Dr. R.J.M. Lefeber (1962) has been appointed Professor of International Environment Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam.

René Lefeber's research focuses on liability for environmental damage, compliance with international environmental law and the sustainable management of international areas. The primary environmental aspects which his work deals with are climate change and the use of new technologies. His research is closely connected to his extensive international experience. Lefeber is chair of multilateral negotiations on damage caused by the use of biotechnology, member of various international committees which oversee compliance with multilateral environmental agreements, and representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in an intergovernmental committee for the management of international areas.

Lefeber studied Dutch Law and Political Science at the University of Leiden, and obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1996 with a dissertation entitled Transboundary Environmental Interference and the Origin of State Liability. Lefeber has been a senior legal staff member in the International Law Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2000. In this position, he advises the government on international law, including international environmental law, and represents the Kingdom of the Netherlands in international negotiations. From 1994 to 2000, he worked for the legal services departments of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Before that, he worked as Assistant Professor teaching Law of International Organisations at the University of Leiden, and as research trainee and Assistant Professor in International Law at the UvA.