Congrès : "26th International Roundtable for the Semiotics of Law (IRSL)"

Day 1

Monday, 6 July 2026

Foundations: Semiotics, Language & Legal Meaning

08h50

The Linguistic Turn in Environmental Law in Hong Kong
Jennifer Anne Eagleton, Hong Kong.
Jennifer Eagleton, a long-term Hong Kong resident, is a close observer of Hong Kong society and politics. An applied linguist, Jennifer completed a PhD (2012) on how democracy discourse in Hong Kong. Her recent book is Hong Kong’s “Second Return” to China: A Critical Discourse Study of The National Security Law and its Aftermath (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Her current project is The Discourse of Protest in Post-handover in Hong Kong: A Multimodal Analysis of the Objects of Resistance and the Semiotics of National Security (Routledge).

09h10

Strategic Impoliteness and Media Reception in the Climate Discourse of Greta Thunberg
Nathalie Hauksson-Tresch, Linnaeus University, Sweden.
Nathalie Hauksson-Tresch is a senior lecturer, Programme coordinator for Language and Politics/SPIK

09h30

Discussion

Greenwashing, Labels & Consumer Law

09h50

The Semiotics of Environmental Claims: Certification, Communication, and the Regulation of Greenwashing in EU Law Maciej Nyka and Justyna Przedańska, University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Law and Administration – Poland.

Dr hab Maciej Nyka, Professor of the University of Gdansk, Professor of the Gdansk Medical University. Head of the Economic Law and Environmental Department at the Faculty of Law and Administration, at the University of Gdansk. Author of over 100 articles books and chapters on environmental protection law. His research concentrates mostly on international and EU environmental law. Currently working on numerous projects concerning the functioning and implementation of the One Health concept into the law

10h10

From Eco-Labels to Liability: Consumer Litigation as a Proxy for Environmental Accountability
Inbar Druyan, University of Haifa, Faculty of Law – Israel.
Inbar Druyan is a lawyer, Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at the University of Haifa Faculty of Law, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Haifa. Her research focuses on corporate liability for environmental harm, environmental justice, and climate accountability, with particular attention to the intersection of tort law, corporate governance, and sustainability. She also leads strategic environmental litigation and community-based environmental justice initiatives.

10h30

Between Truth and Simulation: Legal Semiotics of the Right to Memory

Mirosław Michał Sadowski LLD, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dr. Mirosław M. Sadowski is Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland; Scientific Fellow at the Memory and Justice Research Center in Vilnius; and Scientific Board Member at CRIR – Centre for Research on International Relations. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). A legal theoretician of culture, his main interests lie at the intersections of law and memory, sociology of law, cultural heritage law, and the law of Hong Kong and Macau SARs, although he also explores international law and political science in his research. An alumnus of the International Postdoctoral Programme (IPP) at CEBRAP – Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning in São Paulo, Brazil, he has participated with a paper in over 50 conferences and has over 30 publications, including the monograph “Intersections of Law and Memory: Influencing Perceptions of the Past” (Routledge 2024), based on his doctorate.

10h50

The Linguistic Construction of Consumer Protection in Vietnamese Law: a Systemic Functional Approach
Ly Tuan Phan, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam.
Digvijay Singh Rana is an Assistant Professor of Law at O. P. Jindal Global University. His area of interest is the intersection of law and technology.

11h10

Discussion & Pause

Digital & Algorithmic Semiotics

11h40

L’asymétrie sémiotique algorithmique: le traitement automatique du langage face aux défis interprétatifs du droit de la consommation

Ahmad Ichrakieh and May Hammoud, Kuwait International Law School, Koweït.
Professor Ahmad Ichrakieh is Professor of Private Law at the Lebanese University and is currently Visiting Professor at Kuwait International Law School. He holds a PhD in Law, with a specialization in law and new technologies, from the Faculty of Law of Montpellier. His research focuses mainly on arbitration, contracts, law and new technologies, artificial intelligence, and the legal challenges raised by digital transformation.

Dr. May Hammoud holds a PhD in Law from Paris II Panthéon-Assas University. Her research focuses on consumer protection in comparative Lebanese and French law, particularly in insurance and banking contracts. She is currently Associate Professor of Law at Kuwait International Law School. Her research interests include comparative private law, consumer protection, digital regulation, and the legal challenges of artificial intelligence and algorithmic interpretation.

12h10

Algorithmic Labelling and the Transformation of Trust in Digital Environmental Governance

Murtaza Mohiqi, Department of Law, University of Agder, Norway; Gagandeep Kaur, UPES, Dehradun, India and Mohammad Kazem Mohaqei, Human Rights Activitist.
Murtaza Mohiqi is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Agder, Norway. He is a law lecturer, legal columnist, and human rights researcher working at the intersection of law, human rights, and technology. He has over a decade of teaching and research experience across the Global South and Global North, with expertise in human rights and private law at both domestic and international levels.

