Joris van de Riet is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Jurisprudence, where he is preparing a doctoral thesis on the relevance of Immanuel Kant's political philosophy to international law and international relations.

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Joris van de Riet (b. 1998) holds a bachelor's degrees in Law and master's degrees in Public International Law and Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law (cum laude) from Leiden University. He wrote his joint master's thesis, supervised by Prof. Bastiaan Rijpkema and Dr. Letizia Lo Giacco, on the legal philosophy of Immanuel Kant and its relation to the right to self-determination in international law.

During his studies he worked as a student assistant at the Europa Institute, editing the book reviews for the Common Market Law Review. He also served as an editor of the faculty magazine NOVUM, of which he was editor in chief in 2020-2021, and taught working groups for first-year students.

He has been a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Jurisprudence since January 2023. His PhD research, supervised by Prof. Afshin Ellian, explores the possibilities of the application of Immanuel Kant's political philosophy to international law and international relations. In his works, Kant sets out a vision of international order that has often been derided as either hopelessly idealistic, or as a façade for the exercise of raw power. In his thesis, Joris argues that neither of these views is an accurate representation of Kant's thought and that Kant has a much more nuanced yet realistic conception of international relations that can serve as a basis for foreign policy.

Joris's main research interests are the legal and political philosophy of Immanuel Kant and neo-Kantian legal philosophy and the history and theory of international law. He also has an interest in EU constitutional and external relations law and the law of international organizations.

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