Tom Bouwman joined the Institute of Private Law as a postdoctoral researcher on 1 January 2023.

More information about Tom Bouwman

Education

In 2015, Tom Bouwman graduated cum laude from Utrecht University with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a bachelor’s degree in Law. In 2017, he graduated cum laude from the same university with a Legal Research master's. In 2019, he received the G. J. Wiarda L. R. M. Prize for his master’s thesis on the fact-value gap and the use of behavioural insights in the law of obligations. A modified version of his thesis has been published in the Netherlands Law Journal (NJB 2020/815).

Career

In November 2017, Tom started working as a Junior Lecturer at Utrecht University's Molengraaff Institute for Private Law. In September 2018, he began as a PhD candidate at the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law. On 21 April 2023, he defended his PhD thesis about nudging in contract law for the protection of weaker parties. In his thesis, he argues that nudges – behavioural informed changes in the choice architecture – can be a welcome addition to the current arsenal of protection techniques in contract law such as information duties and withdrawal rights. At the same time, the potential of nudging should not be overestimated for various reasons. He defines three ways in which nudging can be applied in order to protect weaker parties and he formulates six conditions for application. He illustrates its functioning through case studies on financial institutions' special duty of care, private surety and add-on insurances. Tom has been a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University's Institute of Private Law since 1 January 2023.

Research

As a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University's Institute of Private Law, Tom conducts research as part of the NWO-funded research project Consumer ID led by Professor Vanessa Mak. The project challenges the one-size-fits-all model of consumer laws and aims to answer the question of how consumer interests can be protected within the context of increasingly diverse consumer identities. Within the Consumer ID project, Tom specifically explores how differentiating between various types of consumers can be improved in European consumer law. He also conducts legal and multidimensional research into the law of obligations.

Teaching

Tom teaches courses in the bachelor’s programme in Law and the master’s programme in Civil Law. He is involved in a course on comparative and international private law and a course about regulation, behaviour and private law. He also supervises bachelor's and master's theses.

Activities