EAPIL Young Research Network

Background and Objective

Despite common rules, mutual interests, and similar challenges, a pan-European discussion of private international law issues among ‘junior faculty’ has long been missing. To fill this gap and to encourage the academic discourse within the ‘junior faculty’, the EAPIL Young Research Network aims at providing a forum for young scholars where they have the possibility to meet and to exchange ideas on PIL irrespective of the constraints of academic hierarchy.

This purpose, of course, does not exclude the possibility of common projects between senior and junior faculty; on the contrary, this would be highly desirable. Nevertheless, the Research Network intends to provide a forum for young scholars to get together, discuss ideas and develop independent projects in order to encourage pan-European research synergies already at an early career stage.

The Research Network was established in April 2019 in Würzburg and integrated into the European Association of Private International Law as an Activity of the EAPIL in 2020.

Research Projects

The first project of the Research Network was organised by Susanne Gössl (Germany) and Martina Melcher (Austria). It focused on the implementation of the ECJ/ECtHR case law related to the “recognition of status” in 16 EU Member States. It resulted in a conference and a workshop at the University of Würzburg in April 2019 (a conference report was published in IPRax 2019, 576), and also led to the formal establishment of the Research Network. Participants represented more than 20 jurisdictions and enthusiastically embraced the opportunity for such an enhanced exchange at the junior faculty level.

The second project, organised by Tamás Szabados (Hungary), focused on “overriding mandatory provisions in autonomous private international law of the EU Member States”. It resulted in a general comparative report based on various national reports drafted by young researchers. The main research outcomes – together with some selected, individual contributions to the topic (e.g. Overriding Mandatory Provisions in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Treatment of Mandatory Rules of Third Countries) – have been discussed at a Webinar hosted by ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in November 2020 and have been published in the ELTE Law Journal 2020/1.

The third project, organised by Tobias Lutzi (Germany), Ennio Piovesani (Italy), and Dora Zgrabljić Rotar (Croatia), focused on the national rules on jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters over non-EU defendants, in light of the report envisioned in Article 79 Brussels Ia Regulation. The first drafts of these reports were discussed in an online workshop hosted by the University of Cologne in October 2021. The final versions were completed in early 2022 and served as the basis for the comparative report of the project heads, a first draft of which was presented in March 2022 at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. The full report was finally presented in May 2022 at a conference in Dubrovnik, which was hosted by the University of Zagreb with the generous financial support of the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education and the European Commission in Croatia. In addition to the presentation of the comparative report, the conference also featured two panels composed by members of the Network dedicated to specific aspects of the research project as well as contributions by senior researchers and a representative of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The comparative report was also discussed at a meeting with members of the EU Commission in September 2022. In May 2023, the full results of the project, including all national reports, have finally been published in a dedicated volume of the Hart Studies in Private International Law series, entitled ‘Jurisdiction Over Non-EU Defendants. Should the Brussels Ia Regulation be Extended?’.

The fourth project, which is currently being organized by Tobias Lutzi, Ennio Piovesani, and Dora Zgrabljić Rotar, will mirror the third project and focus on the national rules on recognition and enforcement of non-EU judgments, which is similarly excluded from the Brussels Ia Regulation and, instead, remains governed by national law. While there is no prospect of extending the Regulation to these judgments, the project will allow for useful comparisons with the regime introduced by the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention.

Membership and Participation

Members can be PhD students, postgraduate researchers and other academic staff, except full professors or equivalent in terms of student/PhD/post-doc supervising duties, and practitioners under the age of 45.

As the activities of the Research Network are individual projects on specific questions, each member may decide whether to actively participate in a particular project (e.g. by drafting a country report or delivering a lecture or presentation) or not. For each project, one or several ‘head(s) of the project’ are responsible to organise the exchange in general, including the communication with the members regarding participation, the related conference and/or workshop, and the publication of the research outcome. The member responsible for the project concerned may be assisted by other members and duties and responsibilities may be shared in accordance with the needs of the respective project.

We cordially invite junior scholars of universities or research institutions and young practitioners who are interested in the activities of the Research Network to join us. Any member of the Research Network will receive information on current and future projects, may participate at a particular project or even organise their own project. To become a member, please contact us via e-mail at youngresearch@eapil.org.

Ideas for new projects and volunteers who want to lead a project are also highly welcome!

Contact

The EAPIL Young Research Network is currently chaired by:

The Secretary of the Young Research Network is Marco Pasqua, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and LIUC University, Italy (marcopasqua1996@gmail.com).

