems.

•Daria Kuznetsova (HSE University, Russia)
Daria Kuznetsova is a legal scholar specializing in Environmental Law and the legal regulation of emerging technologies. She serves as a leading expert at the Institute of National and Comparative Legal Studies at HSE University (Russia) and is currently pursuing her PhD at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain), where she also obtained an LL.M in Environmental Law. As part of her academic journey, she cooperated with Zero Waste Europe and contributed to the Center for Environmental Law Studies of Tarragona (CEDAT). She also completed the course Artificial Intelligence and the Law: Technological Possibilities and Societal Challenges under a European academic mobility programme (University of Innsbruck). Daria is a member of several international and institutional research groups in the fields of Environmental Law, Digital Law, and Data Ethics. She contributes to global legal dialogues as a member of the Working Group on Ecology within the Consortium of BRICS Law Schools.

•Jiaru Hou (China University of Political Science and Law, China)
Jiaru Hou is a Professor of Environmental Law at the Civil, Commercial and Economic Law School at the China University of Political Science and Law. He holds a PhD in Law and is the Director of the Institute of Environmental Law at the same institution.

•Tatiana Belousova (O.P. Jindal Global University, India)
Tatiana Belousova is an Assistant Professor & Assistant Dean (International Collaboration) at the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA), OP Jindal Global University. In the year 2019, she received a PhD degree at the University of Kerala, Department of Political Science. Her thesis was titled “State Public Policy and Internationalization of Higher Education in Kerala.” Prior to this, Tatiana completed her post-graduate studies at the St. Petersburg State University (Russia), Department of World Economy. From 2005 to 2012, she participated in several capacity building programmes in Australia, EU, and India. Tatiana joined JGU initially as an Assistant Professor in the International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHED). Following her passion for International Relations, Tatiana joined JSIA in 2021. Dr. Belousova’s research interests are Russian foreign policy and Central Asian affairs.

•Maria Andrianova (MGIMO University, Russia)
Dr. Maria Andrianova is a head of the Department of Private International and Civil Law (MGIMO). Maria Andrianova is a graduate of the International Law School of MGIMO, Candidate of Legal Sciences (Ph.D in Law), a well-known Russian specialist in the field of private international law, international commercial arbitration, international trade law, an arbitrator of the International Commercial Arbitration Court of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, an arbitrator of the Arbitration Center of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, an active participant and speaker of the IX BRICS Legal Forum (September 2024), the head of MGIMO student teams at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Competition. She was a visiting researcher at the Asser Institute in the field of Humanitarian law (2005). Dr. Andrianova also worked as an external collaborator in ILO (2008-2009, 2012).

•Edilson Vitorelli (UFMG, Brazil)
Judge Edilson Vitorelli serves as a Federal Circuit Judge at the Federal Court of Appeals for the 6th Region. He is also a Professor of Law at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He has acted as a visiting professor at the Universities of Stanford (USA), Münster (Germany) and Sydney (Australia). He is the only Portuguese-speaking scholar to have received the Mauro Cappelletti Book Prize. This award is presented by the International Association of Procedural Law every four years to recognize the best book on procedural law worldwide.

•Olga Y. Trofimenko (St. Petersburg State University, Russia)
Olga Y. Trofimenko, Candidate of Economic Science (Ph.D.), Associate Professor of Saint Petersburg State University, Acting Head of the World Economy department. She is the author and co-author of more than 120 papers and book chapters; a co-editor of some monograph and conference proceedings, published in Chinese, English, and Korean. She was a visiting lecturer to various Asian and European universities, including China, Japan, and European Union. She is a coordinator of multiple academic and research projects at SPSU, including the WTO Chairs project, Jean Monnet – European module, and an Academic Director of an International trading system MA program. Actively involved in outreach activities, holding business and policy-makers seminars. Research interests include global governance, international trade, foreign direct investments, and WTO law.

•Oleg Zaytsev (Russian Presidential Academy, Russia)
Oleg Zaytsev is the Dean of the Higher School of Jurisprudence Department and the School of Law at the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service (IPACS)of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). He is a member of the Expert Council on Law and Political Science of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, and a Board Member of the Expert Center of the Association of Lawyers of Russia (Moscow), where he also chairs the Commission on Higher Legal Education. He is part of the Civic Council of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) and serves on the Board of the International Legal Education Centre.