Maxime Nijs

Maxime Nijs is a doctoral researcher and teaching assistant in public international law at Ghent University since May 2023. His research interests and expertise mainly revolve around the law of armed conflict.

Maxime obtained a Master of Laws degree, magna cum laude, from KU Leuven (2020). During his studies in Leuven, he spent a semester at the University of Geneva, where he obtained the Certificate in Transnational Law (2019). In 2020, he was part of the winning team representing KU Leuven at the Frits Kalshoven International Humanitarian Law Competition.Maxime, furthermore, holds a Master of Advanced Studies (LL.M.) in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, summa cum laude, from the Geneva Academy (2021). He was awarded the Geneva Academy’s prize for the best LL.M. paper of 2021 for his piece, ‘Humanizing siege warfare: Applying the Principle of Proportionality to Sieges’ – published in the Emerging Voices edition of the International Review of the Red Cross (2021).

Before joining GRILI, Maxime worked as an Associate in the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (2022) where he was part of the Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit and the Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, he worked as an Affiliated Junior Researcher at the KU Leuven Institute for International Law. As a student, Maxime conducted internships with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Directorate for the United Nations) and with the Treaty Body Impact Database 2020+ research project of the University of Pretoria’s Human Rights Centre and the Geneva Academy, in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.