VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (image source: Herder ) Abstract: ¡Me decepcionaste! ¿Quién podría recuperarse de semejante acusación? ¿Y quién, además, no ha recurrido a ella alguna vez? Somos seres que no dejamos de decepcionar y de ser decepcionados. Sin embargo, los moralistas lo han repetido hasta la saciedad: decepcionarse es, sobre todo, ser víctima de expectativas que solo existían en nuestra cabeza.Pero, ¿qué pasaría si eso no fuera todo?, se pregunta el autor en estas páginas. ¿Y si tras la danza de la esperanza y la decepción, de las expectativas y su frustración, se desplegara un verdadero orden del mundo que decidiera por nosotros lo que podemos y lo que no podemos hacer? ¿Y si decepcionar fuera, sobre todo, una forma de escapar de ello? Entonces, decepcionar sería un placer. On the author: Laurent de Sutter (Bruselas, 1977) es profesor de Teoría Legal en la Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Ha sido investigador invitado en universidades de Estados Unidos, Alemania y Japón. Es miembro del comité editoria...

International Conference: Contested Seas: War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea (c. 1400–1800) 19-20 November 2026, Ostend, Belgium Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Campus Ostend / Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) Conveners : Stefano Cattelan & Frederik Dhondt (Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Faculty of Law and Criminology, Research Group CORE) Keynote speakers :  Surabhi Ranganathan (Lauterpacht Centre, University of Cambridge) Indravati Félicité (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) Concept and Rationale: The early modern law of the sea did not emerge as a coherent or pacified body of rules. Rather, it took shape as a fragmented and deeply contested legal regime. It was forged through recurrent warfare, commercial rivalry, and persistent struggles over jurisdiction and enforcement at sea. The pelagic arena was characterised by o verlapping jurisdictions, uneven enforcement, and profound asymmetries of power (Benton, 2010). The freedom of the s...

(image source: Museu Nacional ) The EUTopia Connected Learning Community Legal History will hold its annual peak event in Barcelona, where Prof. Alfons Aragoneses (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) welcomes student delegations from CY Cergy Paris Université (Prof. Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan), Univerza v Ljubljani (Prof. Katja Škrubej) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Prof. Frederik Dhondt). A draft program has now been made available: Connected Learning Community – Legal History Peak event: February 27-28 2026 The End(s) of War Universitat Pompeu Fabra FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27 9:00-09:30 Reception of participants 09:30-09:45 Welcome addresses 09:45-11:00 The Wars before 1914. Chair: Prof: Alfons Aragoneses. Pacifications during the Eighty Years War , Emma Wittens (VUB). The Ljubljana Congress (1821) in the aftermath of Napoleonic wars: between the legacy and memory in select Slovenian late 19th and 20th century sources , Nives Košnjek (UL). From Neutral Constraint to Sovere...

  (image source: Housmans ) Prof. Laurent De Sutter will present the recent English translation of his book Superfaible  ( Superweak ) in London on 17 March 2026 .  Description: Using the stealth capacities of hermeneutic distrust as his weapon of choice, de Sutter’s writing breaks into unrecovered areas of subtle teachings, shedding light on philosophemes gleaned from Aristotle to punk-led attitude, biojewelry, and the historical buildup of authority billed to the triumph of reason in its many intrusive morphs. — Avital Ronell, New York University We welcome back the brilliant Alfie Bown to Housmans, this time in the company of Belgian philosopher Laurent de Sutter. The two will be focusing their conversation on the nature and necessity (or, rather, superfluity [as posited by Laurent]) of critique. As a jumping off point they will be using Laurent’s recent work of theory, Superweak: Thinking in the 21st Century. The book is described below: ‘We have become superheroes. ...

VUB and ULB have obtained an MSCA postdoctoral programme  cofunded under Horizon Europe. 24 international postdocs will be hired at the ULB, 12 at the VUB. Description: The programme period will take place between 2025 and 2030 and will open two calls, each offering 18 positions open to all fields of research, according to a bottom-up approach. During the fellowship, IRIS postdocs will benefit from an environment that fosters academic growth and well-being. Fellows will engage in optional secondments and short visits, take part in the IRIS management committee, and have 30 months to fully carry out their interdisciplinary research projects. IRIS’s research programme hinges on two themes: interdisciplinarity and the six societal challenges of the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) . IRIS fellows' research projects will exemplify solutions in the applied context of the BCR but are intrinsically linked to ubiquitous European needs, thereby preparing the participating researchers European-...

(image source: above and beyond construction history ) The EOS-project, wherein Prof. Dave De ruysscher and drs. Louis Debersaques take part, has its own website. More information here .