An international perspective underscores Panpailin Jantarasombat’s (Law PhD 2025) approach to researching international law and diplomacy.

In the face of the climate crisis, it is crucial to consider what nations ought to be doing to protect present and future generations from its effects. Panpailin’s PhD, funded by the University of Cambridge’s Gates Scholarship, seeks to explore how international legal principles can serve humanity’s long-term needs and safeguard those yet to be born, for the common benefit of humankind.

“What are the obligations of towards this large, amorphous group of people who don’t even exist yet? That seemed to be such an open question,” says Panpailin.

“It’s well debated in philosophy, in ethics and in international relations, but the legal force behind it is very, very unclear.

“A lot of the narrative is about the needs of the present generation, the need for a balance of economic development with more long-term interests. But the long-term interest has not really been crystallised yet.

“The crux of considering the needs of future generations is that you should be able to influence policies not just on climate but on Artificial Intelligence, cultural heritage, the law of war, and all different areas of international law, to embed long-term thinking and long-term interest into decision-making. Because future generations don’t really have a voice, as they don’t exist yet.”

Panpailin admits that promoting sustainability for those in the future can be challenging, as the impact of her work is less concrete than in other areas of law. Nonetheless, she stresses that protecting future generations is very much a present issue.

The importance Panpailin lays on establishing an international legal framework to tackle this issue stems from her fascination with how global norms connect and impact people’s lives, instilled in her from a young age. Her family was regularly on the move, and growing up Panpailin lived variously in Thailand, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan and the UK.

“I was fortunate to grow up in a lot of places, and I’m very grateful for it,” she adds. “It definitely shaped my whole educational experience. Being able to see a lot of cultures exposed me to different ways of life and different perspectives.”

Living in Pakistan, around the age when she started at high school, was particularly influential for Panpailin.

She adds: “I spent my formative years there. At that time, Pakistan was portrayed in the media as a country that wasn’t really safe, and that was the only narrative you saw. I was 13 and knew there was a bit more to the story than that narrative, but I didn’t realise how much more, or how close I would be to my friends and to their culture, and how beautiful the country is.

“These were lessons I carried with me when I started studying law, because you have to see law from different perspectives. That really informed my choice to do what I do now.”

Since completing her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary University of London, Panpailin has worked as a diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand. There she has been involved in a range of areas including negotiating the United Nations (UN) drugs- and crime-related resolutions and the pandemic treaty, representing Thailand in the UN General Assembly Legal Committee, leading Free Trade Agreements negotiations on legal issues, and providing legal counsel for Thailand at the International Court of Justice’s Obligations of States in respect of climate change advisory opinion. It was the latter which inspired Panpailin to undertake her PhD.

In her own future, Panpailin hopes to continue representing Thailand at the UN and to contribute towards institutionalising policies that will protect future generations. She believes that her current research will complement the efforts of the UN to do so.

“It would be nice to see some sort of framework or convention on future generations as opposed to just declarations or soft law – something that would institutionalise long-term thinking even more into our policymaking,” she says.

“I hope I get to play a part in that.”