VUB Contextual Research in Law

  The program for the conference " Contested Seas: War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea " is now available, including a registration link. More information here .

(source: TREATYLAB) Today, we welcomed three new PhD candidates  on the ERC Consolidator Grant TREATYLAB: Arlan Hoste, Mathias Campens and Lorenzo Veglia. More information on the new team members on TREATYLAB's website .

(image source: BSoG ) dr. Stefano Cattelan was interviewed by two students of the Brussels School of Governance on contemporary evolutions in the law of the sea. Abstract: In this episode of Noctua, hosts Michela Franzosi and Matthew Jones are joined by Prof Dr Stefano Cattelan, Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Governance and Postdoctoral Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Specialising in the history of international law and the Law of the Sea, his research explores the development of maritime law and its continuing relevance to contemporary ocean governance. Together, they explore some of the most pressing contemporary issues in the Law of the Sea, focusing on the interception by Israel of a flotilla attempting to breach its naval blockade, China’s construction of artificial islands in the Pacific Ocean, and U.S. strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea suspected of transporting drugs. Through these cases, they discuss how international law regulates state condu...

(image source: Routledge) Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed a chapter on the history of the international law of responsible business to The Routledge Companion to International Law and Responsible Business , edited by Bart F. Wernaart and published by Routledge.  Read more here .

(image source: Firenze University Press) Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed to the roundtable “Risk, Uncertainty and Bankruptcy before Modernity: Language, Experience and Historical Understanding”, published in the collective volume Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk Management, Insolvency, and Bankruptcy in the Pre-Modern World (13th-18th Centuries) , edited by Angela Orlandi.  Read the contribution here in open access: DOI 10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.32.

  (image: Passau; Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Prof. Frederik Dhondt and dr. Stefano Cattelan will present the ERC Consolidator Grant TREATYLAB at the Transkribus User Conference 2026 in Passau (Germany). More information on the conference website .