The opening of the Joachim Herz Doctoral School of Law in Law at Leuphana University Lüneburg was celebrated with a festive act on 11 October 2023. The establishment of the school was made possible by a grant from the Joachim Herz Foundation and will allow ten new doctoral students to be admitted to the newly created structured doctoral programme at the Graduate School on the topic of "Law and Transformation" in the winter semester 2023/24.
Societies around the world today are confronted with profound transformation processes (such as climate change, digitalisation and numerous international conflicts). Their future viability depends in particular on their ability to manage these processes while maintaining democratic legitimacy requirements. Law has a central role to play in this endeavour. This fact was also emphasised by the President of Leuphana University Lüneburg, Prof. Dr. Sascha Spoun, who opened the event with a speech. Prof. Dr. Jörg Philipp Terhechte and Prof. Dr. Jelena Bäumler, the two spokespersons of the Joachim Herz Doctoral School of Law, also emphasised the challenges facing legal science in the face of the drastic transformation processes of the 21st century.
In her subsequent keynote address, Prof. Dr. Radha D'Souza, Professor at the University of Westminister and currently Senior Fellow at the Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies, gave an insight into the diversity of legal research. Among other things, she highlighted the value of different perspectives, which in the field of international law are manifested in particular in the so-called TWAIL approach (Third World Approaches to International Law). Her remarks on the colonial origins of international law and its Eurocentric focus fitted perfectly into the thematic orientation of the Joachim Herz Doctoral Programme (Law in Context) in view of its broad research approach.
Prof. Dr. Erich Hörl, Vice President for Research, complemented this interdisciplinary view and outlined current research at Leuphana on disruptions and transformations to the new doctoral students. Prof. Dr. Paul Drews, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Technology, concluded the series of keynote speeches with an insight into his faculty's research activities on digitalisation. In addition to possible joint research and cooperation approaches, Prof. Drews also emphasised the value of research quality time, in which doctoral students can intensively exchange ideas with their supervisors and which is essential for the success of dissertations as well as for a good supervisory relationship.
The seminar "Research Methods in Legal Science" (link) was concluded on 14 December 2023 with a special event at the Joachim Herz Foundation.
On this day, the foundation welcomed the members of the Joachim Herz Doctoral School to its premises in Hamburg-Langenhorn and greeted them - in the person of its Chairwoman, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst.
The visit allowed the fellows to get to know the foundation provided them with the perfect setting to introduce themselves to the foundation and its employees during a brown bad lecture.
Whether legal transplants, supply chains, or climate protection funds - the fellows are working on a variety of exciting legal Ph.D. projects on the school's overarching research topic "Transformation and Law". Their research projects are dedicated to the very pressing questions of our time and in particular to the role of law in current (social) transformations.
A more detailed report on this event (in German) can be found on the website of the Joachim Herz Foundation (link).