Catharine Titi

She decided to study law at a young age, when she discovered the legal speeches of Lysias, an ancient Greek orator.^[5] Before joining the CNRS, she studied in Greece and London, and then went on to obtain a PhD (summa cum laude, Rolf H. Brunswig Prize)^[6] in Germany.^[5] In addition to her legal background, she has a history of art degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art.^[7]

Her work focuses on public international law,^[8] and in particular on equity in international law,^[9] international investment law,^[10][11] and cultural heritage law.^[12][13] She co-chairs the Academic Forum on ISDS,^[14] a scientific society with a particular interest in the negotiations on reform of investor-state dispute settlement in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She is an expert in the repatriation of cultural property^[15][16] and a member of the Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Chair on Threats to Cultural Heritage.^[17] In 2016, she became the first woman to be awarded the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize by the International Arbitration Club of New York (IACNY).^[18]

In her 2023 book, The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, she argued that the Parthenon Marbles currently exposed in the British Museum should be repatriated to Greece on legal grounds.^[19] Commentators have described the work as "a tour de force on the law",^[20] "truly groundbreaking",^[21] "compelling",^[22] and "marvellously written and with a keen eye for both detail and nuance".^[20] Since 2025, she is a member of the French Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. For her engagement in the matter, French media has often seen her as a successor to Melina Mercouri.^[5][16]

In 2026, she published her first co-authored nonfiction book in Spanish, Arte secuestrado: Los mármoles del Partenón, el penacho de Moctezuma y otras historias ocultas de nuestros museos (Abducted Art: The Parthenon Marbles, Moctezuma's Headdress and Other Hidden Stories of Our Museums).^[2] She described writing in Spanish as a "wonderful" challenge.^[23]

Monographs

• The Parthenon Marbles and International Law (Springer 2023)
• The Function of Equity in International Law (Oxford University Press 2021)
• The Right to Regulate in International Investment Law (Nomos & Hart 2014)

Edited books

• The Award in International Investment Arbitration (with Katia Fach Gómez) (Oxford University Press 2024)
• Mediation in International Commercial and Investment Disputes (with Katia Fach Gómez) (Oxford University Press 2021)
• International Investment Law and Competition Law (with Anastasios Gourgourinis and Katia Fach Gómez) (Springer 2020)
• International Investment Law and the Law of Armed Conflict (with Anastasios Gourgourinis and Katia Fach Gómez) (Springer 2019)

Non-fiction (in Spanish)

• Arte secuestrado: Los mármoles del Partenón, el penacho de Moctezuma y otras historias ocultas de nuestros museos (with Katia Fach Gómez) (Península 2026)