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Overview

Professor Michael Bohlander

Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy


Affiliations
Affiliation
Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy in the Durham Law School

Biography

Professor Bohlander has been the International Co-Investigating Judge in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia since 2015. From 2017 until 2022, he was also an international judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He joined Durham University in 2004 as a full professor, having previously been a life-tenured member of the German judiciary since 1991. He has published widely on German law, English and Welsh criminal law, comparative and international criminal law, and Islamic law. 

Since 2020, his main focus has been on the consequences of a potential contact with extraterrestrial intelligence for human law and society in the wider sense.

Publications on SETI and UAP research

Letter to The Guardian - 14 Feb 2025

Contact with extraterrestrial intelligence and human law

Alien encounter narratives in a forensic environment

Rechtliche Aspekte des Kontakts mit ausserirdischer Intelligenz

Es ist an der Zeit, dass die Menschheit ein planetares Speziesbewusstsein entwickelt

Nachwort

"Joining the galactic club": what price admission?

Metalaw - What is it good for?

News items

Radio interview on Canadian Global News Radio 980 CKNW on US congressional UAP hearings

How would humans react to contact with extraterrestrials? - The Debrief

Academics at Durham law school and St Andrews university launch global online survey

Limina Special Volume

Human life after contact with extraterrestrial civilisations - Call for contributions

"Joining the Galactic Club" finalist in 2023 Canopus Awards

Events

Grounding the SETI and UAP debate

"Take me to your lawyer" - The Micah Hanks Programme | Podcast

International Symposium on Professor Bohlander's book "Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Law"

International Law and Life in Space: Developments

Alien Conversations

SETI and the Consequences

Research interests

  • Contact with extraterrestrial intelligence and its impact on human law
  • Legal aspects of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
  • International and comparative criminal law

Publications

Authored book

Book review

Chapter in book

Conference Paper

Edited book

Journal Article

Manual

Newspaper/Magazine Article

Other (Print)

Scholarly Edition

Supervision students