Department of Labour and Environmental Law

About the department

The department of labour and environmental law was established on 26 June 2019. The establishment is determined by the purpose of development and research in the field of labour law, social security law, environmental law, land law and related disciplines in the framework of the Program of increase of competitiveness of Lobachevsky University among the world’s leading scientific and educational centers.

15 teachers work at the department, including: 2 professors, 8 associate professors, 3 lecturers and 2 specialists.

The department has three following aims:

• implementation of educational programs (including postgraduate education programs) for the purpose of training highly qualified specialists in the field of labour law, social security law, environmental law, land law and related disciplines;
• conducting research in the field of labour law, social security law, environmental law, land law and related disciplines;
• participation in the organization and popularization of legal knowledge, career guidance, interaction and cooperation with specialized organizations among students.

The Department employs highly qualified specialists in the field of law:

Marina Baranova, Doctor of Juridical Sciences, Professor is a member of Russian Academy of Sciences:

Fedor Rumyantsev, Doctor of Juridical Sciences, Professor is a member of Certification board of Forestry Department of Nizhny Novgorod region;

Svetlana Soloveva, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor is The head of Mediation and Law Center of Law Faculty of Lobachevsky University:

Irina Filipova, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor is The head of two grant projects of Law Faculty: “Change in the Principles of Legal Regulation of Labour in Connection with the Transformation of Labour Relations in the Digital Economy”, funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) in accordance with research project No. 19-011-00320 and “European labour law: protection of human rights”, co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union.

Konstantin Kargin, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor is director of Nizhny Novgorod regional department of Assocoation of Lawyers of Russia and member of Qualification board of Ministry of Economic Affairs of Nizhny Novgorod region.

Julia Primenko, Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor is accredited in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as an independent expert authorized to conduct an examination of draft regulations and other documents on corruption.

According to Scientific Electronic Library, Marina Baranova, Svetlana Soloveva, Irina Filipova and Viktor Tsyganov are in the top 100 scientists in the sphere of law of Nizhny Novgorod region with the highest number of scientific publications and the highest rank of Science Citation Index.

Teaching staff of the Department have developed and implemented in the educational process such relevant courses as “Basic course of Mediation”, “Mediation in professional activity”, “Mediation in the educational space”, “International and national labor law”, “Actual problems of natural resource law” etc.

 Science

The Department conducts research work: teachers participate in international, all-Russian, regional scientific conferences; in the preparation of scientific publications in different publication sources and in realization of some grants.

The department holds three main scientific projects.

1) Mediation as an interdisciplinary institution: legal and social aspects

Research on mediation as an alternative way to resolve legal disputes has been conducted at the faculty of law since 2012. The scientific interest was aroused by the adoption of the Federal law “About the alternative dispute resolution procedure (mediation procedure)”, the expanding world practice in this field, and the need to create conditions for training qualified specialists with the skills to conduct mediation in law schools and law faculties of universities.

Since 2015, the law faculty has been operating a mediation and law Center, whose main activities are:

– research, organizational, legal and analytical activities on the problems of introducing conciliatory methods of dispute resolution;

– working with General education institutions to teach mediation to students, teachers, and employees of school mediation service centers;

– professional development of specialists of a wide profile for the purpose of training in alternative methods of dispute resolution and implementation of mediation in legal and social practice;

– cooperation with state and municipal authorities, courts, prosecutor’s offices, notaries, lawyers, etc. for the implementation of mediation training for civil servants and workers of these structures.

The head of the Center – Svetlana Soloveva, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor.

2) Grant project “Change in the Principles of Legal Regulation of Labour in Connection with the Transformation of Labour Relations in the Digital Economy”

The study is funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) in accordance with research project No. 19-011-00320.

Russian Foundation for Basic Research was created by decree #426 of the President of the Russian Federation “On urgent measures for preserving scientific and technological potential of the Russian Federation” and is a self-governed state nonprofit organisation in the form of a federal organisation controlled by the Government of the Russian Federation.

About the Project.

Wage labour is the main source of livelihood for billions of people in the modern world. Increasing informatization of society affects the structure of labour relations, gradually changing their content. The result of the next stage of digital development in the paradigm of Industry 4.0 will be the universal robotization of the economy. This will inevitably amend the subject composition of the employment relationship.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will radically change the technological structure, the labour market and the social environment. The loss of jobs for people in favour of robots will become a worldwide problem. International organizations and legislative bodies of some states are already discussing the issue of granting the status of “electronic personhood” to robots. This means the recognition of “smart” robots as subjects of labour law in the future.

The current labour legislation is not able to effectively protect human workers when including artificial intelligence in labour relations. The existing principles of legal regulation of labour do not meet the needs of society in the digital economy.

This project includes a study of the problems associated with the upcoming transformation of labour relations. The project aims to solve these problems through the formulation of some new principles of legal regulation of labour. The project implementation will prepare the ground for timely amendments to Russian legislation.

Project website: https://irinafilipova7.wixsite.com/project-rfbr.

The head of the project – Irina Filipova, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor.

3) Grant project “European labour law: protection of human rights”

The study is co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union in accordance with grant agreement No. 2017-3334/025-001.

About the Project.

The study of the European experience in the field of training of labour and employment standards and the experience of applying these standards to improve the level of protection of human rights are very important for Russians, including law students, managers, young researchers, those who can contribute to the formation of a single legal field with the EU in the future.

During the preparation of this project, European labour legislation, judicial practice and the experience of European universities were studied.

The implementation of the project contributes to:

– assimilation of the main provisions of European labour legislation with an emphasis on the protection of human rights by students;

– acquisition of the necessary skills to understand the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the ECHR;

– encouraging the search for ways to improve Russian labour legislation;

– acceptance of humanistic values.

Project website: https://irinafilipova7.wixsite.com/project.

The head of the project – Irina Filipova, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor.

Structure