Dr. Maria A. Gwynn, MJur (Oxon)

Short Bio 

Dr. Maria A. Gwynn, MJur (Oxon) is a Senior Fellow at the International Law Institute and at the Centre Ernst Robert Curtius (CERC). She is an international lawyer and an international arbitrator.

She has a substantial experience, both academically and in practice, on transboundary water law and on advising States with respect to cooperating in the reasonable and equitable utilization of transboundary water resources. She is a Member of the Implementation Committee of the UN Water Convention as well as a member of the International Water Law Working Group of the World Bank. She is also in the Executive Global Leadership Council of the Global Network of Women in Water Diplomacy, is an International Hydropower Association Fellow and a member of the International Association for Water Law (AIDA), where she was formerly the Chair of Water Partnerships and its representative before UN Water.

Previously, she held the office of Governing Council Member of the Binational Entity ITAIPU (period 2019-2023), the highest governance structure of one of the largest producers of hydropower in the world. She was selected a keynote speaker at UN Headquarters to share her expertise with the international community. During this time she was also Professor of the Strategic Studies Institute of Paraguay, and a member of the Paraguayan National Climate Change Commission. 

At the University of Oxford, she was an Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellow (2016-2018) and held a Post-doctoral Research Fellow position at the Blavatnik School of Government and was SCR Research Associate at University College, University of Oxford (2017-2018); she was later a Visiting SCR Fellow at St Hilda’s College (Trinity Term 2026).

At Princeton University, she held a Post-doctoral Research Fellow position at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA (2016-2017). 

Dr Gwynn graduated as a lawyer with honours from the Faculty of Law, National University of Asuncion, Paraguay obtaining her LLB-Honours degree and is an alumna of the University of Oxford, graduating with a Magister Juris (MJur) from St Hilda’s College. She further holds a PhD magna cum laude from the Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, as well as various postgraduate degrees, among them a Directed Studies Diploma from The Hague Academy of International Law and an International Arbitration Diploma from the College of Law of England and Wales. She acts as a legal expert for the UN and other international institutions and is the author of several books and articles in international journals.

In addition to her distinguished career as an academic and international lawyer, Dr Gwynn is an international arbitrator. She is a member of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), the International Iberoamerican Centre of International Arbitration (CIIAM), and the Paraguayan Arbitration Centre. 

She is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland and was a Member of the CAS Ad Hoc Division for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Dr Gwynn is a former athlete in Fencing  and was a member of the National Team of Paraguay, and as such participated in various international competitions. She was the first participant to inaugurate the Athlete Arbitration Training Programme of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She was an invited expert by UNESCO to the 2025 International Legal Colloquium on reforms to the International Convention against Doping in Sports.

She lectures on international sports law and arbitration, international environmental law, international water law, and regularly participates at international fora covering topics of international law, climate change, transboundary waters, energy, sustainable development and international sports law and arbitration.

Areas of work 

• International Law; International Water Law; International Environmental Law; Renewable Energy and Climate Change; International Treaties; International Investments.
• International Dispute Settlement; International Arbitration; International Sports Law.

Contact

Email: maria.gwynn@uni-bonn.de

Telephone: + (49)-15124504801

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-maría-antonia-gwynn-1b6578b

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.a.gwynn/

Twitter: @MAGgwg

Instagram: dra.maantoniagwynn