Yue Cao

Yue is a DPhil in Law candidate at Jesus College, University of Oxford. His doctoral research, generously sponsored by the Clarendon Scholarship and supervised by Professor Antonios Tzanakopoulos, focuses on the legality of unilateral economic measures under the principle of non-intervention. His research interests lie broadly in a number of areas of public international law, including international law and armed conflicts, international law of the sea, and international dispute settlement.

Prior to his DPhil, Yue completed his LLB at Koguan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), graduating 1st out of his cohort. He then obtained his MJur (Distinction, awarded the Clifford Chance Prize for the Best Performance in the MJur) and MPhil in Law (Distinction) degrees from the University of Oxford.

During his studies, Yue has served multiple roles in international legal research and practice, e.g. as a researcher and editor at the Center of International Law Practice at SJTU, as a researcher and advisor for the Chinese Initiative on International Law, an NGO granted consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, and as a researcher assisting in the Climate Litigation Network Project (CLN) at Oxford Pro Bono Publico. He is also currently a co-convenor of the Chinese Law Discussion Group.

Apart from the Clarendon Scholarship, Yue has received a variety of other scholarships and awards, such as the 2023 Chinese Rhodes Scholarship Finalist, the 11th Han Kun Youth Legal Scholarship, Chinese National Scholarship (twice), the Dean’s Scholarship at Koguan Law School, the Bruce Reynolds Prize for Best Performance in the BCL/MJur, the 2022 CLECSS-Fangda Overseas Legal Scholarship, the Shanghai Municipal Scholarship, the Tang Lixin Scholarship, and the Chun-Tsung Scholarship, etc.