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| (Left 4)UM’s first doctor of law Mr. Jiao Yanpeng and members of the examination committee |
Mr. Jiao Yanpeng, a University of Macau (UM) PhD candidate in Criminal Juridical Sciences, recently passed his thesis defense with excellence, becoming UM’s first doctor of law since the university launched PhD programmes in law more than three years ago. Mr. Jiao’s PhD supervisor was Prof. Zhao Guoqiang of the Faculty of Law, who is a renowned expert on criminal law.
Mr. Jiao’s PhD thesis, “A Study on Basic Theory of Ecological Legal Interest in Criminal Law”, took him more than two years to complete. The examination committee was chaired by UM’s vice rector (academic affairs) Prof. Simon Ho. Other members included Prof. Zhao Bingzhi, dean of Beijing Normal University’s School of Law & College for Criminal Law Science and president of China Law Society’s Criminal Law Research Committee; Prof. Wang Shuyi, director of Wu Han University’s Research Institute of Environmental Law and vice president of China Law Society’s Environmental and Resources Law Research Committee; Prof. Ivan Y. Sun of the University of Delaware; Prof. Zhao Guoqiang of UM’s FLL who was also Mr. Jiao’s PhD supervisor; and Prof. Lok Wai Kin and Prof. Fan Jianhong , also from UM’s FLL.
At the end of the thesis defence, Prof. Zhao Bingzhi made comments on behalf of the examination committee. He said that the examination committee thought highly of the subject of the thesis and considered the thesis to be a cutting-edge, expansive cross-disciplinary study. Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach that covered various realms such as criminal law and environmental law, the thesis put forward some original insights and tentative ideas about “ecological legal interest in criminal law”, and made a major contribution to the development of the studies of criminal law, especially regarding the studies of environmental crimes. During the process of the thesis defence, Mr. Jiao responded to the examination committee’s multi-disciplinary questions with articulate and well-organized answers, reflecting his thorough thought devoted to the thesis subject as well as his possession of abundant theoretical knowledge required of a PhD candidate.
Members of the examination committee were of the unanimous opinion that Jiao’s thesis was an excellent PhD thesis and expressed their congratulations on UM’s having produced its first doctor of law. Vice Rector (academic affairs) Prof. Simon Ho expressed thanks to all committee members, especially to the three members from the US and mainland China, for their having come all the way to attend the thesis defence.
