Here you can find information on the yearly PhD-led events.

PhD Event 2024

PhD2PhD Workshop: Multi-level Evolutions in Public Law: Projections, Predictions, and Perspectives

Calling all PhD students in the realm of public law!

For the past decade, the public law sphere has endured crisis after crisis. However, a new dawn seems to be on the horizon. The recent elections in Poland, the upcoming elections for the European Parliament, and the appointment of a new EU commission, provide for an ideal moment of reflection on these past crises, in order to offer projections, predictions, and perspectives for this new dawn. Organised by and for PhD students in public law, the doctoral workshop invites young researchers to seize this momentum to explore the future of national, supranational, and international public law.

Our mission? To provide a welcoming and accessible platform for you to share your ongoing research, benefit from feedback directly from a peer in your panel and cultivate a robust network within the community of PhD researchers in international, national, and European public law.

Not ready to present your ongoing research yet? No problem! Non-presenting participants will be involved in the proceedings of the workshop in the introductory and closing roundtables, where they will have the opportunity to share the subject of their research, and problems they might have encountered along the way. Each panel will be followed by a Q&A-session, allowing non-presenting participants to give feedback or ask questions to the presenting participants.

The doctoral workshop will take place on 11 October 2024 at the Stadscampus of the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Participants are encouraged to address the following issues:

Who should apply?

The workshop is open to PhD researchers at any stage. Though organised by the UAntwerp Government & Law Research Group, and as such, focused on public law, the group values interdisciplinary research, and thus, submissions both from legal as well as social and political researchers are welcome. The aim of this workshop is to facilitate a cooperative dialogue where ideas and perspectives can be shared, enhancing the depth of the discussions. 

Workshop format

The workshop will consist out of three panels, each guided by a chair versed with the specific topics of the panel. Participants will play a dual role in the workshop: as presenters and as discussants.  The format of the doctoral workshop also implies and encourages all participants in the audience panel to actively join the discussions in the panel. Namely, after each panel there will be a Q&A session.

This workshop aims to provide an open and inclusive environment. Participants are not required to submit a draft paper in order to take part in the workshop but are encouraged to do so if they wish to receive more detailed feedback on, for instance, e.g., a draft thesis chapter or a draft article intended for publication. Those who wish to submit a paper should be ready to do so by 14 September 2024. Selected participants who submit their papers will be offered a possibility for publication in the inaugural issue of Antwerp Law Review.

Agenda

Date: 11th October 2024.

Location: University of Antwerp, Stadscampus Lessiuszaal S.E.122

Schedule: 

09h00 – 09h30

Registration and welcome coffee

09h30 – 10h00

Roundtable: ‘Introduction: Common Interests and Diverging Topics in Public Law’

10h00 – 11h00

Keynote speaker: Yasmine Kherbache, Judge at the Constitutional Court of Belgium, followed by Q&A. Session chaired by Cedric Jenart, Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law the University of Antwerp.

11h00 – 11h15

Coffee break

11h15 – 12h45

Panel 1: Human rights, crises and constitutional principles

Chair: Aleksandra Kubińska, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

-        Trojan horse discourse. The use and abuse of contemporary constitutional discourse by Michiel Luining, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

-        Conditions leading to increased and decreased citizens’ political trust during the Covid-19 pandemic by Jakob Frateur, University of Antwerp

Discussant:  Christophe Maes, Researcher in Constitutional Law, UCLouvain - Saint-Louis & KU Leuven, Visiting Professor in History of Public Law and Legal History, University of Antwerp

12h45 – 13h45

Lunch

13hh45 – 15h15

Panel 2:  European Union and public law

Chair: Fien Van Reempts, PhD researcher (FWO fellow), University of Antwerp

-        Socio-fiscal welfare and EU free movement law: bridging the gap by Marthe Delodder, PhD researcher, the Free University of Brussels (VUB)

-        Regulating passenger rights in the EU from a multilevel governance perspective by Hai Anh Le, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

-        Principle of equality in cases concerning recognition of status of mobile EU citizens by Helga Luku, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

Discussant: Ane Aranguiz, Assistant Professor in European Labour and Social Security Law, Tilburg University

15h15 – 15h30

Coffee break

15h30 – 16h45

Panel 3: Actors and forms of public governance

Chair: Felipe de Andrade, PhD researcher (FWO fellow), University of Antwerp & KU Leuven

-        Between rule-and goal-based regulation: developing a measuring tool for the discretion of a norm by Nathan Herrebosch, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

-        Disconnection between international human rights law and local regulation: Tracing the implementation of disability rights in Flemish regulatory framework on shared mobility by Ülkü Tanriverdi, PhD researcher, University of Antwerp

Discussant: Marie DeCock, Assistant Professor in Public Law, Hasselt University & Maastricht University, and FWO Postdoctoral Researcher, Hasselt University & KU Leuven

16h45 – 17h30

Roundtable: ‘From Practical to Methodological: Roadblocks faced by PhD-Researchers’

17h30 – 18h30

Reception (S.E.207)

PhD Event 2023

We are happy to invite you to this year’s PhD event titled "How to Grow Confidence in Conducting and Presenting your Research”. This half day workshop will have two speakers. First, Ann De Ron from FishGrowFeet will give a workshop on how to present and pitch your research with confidence. She has eight years of experience coaching researchers in communicating their research in an accessible manner. After that, Amber Davis will give a workshop on productivity and self-care. Amber has a PhD and now coaches others through the mental challenges that come with this line of work. The day will conclude with a reception. The event is open to all doctoral students and postdoctoral students from the University of Antwerp.

