International Health Law, Disability Law, Mental Health & Human Rights Law

Energy law, focus area: offshore system integration

Kees Bastmeijer is Director of the Arctic Centre and Professor of Arctic and Antarctic Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, the Netherlands (0,8) and Board Member of the Wadden Academy, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (0,2). His research relates to the international governance of the Polar Regions (the Antarctic and the Arctic) and to the role of law in protecting nature. Kees is a lawyer and prefers to relate his work to research in other disciplines, including ecology, sociology and philosophy. His current research interests include protected areas in the Polar Regions, property rights and nature, human-nature-relationship and the law, Antarctic tourism regulation, indigenous traditions and ecology, and the role of law in protecting wilderness. Kees is the (co-)author of numerous peer-reviewed research articles, including publications in the American Journal of International Law and Nature.  He has edited the book Wilderness Protection in Europe: the Role of International, European and National Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016), is co-editor with Prof. Timo Koivurova of Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment: Theory and Practice (Brill/Martinus Nijhoff, 2008) and is author of The Antarctic Environmental Protocol and its Domestic Legal Implementation, (dissertation, Kluwer Law International, 2003). He is a member of the editorial boards of the Yearbook of Polar Law (Brill/Martinus Nijhoff), the special book series Polar Law (Brill/Martinus Nijhoff) and of The Polar Journal (Taylor & Francis/Routledge). He is Member of the Standing Committee of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research.  Kees Bastmeijer has been appointed as arbitrator of the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. As adviser of the Dutch government, he has participated in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings since 1992.

European Law, Energy law, Microgrids

Children's rights law, Human Rights law, Fundamental Rights law, European Law, Administrative Law, Migration Law, Environmental law, Water law

Global health law, international human rights law and international ecomonic law

Autonomous Weapons Systems; AI in Military Applications.

EU constitutional law
EU institutional law
Competition law
State aid

Public International Law in general with particular interest and specialisation in: International Sustainable Development Law and International Environmental Law; International Dispute Settlement; International Investment Law; International Diplomatic Law; Law of International Peace and Security; Law of the Sea; the Development of International Law.

Private International Law, E-commerce Law, Tourism Law, Consumer Law, Chinese Law, European Law

Public international law
International criminal law
International human rights law

International Humanitarian Law; International Criminal Law; Human Rights Law; Public International Law.

EU Energy and Environmental Law

General International Law | Customary International Law | Judicial Interpretation | Human Rights

Public Law; International Human Rights Law; National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs); European Court of Human Rights; Bioethics and Medical Law

Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, especially EU Criminal Law

EU criminal law. International and European cooperation in criminal matters

My academic work and passion are dedicated to the overarching theme ‘Human Dignity in the Digital Age’.

I am interested in the transition from abstract principles (e.g. human rights, ethical principles) into more detailed and specific governance frameworks (e.g. human right to privacy into GDPR). With my background in law and philosophy I work in the department of Governance and Innovation at Campus Fryslân.

Current fields of research:

- Human Rights in the Digital Age.
- Emerging Technologies and Governance (incl. ‘AI’, ‘Blockchain’).
- Internet Governance.
- Privacy and Data Protection.
- (Cyber-)Security & Surveillance in the context of democracy and the rule of law.
- Digital Identity.
- Personal Data and Time (‘right to be forgotten’).

Lucas works for the department of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law & Public Administration as a PhD Researcher. He holds a bachelor's degree in International and European Law, and two master's degrees, both with Cum Laude distinction, in Global Criminal Law and Governance and Law in Digital Society. Throughout his studies, Lucas gained valuable knowledge and experience in the area of the digitalization of the public sector and the legal and organizational questions that arise in this context. Lucas has extensive knowledge on the topics of the digitalization of supervision and enforcement, algorithmic decision-making, and the regulation of digital technologies. Lucas is specialized in the areas of human rights law, international criminal law, international and European law, and administrative law. 

