About
I am a Professor of International Commercial Law at the University of Derby, where I serve as REF Lead (Unit 18-Law) and Co-Head of the Centre for Justice, Law and Society, alongside Professor Hakeem Yusuf. I joined the University in October 2021.
Prior to my appointment at Derby, I was a Reader in International Commercial Law, Director of Research, and Co-REF Lead (UoA18-Law) at Canterbury Christ Church University. Throughout my career, I have held a number of senior strategic positions, including membership of Faculty and College Senior Management Teams, membership of Faculty, College, and University Research Committees, Director of Research, Centre Head and Director, Acting Head of School, Programme Director, and Portfolio Leader. I also serve as an External REF Reviewer for De Montfort University and Birmingham City University.
I have taught at several universities, including the University of Bedfordshire, and I hold visiting professorships at Makerere University in Uganda (2019-present) and the University of Juba in South Sudan (2022-present). I have successfully supervised more than 15 PhD students to completion and have examined doctoral theses in numerous countries around the world.
My research sits within the broad field of International Commercial Law, with a specialist focus on International Investment Law. I have published over 60 works, including books and articles in leading journals, and I have led projects funded by a diverse range of organisations in the UK and internationally. My Impact Case Study was rated 4* in REF 2021. I have also been invited to deliver keynote addresses and to speak before distinguished audiences in more than 30 countries, including at the Paris Arbitration Week (France, 2023), UNCITRAL Working Group III (Austria, 2019), IGAD (Djibouti, 2018), UNECA (Ethiopia, 2024), the World Arbitration Update (Washington DC, 2021), the UK House of Lords (2022), the African Arbitration Academy Annual Conference (Ghana, 2022), the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (Rwanda, 2018), the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (Egypt, 2017), the Lagos Court of Arbitration (Nigeria, 2017), the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce (2017), the Ministry of East African Community Affairs (Uganda, 2022), the Uganda Law Reform Commission (2014), and leading law firms including Jones Day (London, 2016), as well as numerous universities across the UK, Africa, and beyond.
My professional standing is further reflected in a series of high-level appointments that translate my research into global policy and practice. I am a Member of the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Panels of Arbitrators (designated 2023–2029) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (designated 2025–2031), appointed by the Government of the Republic of Uganda. I served as a Member of Uganda's delegation to the East African Community (EAC) that negotiated the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and its Investment Protocol, and the negotiation of the Revised COMESA Investment Agreement 2025/26. I was a member of the Experts Committee that drafted the award-winning African Arbitration Academy Model Bilateral Investment Treaty for African States (2022), and I represented the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III negotiations (2019). I also led high-level discussions on greening the AfCFTA at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2022), and was subsequently appointed to lead a UNECA review to integrate climate strategies into the AfCFTA Investment Protocol.
My research has also directly informed national legislation, including Uganda's Investment Code Act 2019, Human Organ Donation and Transplant Act 2022, and global indicators such as the World Bank's B-READY 2025 framework for the Republic of South Sudan. In April 2025, the Government of Uganda formally nominated me to the National Implementation Committee (NIC) of the AfCFTA, where I oversee the translation of continental trade reforms into actionable national policies.
I am a Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of African Law (Cambridge University Press) and Chair of the award-winning Arbitration Fund for African Students at SOAS, University of London. In recognition of my contribution to the field, I was awarded the Kent Law Society President's Award in May 2025 for 'Outstanding Contribution to Law'.
Research interests
My research explores the intersection of international investment law, arbitration, and sustainable development, with a particular focus on Africa's evolving role in shaping global economic governance. At the core of my scholarship is an examination of how governments and legal institutions in the developing world respond to international commercial challenges and accommodate legal reform, particularly in the context of regional economic integration and the green transition.
My recent work has centred on the AfCFTA and its Investment Protocol, examining how African states can harness international investment law to achieve sustainable development objectives. My monograph, Green Transition and the Future of East African Community Member States' Investment Policy (Brill, 2026), investigates the intersection of climate policy and investment governance, while my forthcoming co-authored book, Investment for a Resilient Future: Navigating the Green Transition in the East African Community (Brill, 2027), extends this analysis to the regional dimension. I have also contributed chapters to leading edited collections, including analyses of the Pan-African Investment Code and the dispute resolution mechanisms under the AfCFTA Investment Protocol in Foundations of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Routledge, 2027), as well as an examination of Chinese lending and foreign investment policy in East Africa for Regionalism and Africa's Economic Governance (Routledge, 2027).
My research on arbitration reform has been equally prominent. My article on judicial reform and the proposal for an arbitration law in South Sudan is forthcoming in the ICSID Review – World Bank Journal (2027), and I have recently published on investment law reform in Eritrea in Transnational Dispute Management (2025). My forthcoming co-authored work on alternative dispute resolution in Uganda, Principles and Practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Uganda (Law Africa, 2027), reflects my ongoing commitment to building arbitration capacity across the continent. This is complemented by my role as Chair of the Arbitration Fund for African Students (AFAS).
I am currently supervising 10 PhD students at the University of Derby.
Recent publications
30 Selected Publications
REF 2029
1. Chrispas Nyombi, ‘Green Transition and the Future of East African Community Member States’ Investment Policy’ (Brill Perspectives in International Investment Law and Arbitration, 2026).
2. Chrispas Nyombi, ‘Realising Economic Growth through Judicial Reform: A proposal for an Arbitration Law for the Republic of South Sudan’ (ICSID Review-World Bank Journal, 2026).
