Marlou Overheul is a PhD candidate at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (UCALL) and Empirical Research into Institutions for Conflict Resolution (ERI). Her research concerns the (perceived) fairness of no-fault compensation schemes for occupational diseases as an alternative to liability law. Dealing with occupational diseases is time-consuming, expensive and mentally taxing for victims of occupational diseases. In response, ad hoc no-fault compensation schemes are created by the Dutch government, for example for damage caused by chromium-6. The idea of these schemes is that victims receive financial redress in return for a short procedure, without the hurdles of establishing legal causality.

For her research, Marlou conducted 60 in-depth interviews with victims who have received compensation based on such a scheme. She combined this with a survey. She also investigates to what extent the schemes are fair from a legal, dogmatic perspective.

In addition to her doctoral research, Marlou is involved in the field of compensation for pain and suffering, in particular the compensation of fear, shock and emotional damage. She is also involved in research on politically sensitive cases and trust in the judiciary.