VUB Contextual Research in Law

  Prof. Dr.  Dave De ruysscher  has been awarded the Jean Stengers Prize of the Académie Royale de Belgique for the triennial period 2023–2025.  He received this distinction in recognition of his study A Political Economy Imparted: Trade, Law, and Institutions in Antwerp c. 1400–1680 , a work that sheds new light on the interplay between legal frameworks and economic development in the early modern Low Countries.  Our warmest congratulations to the laureate!

    (image source:  Sciences Po ) On  27 May 2026 , Prof.  Laurent De Sutter  will host a lecture by dr. Amina Hassani (Sciences Po Law School). Abstract: Large corporations suing states for hindering their profits by adopting social or environmental legislation: this is the scene that plays out daily in the private tribunals of investment arbitration (or ISDS, "Investor-State Dispute Settlement"), the cornerstone of globalized capitalism. Forged in the heart of declining empires to preserve, "through the magic of law," the plundering of resources in decolonized countries, this justice of capital has relentlessly extended its reach through international agreements and free trade treaties. In its tribunals, cases affecting the vast majority are decided in secret… to the benefit of multinationals and the "lawyers" who keep the machine running. Amina Hassani brings together all the pieces of the puzzle and shows how arbitration erodes the sovereignty of state...

  (image source: Università di Padova) Dr. Stefano Cattelan will present on Venetian neutrality in eighteenth-century diplomacy at the University of Padova on 22 May 2026. Read more here .

  (source: University of Florence ) Dr. Stefano Cattelan will present his recent monograph Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650)  at the University of Florence on 19 May 2026. More information here .

(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 .

    Dra.  Léna Sylvestre  obtained the permission to submit her PhD Dissertation (Joint PhD agreement CY Cergy Paris Université/Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and defend it publicly on  Saturday 23 May 2026 at 09:30. The candidate will defend her dissertation entitled " L’influence de la pluralité linguistique dans l’élaboration et l’application de normes internationales. Étude de cas historique du régime multilingue de l’Organisation des Nations Unies " before a jury consisting of: - Prof. Dr. Renaud Baumert (CY) (president) - Prof. Dr. Dirk Heirbaut (UGent/KVAB-Academia Europaea)  - Prof. Dr. Sylvie Monjean-Decaudin (Sorbonne Université) - Dr. Gésa Dannenberg (CY) - Prof. Dr. Paul De Hert (VUB) Supervisors are Prof. Dr.  Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan  (main supervisor, CY) and Prof. Dr.  Frederik Dhondt  (VUB). Address: Auditorium de la Maison de la Recherche SHS - Annie Ernaux - Université CY Cergy Paris- Universit...