12h30

Digital product passports and design IP: exploring approaches to tracking ownership in circular fashion

Eleanor Rockett, UK.
Eleanor is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion Law at London College of Fashion, a specialist in intellectual property, legal innovation and the intersection of artificial intelligence and business strategy. Drawing on a background in consulting for leading European fashion designers and fashion technology ventures, her work brings together academic rigour and real-world application in one of the UK's most dynamic creative business schools.

12h50

Discussion

13h10

End of the Day 1

Day 2

Tuesday 7th July 2026

Interpretation, Signs & Market Regulation

09h00

From Legalese to Practice: The ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications as a Semiotic Bridge in Teaching Advertising and Consumer Law to Marketing Students

Yuliya Khvatsik, Jönköping international business school (JIBS), Jönköping University JU, Sweden.

09h20

Walls of Shame as Retail Environmental Style: Contextual Privacy and the Semiotics of Truth-Claims in New York Chinatown Supermarkets

Alex Chanhou Lou, DLI Researcher at Cornell University, Macau Fellow Researcher at the University of Macau, Macau.
Dr. Alex Chanhou Lou is a a Macau Fellow Researcher at the University of Macau, and a Visiting Fellow at Cornell Tech’s Digital Life Initiative. His research focuses on privacy discourses, legal history, and contextual integrity, with a particular interest in how the right to privacy has developed across historical and contemporary legal settings. He earned his Ph.D. in Law with honors from Tsinghua University and was previously a Visiting Scholar at Duke University School of Law.

09h40

Discussion & Pause

Greenwashing, Labels & Consumer Law

10h10

Eco-labels as Legal Signs: Interpreting Greenwashing through the Semiotics of Consumer Law

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngam, University of Law, Vietnam University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Nguyen Dinh is a communications professional and a Communication & Mass Media major at Queensland University of Technology, bridging practical advertising strategy with critical media theory inspired by Baudrillard, Barthes, and others. He currently oversees communications for an international firm while organizing collaborative art projects in Vietnam. His current independent research explores the intersections of contemporary social theory, cinematic narratives, and institutional semiotics, as he prepares to pursue graduate studies in Europe.

10h30

Weaving Ecocide into Legal Discourse: The Semiotics of Environmental Harm and the Struggle for Recognition

Dr Veljko Turanjanin, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac – Serbia.
Veljko Turanjanin is Full Professor of Criminal Procedure Law and Vice-Dean for International Cooperation at the Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac, Serbia. His research focuses on criminal procedure, EU criminal law, digital evidence, visual evidence in criminal trials, judicial cooperation, and contemporary challenges in criminal justice systems. He has participated in numerous international academic projects and conferences.

10h50

Discussion

11h10

End of the Day 2 session

Day 3

Wednesday 8th July 2026

Fashion Law & Sustainability

08h30

Adverse Impacts of the Fashion Industry – Focus on the Emerging Regulatory Options

Eva Balounová. Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic.
Eva Balounová (she/her) is an Associate Scholar at the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a Legal Consultant at the Parliamentary Institute of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. She studied law in Prague and Reykjavík. At the Institute of State and Law, she is also involved in science communication and gender equality initiatives.

08h50

The Dark Pattern of Ultra-Fast Fashion: Case Study of Shein

Kata Zsófia Prém, University of Miskolc, Ferenc Deák and Emese Dobos, ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungary.
Kata Zsófia Prém is a PhD candidate at the University of Miskolc, Deák Ferenc Doctoral School of Law. She focuses on Intellectual Property law, especially copyright originality in fashion and photographic works. Her research interests also include trademarks and designs, as well as Fashion law.

Emese Dobos, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the ELTE Center for Economic and Regional Studies. She has a background in art history, communication, media and international studies. Her main research interests are the global fashion value chains, sustainability, and lately, the economic history of the socialist light industry.

09h10

Weaving Responsibility: The Semiotics of Sustainability in Global Fashion Law

Shuma Talukdar, School of Law, Mahindra University, Hyderabad – India.
Shuma Talukdar is a lawyer and a doctoral researcher at the School of Law, Mahindra University, Hyderabad, India. She strongly identifies as an environmentalist and a feminist. With dual master’s in law and public administration, her work engages critically with sustainability law, transnational law, and global governance. Her geographical interest is North-East India.

09h30

Discussion & pause

ESG, Greenwashing & Corporate Narratives

10h10

When Law Becomes Label: ESG Reporting, Greenwashing, and the Semiotic Denaturing of Environmental Governance in the Fashion Industry

Dana Volosevici, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, Romania.
Dana Volosevici is Senior Lecturer in Law and Vice Dean for International Cooperation at the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, Romania. Her research sits at the intersection of EU regulatory law, corporate responsibility, and sustainability governance, examining the tension between the values that legal and corporate discourse claims to embody and the reality of organisational conduct, across themes of workers’ participation, fundamental rights, algorithmic management, and environmental protection.

