Jorrit Rijpma appointed Professor of European Law
From 1 June 2020, Jorrit Rijpma will hold the chair in European Law, specialisation Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.
The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice is the European policy area which covers cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs. This includes the rules on Schengen and the European asylum and migration policy. These are highly topical areas, which once again are making headlines with the border closures due to Covid-19.
Rijpma studied European law at the European Law School of Maastricht University and at the College of Europe in Bruges. He obtained his doctorate at the European University Institute in Florence. He has been working at the Europa Institute of Leiden Law School since 2009. Since 2017 he is Jean Monnet Professor on Mobility and Security in Europe. He was also one of the directors of the Interaction between Legal Systems Profile Area, with a focus on law enforcement at sea.
Rijpma has a strong international profile and values maintaining close ties with practice. He gained work experience at the EU’s border agency Frontex, the EU law department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the cabinet of EU Commissioner Timmermans and as a deputy judge. He was a visiting professor in Istanbul, San Francisco and Rotterdam. Rijpma is a member of the Meijers Committee, a standing body of experts on international immigration, refugee and criminal law.
The chair connects with the Law School’s research programme The Progression of EU law: accommodating change and upholding values (PEUL) and the University’s profile area on Citizenship, Migration and Global Transformations. After the Institute of Immigration Law joined the Europa Institute earlier this year, this chair will form a further incentive to reinforce research and teaching in the field of migration and refugee law at the Law School.
The chair will also provide further impulse to the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) cooperation and the recently established Centre for Migration and Diversity (GMD). Rijpma is a member of the Academic Executive Board of the centre and involved in teaching in the GMD master.