David joined Loughborough University in September 2026. He was previously a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen Mary University of London (2024-26) and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in International Law and Governance at the University of Glasgow (2022-24), where he served as Director of International Law Mooting and coordinator of the Glasgow Human Rights Network. From 2021-2022, David was Policy Officer (Social Justice) at Citizens Advice Scotland, leading the organisation’s campaigns on social security and employment.
David completed his PhD at the Manchester International Law Centre, University of Manchester, his LLM at the University of Helsinki, and his LLB (Hons) at the University of Glasgow. He was previously a visiting researcher at the iCourts Institute, University of Copenhagen (2019) and a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law (2017), the University of Zurich (2016-17), and the Erik Castrén Institute at the University of Helsinki (2015-16).
David is currently completing a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship on ‘The Turn to Time in Contemporary International Legal Thought’ (PFSS24/240021). Using an interdisciplinary method drawn from German historian Reinhart Koselleck, the project examines international lawyers’ use of temporal framings over the past quarter century to make distinct interventions into contemporary international law debates. Studying how international lawyers have used history and theory to situate international law within particular pasts, presents, and futures, his research engages broadly with historiography, legal theory, climate change litigation, and critical approaches to international law.
Prior to this, David has published widely on international legal theory and human rights law, including an expert report for the Human Rights Consortium and Who Cares? Scotland on the protection of Care Experienced people under the proposed Scottish Human Rights Bill.
David teaches moot skills as part of The Lawyer’s Toolkit module. He has long-standing relationship with the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, having been a competitor, coach, and judge since 2014, and has published research on critical moot pedagogy in ‘The Politics of the Moot Court’ (European Journal of International Law, co-authored with Ukri Soirila). He has previously delivered undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in public international law, constitutional law, and jurisprudence.
- David M. Scott, ‘Timing the Environment in International Law: Reflections on Temporality in the Three Advisory Opinions on Climate Change’ in Jannika Jahn, Moritz Vinken, and Khaled El Mahmoud (eds), The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: At the Forefront of the Structural Transformation of International Law (Nomos Verlag, 2026) 129–138 - available Open Access
- David M. Scott, ‘Environmental Chronic Emergencies and the Challenge of Temporality’ in Sara De Vido, Deborah Russo, and Enzamaria Tramontana (eds), Gendering International Legal Responses to Environmental Chronic Emergencies (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026) 129-147 - available Open Access
- David M Scott, ‘Rethinking the Turn to History as a Turn to Time’ (2024) 9(2) Jus Gentium: Journal of International Legal History 401
- David M Scott, ‘History as Deconstruction, History as Reconstruction: Time and Structure in Critical International Law’ (2022) 35 Hague Yearbook of International Law 109
- David M Scott, ‘The Scottish Human Rights Bill and UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies: How Should Scottish Decision-Makers Treat “International Materials”?’ (2024) 28(3) Edinburgh Law Review 439
- David Scott, Incorporating International Human Rights: The protection of Care Experienced people’s rights in the Scottish Human Rights Bill, Expert report for the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and Who Cares? Scotland, 25 September 2023
- David M Scott and Ukri Soirila, ‘The Politics of the Moot Court’ (2021) 32(3) European Journal of International Law 1079