10h30

Textiles of Truth or Textiles of Talk? Eco-Labels, Greenwashing, and the Legal Meaning of “Sustainable Fashion”

Obbie Afri, Faculty of Law, Károli Gáspár University, Budapest, Hungary.
Obbie Afri is a PhD Candidate in Law and Political Sciences at the Faculty of Law, Károli Gáspár Reformed University in Budapest. His research explores how climate litigation, ESG regulation, and due diligence frameworks reshape corporate and state responsibility for climate-related harm with a particular focus on the energy transition. Previously, he worked for over a decade as a legal and policy analyst at Indonesia’s Financial and Development Supervisory Board (BPKP), advising on corporate governance, M&A, risk management, and sustainability in state-owned enterprises. He holds an LLM in Environmental Law (University of Auckland) and an MA in Development Studies (ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam), and he founded the Indonesian Corporate Law Institute (ICLI).

10h50

From Logo to Loop: Upcycling, Circular Fashion, and the Semiotics of Trademark Interpretation

Yana Shipha Topno, University - National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.

Yana Shipha Topno, a 5^th year law student in National University of Study and Research in Law, with academic interests in Intellectual Property Law. The current paper explores issues relating to trademark law and circular fashion practices, particularly the legal implications of upcycled products containing recognizable

brand identifiers. I am particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary legal challenges and emerging developments in legal scholarship

11h10

Discussion

11h30

End of the Day 3 session

Day 4

Thursday, 9 July 2026

Identity, Power & Legal Symbolism

Law, Clothing & Authority

08h30

Judicial Robe as a Universal Textile of Justice

Prof. Dr. Marko Novak, European Faculty of Law, New University, Department of Legal Theory and History of Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Marko Novak is a full professor of jurisprudence and constitutional law at the European Faculty of Law, New University. And a member of the Slovene Council for the Judiciary. My interests are in legal argumentation, constitutional law, IP law, multimodal argumentation, and social semiotics.

08h50

Who Gets the Robe? Circular Responsibility and the Semiotics of Legal Authority in Postcolonial Vietnam

Dr. Cuong Viet Do, University of Law, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, & Mr. Dinh Cong Nguyen, Communication Specialist.
Dr. Cuong Viet Do is a lecturer at the Faculty of International Law, University of Law, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. His research and teaching focus on international law, international environmental law, energy law, and climate change law and policy. He holds a PhD in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland.

09h10

The “Fabric” of Law in Contemporary India: Legal Dress, Colonial Continuities, and Sustainable Future

Digvijay Singh Rana - O. P. Jindal Global University, India.
Digvijay Singh Rana is an Assistant Professor of Law at O. P. Jindal Global University. His area of interest is the intersection of law and technology.

09h30

Discussion & Pause

Culture, Ritual & Authenticity

10h00

Governing Attributes: Ritual Clothing, Performative Life Laws, and Contestation of Authenticity in Bali Tourism

Dewa Krisna Prasada, Faculty of Law, Universitas Pendidikan Nasional, Indonesia
Dr Dewa Krisna Prasada is a legal scholar whose research focuses on customary law, legal pluralism, Indigenous/community rights, and tourism governance. My recent work examines Balinese customary villages, ritual practices, land rights, and the impact of tourism on cultural and ecological sustainability. I am particularly interested in socio-legal approaches to living law, legal semiotics, and the protection of local communities in tourism development.

10h20

Weaving ESG Narratives: Visual Jurisprudence, Indigenous Textiles, and Environmental Style in Latin America

Carolina Fabara, Post Doctoral Researcher Sun Yat Sen University, China. Dr. Carolina Fabara is an Ecuadorian international lawyer, accredited mediator, and postdoctoral fellow at Sun Yat-sen University, where her research bridges international economic law, foreign direct investment, digital governance, and sustainable development. With a PhD in International Law earned through studies in China and Ecuador, she has built a distinguished career at the crossroads of legal academia, arbitration practice, and cross-border consulting — with a particular focus on China–Latin America economic relations. At the frontier of legal innovation, Dr. Fabara investigates how artificial intelligence is transforming dispute resolution and judicial systems, with a focus on China's internet courts, AI-powered e-commerce arbitration, and the governance of algorithmic justice. Her research interrogates the procedural legitimacy of AI-driven adjudication, the evidentiary challenges of machine-learning systems in online courts, and the power asymmetries that AI tools create between China, the EU, and Latin America. She also explores predictive justice through interdisciplinary lenses — including Confucian philosophy and Marxist critique — examining how cultural narratives shape the normative imagination of algorithmic governance. Her work on AI in banking and financial services further addresses algorithmic bias, consumer protection, and accountability in automated decision-making systems

10h40

Discussion

11h00

End of the Day 2 session

Day 5

Friday, 10 July 2026

Legal Theory, Memory & Closing

Law, Clothing & Authority

10h00

Open Texture Revisited: 50 years after the French Translation of The Concept of Law Mate Paksy, Catholic University of Lille, France.

10h30

Discussion & Pause

11h00

Closing remarks and end of the ISRL 2026