Dr

Rafael

Savva

Rafael joined the University of Sheffield in September 2026. He specialises in EU and UK corporate and securities law, with a particular focus on how these frameworks can promote corporate governance and business practices that facilitate and advance sustainable development. Rafael’s work explores the evolving relationship between corporate regulation and sustainable development, including the role of investor stewardship in promoting responsible business conduct, the influence of competing theories of corporate governance on corporate and securities law, and the development of regulatory mechanisms designed to embed sustainable development goals in corporate practice. He also investigates how corporate and securities law intersect with other legal domains, such as business and human rights, to support more holistic approaches to corporate accountability.

His current research focuses on the regulatory drivers of corporate sustainability and the changing dynamics of investor stewardship. He is also a Co-PI with members of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business and frontline support providers on LEGES (“Lived Experiences Guiding Effective Supply Chain Regulation for Combating Modern Slavery in Business”), a participatory research project that co-creates a methodology with practitioners working to combat modern slavery to develop proposals for reforming relevant business laws, grounded in the lived experiences of affected communities.

In addition to his academic research, Rafael advises practitioners and organisations on matters relating to corporate law and sustainable development. He is also committed to teaching and mentoring future legal professionals. His teaching approach combines critical analysis with experiential learning, including game-based learning and Virtual Reality (VR) environments, to help students understand how law can shape more sustainable corporate behaviour.