About
Ayelet Berman is Associate Professor (Visiting) at the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the Lead of the Law & Governance Program at the Asia Centre for Health Security. She also leads the Global Health Law & Governance Program at the National University of Singapore Centre for International Law (CIL).
Previously she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore School of Law, a Senior Research Fellow at CIL (where she focused on International Investment Law & Policy), and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration (Geneva). Before academia, she practiced international trade law at Sidley LLC (Geneva) and commercial/regulatory law at Herzog, Fox & Neeman (Tel Aviv).
Ayelet is a researcher, author, editor, and international lawyer, recognized for her leadership in global law and policy. Her expertise is in the law, policy, and governance aspects of global health, health security, biosecurity, synthetic biology, and emerging technologies. Her focus is on international and regional law, as well as Asian jurisdictions. Her expertise also covers global governance, international organizations, international trade law, international investment law, and international arbitration. She has written, taught, and spoken extensively in these fields and is often invited to speak at international conferences and events. She is also engaged in policy development, including providing expert advice to international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, the European Court of Human Rights, or the OECD.
She has published books with Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, articles in top peer-reviewed journals such as the European Journal of International Law, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, and the American Journal of International Law, and policy reports. Her commentary has been featured in the South China Morning Post and Time Magazine.
Her professional leadership is widely recognized, and her leadership activities include: member of the editorial board of BMJ Public Health, co-chair (elected) of the American Society of International Law Interest Group on International Organizations (2020-2023), member of the International Law Association Steering Committee on Health (2021-2023), member of the OECD International Organizations Partnership academic friends advisory group (since 2016), member of the AI-Bio Forum, and more.
She holds a Ph.D. in international law (summa cum laude ‘with congratulations of the committee’) and a DEA in international law (minor in political science) from the Graduate Institute in Geneva. Her PhD won the 2015 SNIS Award for Best PhD in International Studies, which is granted to the best PhD in a given year in all of Switzerland in the field of international studies (from all disciplines). She holds an LLB (magna cum laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is admitted to the Israeli bar. She also holds a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration (CiArb). She speaks English, German, Hebrew, and some French. She is married and has three children.