Melis Yuksel is a PhD candidate at Hacettepe University (Ankara) and research assistant at Atilim University (Ankara), with a primary interest in public international law and EU law. Her PhD research focuses on the international responsibility of states and transboundary environmental harms. She currently continues her studies at NOVA School of Law within the scope of Erasmus+ mobility programme. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Bilkent University (Ankara) and has master’s degrees from Hacettepe University in Informational Technology Law as well as in Public Law. Her master’s thesis research, completed as part of the Public Law programme, concentrated on the concept of common heritage of mankind and the question of determining the legal status of Antarctica. She has conducted various academic studies on the legal regime applicable to Antarctica. Her most recent study, forthcoming in the Yearbook of Polar Law, is entitled The World’s Southernmost Continent in International Law: an Exclusive Legal Regime? She is a member of the SCAR Standing Committee on the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists and the European Society of International Law.