3. Chrispas Nyombi and Paul Omar, Insolvency and international law. In Emilie Ghio, Insolvency law in context: Interactions across the legal system (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2027) Ch14.
4. Chrispas Nyombi and Likando Kalaluka, 'The Green Mining Paradox: Reconciling FDI, Environmental Degradation, and Sustainability in Zambia's Post-2024 Regulatory Landscape' in Jędrzej Górski, Geoff Wood and Gokce Mete (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Social License to Operate and Energy Transitions (Springer, 2026) ch 52.
5. Chrispas Nyombi and Jeffrey Kaddu, Principles and Practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Uganda (Law Africa Publishers, Nairobi Kenya, 2027).
6. Chrispas Nyombi and Ronald Kaddu, Investment for a Resilient Future: Navigating the Green Transition in the East African Community (Brill, 2027).
7. Chrispas Nyombi, ‘From Eurocentrism to Afrocentrism: Redefining the future of Africa's investment policy through the Pan-African Investment Code’ in Jedrzej Gorski & Emmanuel Laryea, Foundations of the African Continental Free Trade Area, (Routledge, 2027)
8. Chrispas Nyombi, ‘Institutionalism, ISDS and Investment Courts: a critical assessment of the dispute resolution mechanism under the AfCFTA Investment Protocol’ in Jedrzej Gorski & Emmanuel Laryea, African Economic Integration: The Impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area’ (Routledge, 2027).
9. Chrispas Nyombi, ‘The Dragon's Aid: Demystifying the impact of Chinese Lending and the imperatives of modernising foreign investment policy in East Africa' Africa' in Jedrzej Gorski & Emmanuel Laryea, Regionalism and Africa's Economic Governance (Routledge, 2027).
10. Chrispas Nyombi & Ronald Kaddu, Reforming Investment Law in Eritrea: A Pathway to Sustainable Economic Development, Transnational Dispute Management, 2, 2025.
11. Chrispas Nyombi & Ronald Kaddu, ‘Navigating the Republic of South Sudan's Investment Laws and Policies: Is there need for reform?’ in Obiajunwa Ama (ed), International Investment Law Reforms: Contemporary Issues and Solutions (Routledge, 2025).
12. Chrispas Nyombi, Realising the East African Community's Development Vision Through Progressive Private Sector Development Policies” Transnational Dispute Management, 3, 2022.
REF 2021
13. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer, “The International Investment Agreements of the IGAD Member States” (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing, 2019) ISBN: 9780854902613.
14. Chrispas Nyombi, “UK Takeover Law & The Board Neutrality Rule” (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing, 2017) ISBN: 9780854902293.
15. Chrispas Nyombi & Alexander Kibandama, “Principles of Company Law in Uganda” (LawAfrica Publishers, Nairobi, Kenya, 2014) ISBN: 9966530134.
16. Chrispas Nyombi, “Towards a New World Economic Order: Proposal for a Pan-African Investment Court” in Emilia Onyema “Rethinking the Role of African National Courts in Arbitration” (Kluwer Law International, 2018) ISBN: 9789041190420.
17. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer, “Rebalancing International Investment Agreements in favour of host states: Towards a World Investment Court” (2018) Journal of Business Law 3, pp. 200-222.
18. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer, “The turf war between the European Commission and Intra-EU BITs: Is an end in sight?” (2018) International Arbitration Law Review, Vol 21(3), pp. 66-79.
19. Chrispas Nyombi, “A case for a Regional Investment Court for Africa” (2018) North Carolina Journal of International Law, Vol 43(1) pp. 67-96.
20. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer, “Rights and Obligations in the post investment treaty denunciation period” (2018) International Arbitration Law Review Vol 21(2) pp. 46-53.
21. Chrispas Nyombi, Tom Mortimer & Narissa Ramsundar, “The Morocco-Nigeria BIT: Towards a new generation of intra-African BITs” (2017) International Company and Commercial Law, Vol 27, Iss 11.
22. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer, “Tackling the legitimacy crisis in international investment law through progressive treaty-making practices” (2017) International Arbitration Law Review, Iss 5, pp. 162-174.
23. Chrispas Nyombi, “Tactical litigation in the post-Recast Brussels Regulation era” (2017) European Competition Law Review, 38(10), pp. 457-469.
24. Chrispas Nyombi & Konstantinos Saliafis, “Rationalising the Defences to Enforcement under the New York Convention” (2017) Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, Vol 17(1) pp. 110-129.
25. Chrispas Nyombi “EU Reform of International Investment Law in the Shadow of Brexit” (2016) International Company and Commercial Law Review 27(12), 395-403 (Sweet & Maxw.
26. Chrispas Nyombi, Alexander Kibandama & David Justin Bakibinga, “The Motivations Behind the Uganda Insolvency Act 2011” (2014) Journal of Business Law, 8, pp.651-666. One of the leading journals in the field of Commercial Law.
27. Chrispas Nyombi and David Justin Bakibinga, “Corporate Personality: The Unjust Foundation of English Company Law” (2014). Kluwer, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 65(2), pp. 94-103.
28. Chrispas Nyombi & Tom Mortimer and Rhidian Lewis, “Italian Torpedoes in the Shadow of the Recast Brussels Regulation 2012” (2014) European Competition Law Review, 36(6), pp. 263-268.
29. Chrispas Nyombi, “Employees’ rights during insolvency” (2013) International Journal of Law and Management, 55(6), pp.417-428.
30. Chrispas Nyombi, “Unfairness and Confusion: Inherent Features of Floating Charge Security” (2012) The Law Teacher, 46(2), pp.197-203.
