Marzia Briel

“Highly professional, personable, and compassionate”

Marzia is a lawyer with diverse experience in aspects of nature governance, land law, risk assessment and intellectual property.

Previous clients include:

ARIA: Developing a systemic risk assessment framework to anticipate long-term risks of environmental solutions (e.g. transgenic species, Rights of Nature, biodiversity net gain).

UKRI: Principal investigator for an Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Project, funded by Innovate UK, to investigate the impact of AI data mining on Open Access Research Data in the Higher Education environment.

University of Reading: Marzia is a part-time Lecturer at UoR, benefitting from the opportunity for affiliated consultancy or independent commissions. Staff web page here.

Background

Marzia is a UK and South African qualified solicitor specialised in Commercial Law, with career experience in the Global Financial Services industry in various Legal, Compliance and Risk Governance roles. In 2020, she moved into the Public Science and Engineering sector working for the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the legal, policy and governance aspects of science research data, public/private partnerships and the legal and ethical complexities of publicly funded science research. Her cross-disciplinary experience and agile approach have allowed her to identify and find solutions to emerging exploitation risks where public knowledge, goods, utilities and funds are at stake. Marzia is currently working to help government, businesses and corporate practitioners to critically develop nature-centric governance approaches.

Academic qualifications

Qualified Foreign Lawyer, Master of Law (Commercial Law), Bachelor of Law, International Compliance Association Diploma in Compliance.

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Higher Education Academy Associate Fellow (AFHEA)
  • Rights of Nature Network – Board member
  • Member of the UNESCO Working Group on Open Science Policy and Policy Instruments implementing the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation
  • Member of Society of Legal Scholars
  • Centre for Commercial Law and Financial Regulation
  • The Embassy of Good Science
  • Trustee of ‘I Stand Beside’ nature charity

Testimonials:

From workshops on nature-centric governance co-organised by Marzia Briel:

“This was a truly inspiring workshop.  To be together in the same room with so many environmental leaders, and to be offered the time and space to dig deep into some of the most cutting edge developments and debates in the field of nature rights and ecology, was an unprecedented opportunity for profound learning and exchange.  Being able to do so in the beautiful surroundings of Goring and Streatley meant it was an even more intimate and meaningful event.  Fresh approaches were explored and new relationships were forged, which will now be carried into my ongoing work.  Very many thanks again for this very special meeting.” – Caroline Lucas, previous Leader Green Party, UK

“It’s hard to look up from Westminster wrangling to imagine what the world could be like, especially when the pace of academic insight is so often misaligned with the frantic tempo of politics. The Nature-Centric Governance work was a brilliant exception. It combined cutting-edge research with colourful imagination in a way that’s utterly relevant for contemporary questions like public body reform and water industry governance. We’ll definitely apply the lessons and I left eager for the next stages of the work.” – Richard Benwell, Chief Executive Wildlife & Countryside Links

 ~ Marzia is currently available for small or extended bespoke commissions. Get in touch at marzia.briel@reading.ac.uk ~