Stefaan Van den Bogaert Director of Research and Vice Dean
Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Professor of European Law and Academic Director of the Institute of Public Law, is to join the Faculty Board of Leiden Law School as Director of Research and Vice Dean.
As Director of Research, Van den Bogaert is committed to ensuring that research at Leiden Law School is in the spotlight again. 'After the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, the first priority of the entire education sector was of course just to keep everything afloat and set up a system of online teaching. This called for a huge investment in time and energy. Together, we succeeded in providing our national and international students with high quality education. As a result, research in the past months was less of a priority for many. As Director of Research I see it as a challenge, also in times of the coronavirus, to give research a little extra support and to bring it back to the foreground.’
Van den Bogaert graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven with a degree in Law (cum laude) in 1996. He followed the Erasmus programme ‘Social Security in Europe’ at the University of Osnabrück and holds an LLM in European and Commercial Law from the University of Cambridge. In 2003 he was awarded a PhD at the European University Institute in Florence with a thesis on the regulation of the mobility of sportsmen in the European Union in the post-Bosman era.
He believes his international experience will be a great advantage in his new position. 'Good ideas have been picked up along the way. I am looking forward to trying to put some of them into practice here in Leiden. For example, I would like to hold our “publication culture” up to the light again. I am not saying that I will change the rules from one day to the next, but as Head of Department and Academic Director in recent years I witnessed how too often people struggled to get that seventh publication which had to be written on time and at any cost. Surely this can’t be the intention? Shouldn’t research first and foremost be challenging, stimulating, interesting and enjoyable too? I would very much like to make a difference in this area.'
Link with practice
As Director of Research, Van den Bogaert succeeds Larissa van den Herik, who held the position from 2014 to 2019. Dean Joanne van der Leun, who held the position this past year, is particularly pleased that Stefaan van den Bogaert is joining the Faculty Board. 'Developments in the area of research are highly promising. Lots of PhD candidates, combined legal and empirical research, our role in university-wide interdisciplinary development areas, our research in the Sector Plan, our participation in major international projects and of course our broad publication profile with a direct link to practice; all these things combined ensure that research is a central theme of the faculty. There are also issues concerning the recognition and assessment of researchers (Erkennen & Waarderen), Open Science, inclusivity and digitalisation – all matters that require attention.'
'Stefaan Van den Bogaert is an excellent researcher who knows the faculty inside out. He will therefore be able to contribute greatly in the coming years to plotting the faculty’s strategic direction. It is not possible to tackle everything, so wise choices will need to be made. The Faculty Board and the Academic Directors look forward to working with our new Director of Research.'