Professor Ceri Warnock receives RMLA Outstanding Person Award 2026

The Resource Management Law Association is pleased to announce Professor Ceri Warnock as the recipient of the 2026 RMLA Outstanding Person Award.

Presented at the RMLA Annual Awards in the Bay of Islands, the award recognises outstanding contributions to the advancement of resource management law, theory or practice in New Zealand, including nationally recognised impact, professional excellence and leadership.

Ceri has made a significant and enduring contribution to resource management law through her work as an educator, researcher, author and practitioner. In selecting Ceri for this year’s award, particular weight was placed on her contribution through education and the long-term development of the profession, including her influence across generations of resource management practitioners, together with her nationally and internationally recognised scholarship and thought leadership in environmental adjudication and resource management law.

An influence across generations

Education has been a defining part of Ceri’s contribution.

Ceri spent 18 years at the University of Otago Faculty of Law, where her teaching introduced generations of students and emerging professionals to resource management and environmental law. Her contribution extended well beyond teaching the subject: assessment of her nomination recognised the way she encouraged critical thinking, professional rigour and public-interest engagement, helping to develop the capability and confidence of those entering the profession.

Her nomination also speaks personally to that impact. It describes a lecturer and supervisor who was generous with her knowledge, supportive of students and passionate about resource management law, and notes that many of her former students have gone on to careers in environmental and planning law in New Zealand and internationally.

Scholarship and practice

Ceri is also nationally and internationally recognised for her scholarship in environmental adjudication and resource management law.

She was awarded the New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship in 2014 and undertook research at the University of Oxford into environmental adjudication. Her research has been published in leading legal journals, and she is the author of Environmental Courts and Tribunals: Powers, Integrity and the Search for Legitimacy.

Ceri delivered the 2018 RMLA Salmon Lecture and has contributed to international conferences and special-edition journals on environmental adjudication.

Her career has also combined academia with legal practice. Before joining AUT, Ceri worked at Te Papa Atawhai / Department of Conservation as Legal Counsel, representing the Director-General in resource management litigation. Earlier in her career, she practised as a barrister in England and Wales for 10 years. She holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and a master’s degree in environmental law from the University of Auckland.

A new chapter at AUT

Ceri joined Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Law School as a Professor in April 2026. She has since been appointed Head of School / Dean of Law, a role she will take up on 28 September 2026.

The appointment marks a new chapter in a career that has already had a significant influence on resource management scholarship, practice and, importantly, the people entering the profession.

RMLA congratulates Professor Ceri Warnock on receiving the 2026 Outstanding Person Award and recognises her enduring contribution to resource management law and to generations of practitioners across Aotearoa New Zealand.