Three UCL experts among Leverhulme prize winners

Three UCL academics are amongst the 2010 Philip Leverhulme Prize winners. Dr Sylvie Delacroix (UCL Laws), Dr Ralph Wilde (UCL Laws) and Dr Angus Gowland (UCL History) have all received an award from the Leverhulme Trust. These prizes, with a value of £70,000 each, are awarded to 'outstanding scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is yet to come'. Dr Wilde, one of two winners from UCL Laws, explained: 'I am greatly honoured by this award. I will aspire in my current and future work to generate ideas that are worthy of such distinguished and generous support. This work will focus primarily on whether, and to what extent, the standards of international human rights law apply to states when they act outside their sovereign territories - from the conduct of warfare and occupation, to the operation of detention facilities, army bases and embassies, and the interception of pirates and migrants at sea.' Dr Delacroix commented: 'The overall aim of my research is to renew our reflection on the values underpinning a legal system, whether it be in the dramatic Palestinian circumstances or in the daily confrontation between civic expectations and legal requirements. This Leverhulme Prize will be invaluable in allowing me to dedicate myself to this confrontation between law and ethics.' The Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the Founder.