 Hi I'm Dr. Gina Heathcote and I am a reader in gender studies and international law here at SOAS University of London. So about five years ago I set up a summer school in international law to give people who are in the kind of final years of their undergraduate course or commencing perhaps a postgraduate course an opportunity to come and see the way that we teach international law here at SOAS which is I would say quite different to other universities. We focus on all the core and foundational aspects of international law that somebody who would want to go on and be a practitioner needs to know but at the same time we both in the undergraduate postgraduate which flows through into the summer school we think about how international law is perceived and understood from the global south. So looking at the SOAS regions of Asia Africa and the Middle East and their diaspora communities and thinking about the impact and understanding of international law from those perspectives. So if you came to our summer school you would study the foundations of international law, who the subjects of international law are, the sources of international law, different international institutions but you would be asked to think about them through readings that engage with issues from the global south particularly knowledge production, postcolonial theories and their relationship to law and the production of law and thinking about issues such as technology, conflict, the environment, less so from the position of powerful states and their histories and more so from perhaps states that feel the effect of those things. In addition this year we've all incorporated in our walking tour of war memorials in London and to talk about international legal histories which is important emerging field and methodology in international law being driven by international laws who use legal objects to understand the law. So why come to London and embark on this summer school? Well I think if you're interested in international law we offer a unique perspective and series of resources to engage with international law while also giving the opportunity to understand the basics of international law for whatever other study you might be going on to.