Vassilis Dokalis wins François Prize 2020 for the best master's thesis of public international law

With a thesis on the protection of biodiversity in the Arctic Ocean, Vassilis Dokalis has won the François Prize 2020. He graduated in 2019 from the LLM Public International Law master's programme at Utrecht University.

The François Prize 2020 has been awarded by the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law. Vassilis Dokalis received the prize for his master's thesis: “Protecting the North from going south? Developing area-based management tools for the conservation of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction in the Arctic Ocean” written under supervision of Alex Oude Elferink.

Originality and in-depth understanding 

The François Prize is a biennial prize for the best master's thesis in the field of public international law or private international law, written at a Dutch university in the past two years. The entries will be judged, among other things, on their originality, their in-depth understanding of international law in a particular field and the language used. This year's jury consisted of Professor René de Groot, emeritus professor of private international law at Maastricht University, and Dr. Christophe Paulussen of the T.M.C. Asser Institute, and Dr. Ineke Boerefijn, of the Human Rights Study and Information Center.

The juryreport said the following about the thesis of Vassilis Dokalis:

He clearly masters this quite specific and technical topic superbly (...) and is aware of the geo-political context.

This thesis covered a very difficult, but highly topical issue, of great relevance to our current and especially future society. We learned a lot reading this interesting and important thesis, which has a good structure and which uses a wealth of literature. Dokalis covers all the applicable legal regimes in detail, as well as the implications of their co-existence. To us, he has shown that he clearly masters this quite specific and technical topic superbly, while at the same time, he is aware of the limitations of the thesis, as well as the bigger picture, that is: the geo-political context.

 For the entire jury report and the text of the prize winning paper, see the website of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law.