Lucas's research focuses on risks of discrimination that arise through the use of algorithmic decision-making and AI, and the mitigation of these risks, in law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands. In this context, Lucas considers several themes such as current and future legislation, ethics in AI and algorithmic decision-making, operationalization and implementation of legal and ethical principles, as well as risk mitigation strategies adopted by law enforcement agencies seeking to comply with such principles. His research is part of the empirical legal studies program, and as such combines qualitative and legal research methods.

Alongside his research, Lucas teaches the course Administrative Law and Market Regulation. Furthermore, he is a participant in the Justice, fundamentaL rIghts and Artificial intelligence (JuLIA) project. This project aims to provide European judges with training and a handbook in the field of artificial intelligence and fundamental rights. The European Commission funds the JULIA Project.

International and Regional Human Rights; Prohibition and prevention of torture; privatization and human rights; non-state actors under international law and human rights; regulation of essential services and human rights; international investment and human rights; state responsibility

European Law, Dutch and European Competition Law

- Public international law
- International and European human rights law
- Socio-economic human rights law
- Access to modern energy services / energy poverty
- Disaster management / international disaster law
- Environment/climate change (litigation)
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Extra-territorial/transnational human rights law
- New/critical approaches to IL / feminist approaches

Global governance of climate adaptation.

Energy and Climate Law, Emissions Trading

European Union Law
EU External Relations Law
EU Trade and Investment Law and Policy

Research: Artificial intelligence, business and human rights; International human rights law; Law and governance; Horizontal effect of international human rights law

Teaching: Public international law; International human rights law; Legal English

Public international law in general, with a particular interest in due diligence obligations of states and the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples.

My research focuses on two areas of citizenship.
1. Rights and citizenship in the virtual world - I imagine virtual spaces as expanding geographies, where norms, values, and communities of digital citizens are evolving. Social media platforms have become an extension of our cultures, polity, and economy. Every day millions of people around the world redefine cultural norms, assert their political identities, and monetize the platforms for gainful living. But who determines the nature of rights (especially the nature of the right to freedom of expression) on these platforms? Can the platforms which are controlled by monopolistic tech companies, truly be a space of citizenship much less responsible citizenship? How does a digital citizen who lives in a bubble shape their worldview? How do they reach out for varied forms of information to form opinions? Can they burst the information bubbles that surround them? These are some of the questions I explore while simultaneously entering into the rabbit holes of disinformation, digitally generated social movements, and circles of hate.
2. Construction of citizenship in the real world, especially in geographies that are becoming uninhabitable due to climate change. This is a work that I started during my doctoral studies at Edinburgh, and I continue to look at both online and offline citizenship (especially the question of citizenship -exclusion, and 'othering') from the lens of vulnerabilities in the face of climate change.

Both these strands of the scholarship allow me to explore how our future societies will develop, and who humanity might forever leave behind.

European Law, European Competition Law and Data protection law

Law of Treaties, Sources of International Law, Interpretation, International Dispute Settlement, State Responsibility, Theory of International Law,  International Environmental Law, Human Rights & Humanitarian Law

NOTABLE AWARDS & POSITIONS

Prof. Merkouris has received a number of prestigious grants, awards & fellowships (in more detail see 'CV' section). More recently, in 2018 he received an ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million EUR for a 5-year project, entitled The Rules of Interpretation of Customary International Law (TRICI-Law, website at: www.trici-law.com). The project aims to demonstrate that the unwritten rules of international law (customary international law) are subject to a process of interpretation that bears similarities to the one that we are accustomed to employing when we are dealing with written texts, and more specifically international treaties.  

In the context of this project, Prof. Merkouris in collaboration with Cambridge University Press, agreed in 2020 to create a Book Series entitled 'TRICI-Law',  of which Prof. Merkouris will be the General Editor. The books and Volumes planned to appear in this Series will be Gold Open Access in an effort to promote access to information to the general public in conformity with Dutch and EU policies and efforts towards increased Open Access in academia (see in more detail 'Projects' section).