List of Members

The following list only contains those members who have agreed to the publication of their names; further details will only be made available by the chairs to other members upon consent.

Chairs:
Tobias Lutzi, University of Augsburg
Ennio Piovesani, University of Turin
Dora Zgrabljić Rotar, University of Zagreb

Secretary:
Marco Pasqua, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and LIUC University

Members:
Elçin Aktan, İ.D. Bilkent University
Ivan Allegranti, University of Camerino
Karin Arnold, University of Tübingen
Caterina Benini, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
Tess Bens, MPI Luxembourg
Katažyna Bogdzevič (former: Mikša), Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius
Sandrine Brachotte, Sciences Po Law School, Paris
Mathilde Brackx, Ghent University
Jonathan Brosseau-Rioux, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/McGill University
Martin Bulla, Trnava University
Ozlem Canbeldek Akin, Near East University
Claudia Cavicchioli, Linklaters
María Asunción Cebrián Salvat, Universidad de Murcia
Zhen Chen, University of Groningen
Paula Drabant, Heidelberg University
Felipe de Andrade, University of Antwerp
Rui Dias, Faculty of Law, University of Coimbra
Stefano Dominelli, University of Genoa
Paul Eichmüller, University of Vienna
Yves El Hage, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3
María González Marimón, University of Valencia
Adrian Hemler, University of Konstanz
Tena Hoško, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Katharina Kaesling, University of Bonn
Eva Kaseva, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, and St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo
Moritz Benjamin Kocher, University of Zurich
Joanna Kolber, Strelia
Sofiia Kulitska, Nataliia Kulitska, Private Notary of Zolochiv Notarial District of Lviv Region (Ukraine)
Ilia Lassin, HCCH / Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Eva Litina, University of the Aegean
Léonard Maistriaux, NautaDutilh and UCLouvain
Vassiliki Marazopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens/Hellenic Energy Exchange S.A.
Armela Maxhelaku, Faculty of Law, University of Tirana
Martina Melcher, University of Graz
Pauline Modra, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg/Max-Planck-Institute Luxembourg
Giulio Monga, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
Giedrius Ožiūnas, Professional Law Partnership RIDD Vilnius / Mykolas Romeris University
Manuel Penades Fons, King’s College London
Priskila P. Penasthika, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Phuong Thao Phan, University of Turin
Blas Piñar Guzmán, §yndēresis legal
Michiel Poesen, KU Leuven
Neža Pogorelčnik Vogrinc, Faculty of Law University of Ljubljana
Despoina Poutakidou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Bettina Konstanze Rentsch, Free University of Berlin
Ioannis Revolidis, University of Malta
Konstantinos Rokas, University of Nicosia
Anna Ruiz, Genova Business School and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Christian Rüsing, University of Münster
Georgia Sagri, Democritus University of Thrace
Sara Sánchez Fernández, IE University (Madrid, Spain)
Sofia Santinello, University of Padua
Dafina Sarbinova, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Benjamin Saunier, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University
Jonathan Schenk, University of Antwerp
Benedikt Schmitz, University of Groningen
Claas-Eike Seestädt, Arendt&Medernach
Manuel José Segovia González, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Office of the Legal Adviser
Athanassios Skontzos, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg
Kim Steffens, University of Glasgow
Onerva-Aulikki Suhonen, University of Eastern Finland, Law School
Ferenc Szilágyi, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Law
Esra Tekin, Dicle University
Leon Theimer, Humboldt University of Berlin
Willem Theus, KU Leuven
Martina Tičić, Faculty of Law Rijeka
Johannes Ungerer, University of Oxford
Ece Uyanık, Kadir Has University
Birgit van Houtert, Maastricht University
Cedric Vanleenhove, Ghent University
Eleni Varvarousi, Democritus University of Thrace
Simona Vilkelyte, Vilnius university
Martina Vivirito Pellegrino, Storari Law Firm
Maren Vogel, Free University of Berlin
Awnrumpa Waiyamuk, Burapha University, Thailand
Felix M. Wilke, University of Bayreuth
Anna Wysocka-Bar, Jagiellonian University in Krakow
Wiebke Voß, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg
Alison Xu, Waseda University
Natalja Žitkevitš, Independent researcher
Patricia Živković, School of Law, University of Aberdeen
Elizabeth Zorrilla, Hague Conference of Private International Law (HCCH)