Meijers Lecture and New Year’s Reception: starting the new year full of enthusiasm and inspiration!
In traditional style, 2025 was ushered in at our faculty with the Meijers Lecture followed by the New Year's Reception. On Thursday 16 January 2025, the Meijers Lecture took place in the Lorentz Lecture Hall where the Meijers Prizes and the Van Wersch Springplank Prize were also awarded. At the New Year’s Reception in the restaurant, Bart Krans presented the prizes for the best master's theses in 2024 after which Dean Suzan Stoter gave a speech to get the new year underway.
Meijers Lecture
This year, the Meijers Lecture adopted a new format compared to previous years. As Dean Suzan Stoter mentioned in her opening words, the faculty is currently developing four focus areas within its research aimed at strengthening our faculty's research profile externally while further promoting internal collaboration. These focus areas are:
- Sustainability
- Law, ethics and technology
- Trust in institutions – successor to Institutions for Conflict Resolution
- Law and empirical research – successor to Empirical Legal Studies
These faculty-wide focus areas are in addition to our current eight research programmes, which the Meijers Prizes for the best publications are linked to.
Speakers
Under the pressure of a ticking clock, Daniëlla Dam-de Jong, Gianclaudio Malgieri, Sophie Koning and Rowie Stolk each had five minutes to present their research area and link it to the central theme of the Meijers Lecture: ‘Courage in law: Activism and protection of the rule of law.’ Under the guidance of moderator Alex Geert Castermans, there was some more in-depth discussion of the speakers' various topics with additional comments from the audience.
Meijers Prizes
The Meijers Prizes were awarded for the best published article from each research programme. The eight winners each received a certificate and a sum of money to be used for their research.
Egbert Jongen, a member of the Research Board, announced this year’s winners:
Criminal Justice: Socially effective criminal justice 2023-2029
Mojan Samadi examined the notion of femicide and the value of using the term in criminal law policy in the Netherlands.
Article: ‘Femicide of moord? Over het belang van een feministisch perspectief bij gendergerelateerde moorden’ (Femicide or murder? On the importance of a feminist perspective in gender-related murders)
Coherent Private Law
Ilya Kokorin conducted comparative law research on multinational enterprises in financial distress.
Article: ‘Parallel Restructurings: Challenges and Opportunities’
Exploring the Frontiers of International Law
Misha Plagis published work on the African Human Rights Courts and NGO activities in Tanzania.
Article: ‘NGOs, international courts, and state backlash against human rights accountability: Evidence from NGO mobilization against Tanzania at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights’
Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a pluralist world
Bernardo Ribeiro de Alemida and Carolien Jacobs examined the link between climate change and expropriation in Mozambique.
Artikel: ‘Land expropriation – The hidden danger of climate change response in Mozambique’
Limits of Tax Jurisdiction
Mees Vergouwen adapted his multi-award-winning doctoral thesis on tax law in a multi-layered legal order into a superb article.
Article: ‘The Interaction between Directives and Tax Treaties: Three Case Studies’
Reform of Social Legislation
Eduard Suari Andreu, together with Olav van Vliet, compared the receipt of public transfers by EU migrants in the Netherlands to those received by Dutch natives.
Article: ‘Intra-EU migration, public transfers and assimilation’
The Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Law & Governance in a World of Multilevel Jurisdictions
Itai Siegel and Michael Klos conducted in-depth European law and comparative law research (with France) on a criminal law approach to disinformation.
Article: ‘Straffe desinformatiewetgeving? Bedenkingen vanuit Franse en Europese Unie-wetgeving’ ('Stringent disinformation legislation? Reflections from French and European Union law)
The Progression of EU Law: Accommodating change and upholding values
Vincent Delhomme examined the sensitive areas of food safety and sustainability in Europe.
Article: ‘Rethinking consumer empowerment: New directions for sustainable food law in an era of EU discontent’
Van Wersch Springplank Prize
The Van Wersch Springplank Prize of €10,000 was awarded to Mojan Samadi. Leo van Wersch presented the cheque to Ellen Gijselaar who accepted it on behalf of Mojan who was unable to attend. This prize is made available through a named fund at the Leiden University Fund, the Van Wersch Springplank Fund. This fund was established by Mr Van Wersch and Mrs Van Wersch-Knepflé and is intended for talented researchers in the field of legal research.
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Ellen Gijselaar accepted the Van Wersch Springplank Prize on behalf of Mojan Samadi -
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New Year’s Reception and thesis prizes
The awards bonanza continued during the subsequent New Year’s Reception. As jury chairman, Bart Krans presented the prizes for the best master’s theses written in 2024. Three prizes were awarded, funded by Stichting Oukha, and amounting to €1,000, €800 and €600 respectively.
The winners are:
- David Wienfort - Importing the Rule of Law: The role of legal professionals in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s path to the EU
Supervisor: Nadia Sonneveld
- Florian van Hout - Positie verkenner, functie regels. De haalbaarheid, vorm en inhoud van een regeling van de verkenningsfase in de kabinetsformatie
Supervisor: Gert Jan Geertjes
- Thijs van Paridon - Ondanks twijfel toch gedaan. Een juridisch onderzoek naar het voorzorgsbeginsel en de vrijwarende werking van een publiekrechtelijk besluit in het civiele recht
Supervisor: Rogier Kegge
New Year speech
Dean Suzan Stoter emphasised that ‘in these politically turbulent times – when universities are facing financial cuts and challenges – it’s all the more important for us as academics to reflect on who we are, the faculty we work for and, above all, what makes our hearts beat. After all, the mind is enriched by what it receives, the heart by what it gives.’
… ‘Our heart also beats for our students who are the future and whom we want to equip in the best way possible.’ Dean Suzan Stoter then asked two students, Lies Kloosterhuis and Bart Dickhoff, to say a few words.
Finally, the dean invited everyone to join us on Thursday 6 February when we will celebrate the start of our faculty anniversary with two special moments. First, a conversation with Bonnie Honig on the defence of democracy in the Grotius Lecture Hall at 13.30. On 7 February, Bonnie Honig will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University during the Dies Natalis. She was nominated by our faculty and Bastiaan Rijpkema is the honorary supervisor. The second moment is a joint toast in the KOG restaurant at 16.00! Then, the plans for the faculty’s 450th anniversary will be revealed.