SSLT 2026: "Consenting, Promising and the Power to Contract" by Wang Gungwu prize recipient, Irina Sakharova

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SSLT 2026: “Consenting, Promising and the Power to Contract” by Wang Gungwu prize recipient, Irina Sakharova

SSLT 2026: “Consenting, Promising and the Power to Contract” by Wang Gungwu prize recipient, Irina Sakharova

April 13, 2026 | Programmes, Research

The Centre for Legal Theory (CLT) at NUS Law was pleased to welcome Dr Irina Sakharova as our first Singapore Symposium in Legal Theory (SSLT) speaker for 2026.

Dr Sakharova is an Assistant Professor in Commercial Law at Durham University, where she convenes and teaches Contract Law and Legal Philosophy modules. She obtained her PhD from NUS Law in 2022 and was the recipient of the prestigious Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for the Best PhD Thesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities for that year.

For her lecture, “Consenting, Promising and the Power to Contract”, Dr Sakharova discussed how consent can be construed to ‘change people’s rights and obligations’ and challenged the idea that contracts are simply built on consent, suggesting that the legal power to create binding obligations goes beyond merely agreeing.

Dr Sakharova also moderated the Roundtable session held on 14 April 2026 on “Rights Under the Criminal Law and the Continuity Thesis,” by CLT Co-Director Professor James Penner.

The CLT was also delighted to have the opportunity, following Dr Sakharova’s presentation, for NUS Law Dean Professor Andrew Simester to present the Wang Gungwu Medal to Dr Sakharova following her seminar. (Dr Sakharova was unable to receive the prize medal in person until now due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.) All of us at the CLT were delighted to mark this remarkable achievement at this time.

This award was especially meaningful for the CLT, as the examiners for Dr Sakharova’s viva were CLT former Co-director Dean Andrew Simester and current Co-Director Professor Andrew Halpin, and current Co-Director Professor James Penner was her thesis supervisor.