In 2019, Prof. Merkouris was also selected to become a member of the Young Academy Groningen, and with  members of the 2019 Cohort he is involved in the SOCRATES (Scientists Offering CReating Answers To Enquiring Students) and In the LOOP projects (see in more detail 'Projects' section).

Public International Law
Customary International Law
Legal Theory
Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)
Critical Approaches to International Law

Workplace surveillance, Human rights and labour law, Industrial relations, Privacy law, Data protection

IT law, privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, telecommunications law, international/European law, human rights law, humanitarian law, State responsibility, private military and security companies.

International Law, International Environmental Law and Law of the Sea

Energy Law

Energy law

Public International Law, Climate Litigation in Japan

European consumer law, European private law, private law theory

Energy law, focussing on the use of green hydrogen for sustainable mobility

International Humanitarian Law
Law of Armed Conflict
Public International Law

Perpetrators; international crimes; international criminology, international criminal law; international humanitarian law; international peace and security; human rights; armed conflicts and terrorism.

Human rights
Digital forensics 
Technology law 
Data protection 

The right to peaceful assembly;
The right to respect for private life;
The collision of fundamental rights;
Sex work regulation in the Netherlands.

Brigit Toebes is a legal scholar with more than twenty-five years of experience in the international standards protecting health, with a strong emphasis on the role of human rights in health promotion and disease prevention. She is Rosalind Franklin Fellow and holds the chair of health law in a global context at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen. Since September 2022, she is scientific director of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health. Recent research themes include the scope and implications of global health law, the NCD pandemic and the regulation of behavioural risk factors (in particular smoking, unhealty diets, alcohol, and drugs), the regulation of vaccination, and the role of law in socio-economic health inequalities.
She is co-founder of the Groningen Centre for Health Law (former Global Health Law Groningen), which hosts around fifteen researchers focusing on various dimensions of health and human rights. She has published widely in legal, public health and multidisciplinary journals, including Human Rights Quarterly, Harvard Health and Human Rights, the BMJ, and Tobacco Control, and she participates in several international and domestic bodies (see below). Toebes has conducted research in the field of tobacco control since 2016, with a particular emphasis on developing a human rights approach. She frequently acts as a consultant to international bodies, including the WHO and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. In 2022, Brigit was awarded the Legal Specialist Award by the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL). Key publications include Health and Human Rights (2022, 2e ed), Human Rights and Tobacco Control (open access), and Research Handbook on Global Health Law (2018). Contact: please send me an email.

International Human Rights Law; European Human Rights Law; National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs); European Court of Human Rights; Council of Europe; Separation of Powers

- Cultural rights
- Indigenous rights
- The return/ repatriation of colonial-era cultural heritage
- Cultural heritage/ art law (in particular UNESCO treaties and comparative perspectives on questions of return/ restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage)

Other research interests comprise: Indigenous and Aboriginal Laws, economic and social rights, and Human rights law more broadly conceived (International, European and comparative).

Regulation of artificial intelligence [AI]; Transparency; European law; IP law; Technology law

European law, competition law, pharmaceutical sector

Contract law, property law, European law, , consumer law, comparative law, and technology law.

European Union Law, culture, regulated markets, audiovisual sector, state aid, sport

Law and Economics, Climate change Law (in particular Emissions Trading Design, Linking, Allocation and Competition), Competition law and Public Procurement in EU, China and Japan

Research: The International Law on Dead Body of Armed Conflict

http://ramseswessel.eu/

Fundamental rights during emergency situations

Judicial Review,
Environmental Litigation,
Judicial Systems,
European Constitutional Law,
The Rule of Law in Europe,
EU Gambling Legislation,
Comparative Federalism.

Governance and Innovation
Digital Governance
Sustainability
State of Emergency and Humanitarian Action
Interdisciplinary Research and Education Management