Helen Arling studied law in Cologne, Beijing and Maastricht. She holds an LL.M. in Globalisation and Law with a specialisation in Human Rights from Maastricht University and defended her PhD thesis at Trier University in February 2025. During her doctoral research on rights of nature, she was a visiting researcher at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá. Her publications address issues of international and German public law, with a focus on human rights and environmental law. She is currently completing her legal traineeship at the Higher Regional Court of Coblenz, part of which she undertook at the General Court of the European Union.