Patricia Popelier

Patricia Popelier is full professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Antwerp. She is also senior research fellow at the University of Kent, Centre for Federal Studies. Her main research topics are federalism and multilevel governance, constitutional review, legislative studies, and issues of legitimacy and legal certainty. She is the author of more than 300 publications in the field of public law, including the monograph 'Dynamic Federalism. A New Theory for Cohesion and Regional Autonomy'. She has interest and experience in applying different qualitative and quantitative methods.

Areas of Expertise: 

• National, European, and Comparative Constitutional Law
• Federalism and Multilevel Governance 
• Legislative Studies 
• Constitutional Principles
  
• Trust

Selected Publications: 

• Herrebosch, N., Willems, C., & Popelier, P. (2026) Breaking open the dichotomy between goal-based and rule-based regulation : a discretion index for evaluating regulatee discretion.
• Frateur, J. & Popelier, P. (2026) Revising the efficiency vs. legality debate: a trust perspective on crisis legislation.​
• Niessen, C. & Popelier, P. (2026) Federalism in Belgium.​

Full Publication List: repository.uantwerpen.be/acadbib/irua/05699/N​

Selected Projects: 

• 2026 - 2027 - Cohesion in Federal Systems.
• 2025 - 2027 - Legal Lab - Databases for Legal Research.
  
• 2024 - 2027 - Trust in Specialized Courts: The Unified Patent Court as a Case Study to Disentangle Trust Dynamics.