Date: Thursday 25 May

Time: 12:30-17:30

Where: ViaVia Reiscafé –Wolstraat 43, 2000 Antwerp

Registration: Link will be posted closer to date.

Programme:

PhD Event 2022

We are happy to invite you to this year’s PhD event titled “Law Careers Beyond Academia”. The central focus of this year’s event will be on facilitating and supporting the transition of young researchers to the non-academic job market. More concretely, the event will take half-day and will be divided in two moments. The first consists in a workshop on the competences needed outside academia: how to deal with a non-academic vacancy, what are our weaknesses and strengths as researchers etc. The second part of the event will be entirely dedicated to networking.  We will have the opportunity to meet stakeholders from the non-academic domain: lawyers, in-house corporate legal counsels, professionals working in government, EU institutions and NGOs etc.. Most of them have a PhD background, and we will have the opportunity to ask questions and hear their experiences. The event is open to all doctoral students and postdoctoral students from the University of Antwerp. You can register 

When: Friday 20 May, from 12:45h

Where: Via Via café, Wolstraat 43, 2000 Antwerp

PhD Event 2021

Building a community in legal research: Practical skills and practice

Over the past nine years, doctoral students from the Government & Law research group have organised conferences for starting doctoral students. This (anniversary) year we want to leave this concept and organise an event in which the focus is not on individual research, but on connecting doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers working in the broad domain of "public law and governance". More specifically, we want to give researchers the opportunity to develop their communication skills, increase their self-knowledge and develop their own network. We do this by organising various workshops, each with a specific theme.

The programme is available here.

Date: 7 May 2021

Venue: Online

PhD Conference 2020

Building a community in legal research: Practical skills and practice

Over the past nine years, doctoral students from the Government & Law research group have organised conferences for starting doctoral students. This (anniversary) year we want to leave this concept and organise an event in which the focus is not on individual research, but on connecting doctoral students working in the broad domain of "public law and governance". More specifically, we want to give doctoral students the opportunity to develop their communication skills, increase their self-knowledge and develop their own network. We do this by organising various workshops, each with a specific theme.

The program is available here

Date: 30 October 2020

Venue: Klooster van de Grauwzusters, Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp

PhD Conference 2019

Identity, Safety, Modernity in Public Law

Date: 24 May 2019

Venue: K202, Kleine Kauwenberg 14, 2000 Antwerpen. 

The programme can be found here.

PhD Conference 2018

​Values and principles in multilevel governance: challenges and opportunities

Date: 25 May 2018

More information about the programme.

PhD Conference 2017

Hybrid Forms of Governance: Moving Beyond Traditional Public Law

Date: 17 May 2017

PhD Conference 2016

Democratic legitimation without Parliament: fact or fiction?

Under the auspices of the Government & Law Research Group of the University of Antwerp, we proudly present the sixth edition of the yearly doctoral conference. This conference is the result of fruitful cooperation between the University Antwerp, the KU Leuven, Hasselt University and Ghent University and is funded by the Flemish government. This year the theme of the conference is: ‘Democratic legitimation without Parliament: fact or fiction?’

Seven young researchers will present their research in various legal fields. As such, the topics of legitimacy in European asylum law, sports law and energy law are discussed. Furthermore, the conference will focus on legitimacy of judicial law making in general and of local government in specific. This year, an international dimension was added to the conference, thanks to the cooperation with international researchers from the European University Institute of Florence and of the Deusto University of Bilbao. The morning session will therefore take place in English. The afternoon session, which focuses more specifically on the Belgian context, will be held in Dutch. Each speaker has written an article in a special edition of the Journal for Governance studies and Public Law (Tijdschrift voor Bestuurswetenschappen en Publiekrecht) that will be available on the conference.

Date: 20 May 2016

PhD Conference 2015

The research group Government & Law, in collaboration with the Ghent University and the University of Hasselt, is hosting the fifth annual PhD seminar.  The seminar is organised with the financial support of the Flemish Government. The overarching theme of the 2015 edition is the impact of legal instruments on the democratic functioning. SevenPhD researchers will present their findings with regard to an issue that is intimately related to their own PhD topic. 

Date: 8 May 2015 

PhD Conference 2014

The research group Government & Law, in collaboration with the University of Ghent, the University of Hasselt, the Catholic University of Leuven and the Free University of Brussels, is hosting the fourth annual PhD seminar.  The seminar is organized with the financial support of the Flemish Government. The overarching theme of the 2014 edition is the blurred distinction between public law and private law. Eleven PhD researchers will present their findings in regard to an issue that is intimately related to their own PhD topic. The seminar will take place 

Date 7 May 2014

PhD Seminar 2013

In 2013 our first seminar took place.