VUB Contextual Research in Law

Jemmy Suwannaluck joins CORE as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. dr. Dave De ruysscher and Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt . His research focuses on the legal history of sovereign debt and default, with particular attention to the development of collective negotiations and the legal mechanisms through which sovereign debt has been addressed historically and in international economic law.  Jemmy presents himself as follows:  I approach law across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, with research interests ranging from international law to legal history. I am particularly interested in how legal norms and institutions evolve through encounters between different actors, jurisdictions and economic interests, and in the broader social and cultural contexts in which these interactions unfold. My doctoral research brings this approach to the legal history of sovereign debt and default, exploring the development of collective negotiations. Through historical analysis, I ...

(image source: ESIL )   dr. Stefano Cattelan will present at the European Society of International Law/Société européenne de droit international 's Annual Conference, namely at the pre-conference event " Conflict, Crisis, Continuity - Historical Perspectives " at the Universidad de Malaga on 3 September 2026, organised by the Interest Group History of International Law. More information on the ESIL IGHIL's website .

(image source:  TREATYLAB )  Three full-time PhD vacancies for the ERC Consolidator Grant TREATYLAB ("The Labyrinth of Treaties, 1712-1763. International Law Behind the Scenes of Early Enlightenment Diplomacy") have been published.  More information on the project's  website .

  Prof. Laurent De Sutter intervenes in Valencia this week to present the Spanish translation of “Décevoir est un plaisir”.  More information on the QR-code. 

On Thursday 25 June, dr. Raphaël Cahen chaired the panel „Multinormativität“ at the symposium organised by the Institut für Rechts- und Verfassungsgeschichte“ at the University of Vienna.  The gathering was organised by his pupils dr. Sebastian Spitra (Vienna), dr. Nina Keller-Kemmerer (Gießen), dr. Hendrik Simon (Frankfurt) and dr. Anastasia Hanmerschmied (Vienna) to celebrate the 60th. birthday of prof. Miloš Vec. Prof. Luigi Nuzzo (Salento) presented a celebratory address.  Dean, institute President and thirteen panelists from legal history, intellectual property law, criminology, public international law, journalism, contemporary history, comparative law and legal theory (with an appearance of a film director) presented perspectives on multinormativity, history of science, international law and science communication.  

  The MICOLL ERC project organised the international conference entitled “Have the Gods Fallen? An Interdisciplinary Reconsideration of Lex Mercatoria and Commercial Revolution”, which took place in Venice from 17 to 20 June 2026, between the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani (DSCV) and Venice International University (VIU – Isola di San Servolo).  The event, held under the direction of Prof. Stefania Gialdroni (University of Padua), formed part of the final-stage activities of the ERC Consolidator Grant MICOLL (2021–2027), dedicated to the historical development of commercial law and language between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries. The discussions focused on the plurality of legal practices, the circulation of commercial vocabularies, and the role of linguistic and institutional fragmentation in shaping medieval and early modern commerce.  Within this framework, the Venice meeting contributed to the broader MICOLL research agenda on the mobility of legal concep...