Research

UCILS focuses on international law from a multi-dimensional perspective. It addresses classic doctrinal questions of public international law, and issues of global/transnational law and governance reflecting changes in international law-making and legal subjectivity. These questions are researched from a broad and multi-disciplinary perspective, integrating insights from other legal fields as well as non-legal disciplines, such as political science, ethics, natural sciences, and regulation theory.

UCILS researchers are currently focusing on, inter alia, oceans governance, jurisdiction, and accountability of international organisations.

UCILS manages a number of major externally-funded multi-year research projects. In the framework of these projects, UCILS organizes international conferences, in addition to periodical UCILS discussion forums where its staff and external researchers present their own research.

The multidimensional perspective of UCILS research is strengthened through its participation in the Utrecht-based research programmes of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS), the Utrecht Center for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL), the Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE), the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (UCALL), and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM).

UCILS staff regularly advise national institutions, international organisations, and companies. UCILS collaborates with the international judicial institutions in The Hague, and with various universities and research institutes around the world.