Affiliate members

Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt is assistant professor of legal history at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (since October 2015), where he leads the Research Group Contextual Research in Law (CORE), and is affiliated to GRILI as voluntary research associate. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders at Ghent University (2014-2017) and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Antwerp (October 2016-2020). Frederik Dhondt’s research focuses on practical legal argumentation in 18th and 19th century European international relations and on comparative constitutional history. He teaches Belgian Political History, Historical and Comparative Introduction to Public Law and History of International Law at the VUB.

Dr. Ferro is a former doctoral and post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University (2015-2022), where he wrote his doctoral dissertation entitled International ‘Intervention’ in Theory and in Practice under the supervision of Prof. Tom Ruys. He was appointed Assistant Professor of International Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) in 2022 and has since also started the traineeship to join the Belgian diplomatic service.

Dr. Hofer is a former doctoral researcher at Ghent University (2015-19). Her doctoral thesis, which bears the title The Beliefs and Practice of Enforcing Collective Obligations through Unilateral Sanctions, consisted of an interdisciplinary study on the legality and effectiveness of unilateral sanctions and was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Tom Ruys. She is currently an Assistant Professor in public international law at Utrecht University and occassionally teaches international humanitarian law at the Riga Graduate School of Law.

Ms. Yang Liu obtained her Master Degree in Law at Xiamen University in 2015. In January 2016, she started PhD research in Public International Law under the supervision of Prof. dr. An Cliquet, focussing on the protection of transboundary watercourses under international biodiversity law. She succesfully defenced her PhD on 16 December 2020.

Prof. dr. Frank Maes studied Diplomatic Sciences (Ghent University, 1984), Shipping Law (UFSIA, 1986) and obtained a Ph.D. in Law (Ghent University, 1996). He is Professor of Public International Law in the Faculty of Law at Ghent University and has been guest lecturer at several foreign universities. He was Head of the Department of European, Public and International Law, Director of the Maritime Institute, promoter of PhD’s and research projects, author of more than 250 academic publications and research reports.

He was member of the ILA Committee on Water Resources Law, the Committee on Space Law and alternate member of the Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development.  He is former president of the United Nations Association (Flanders) and member of the management board of the Centre for Sustainable Development (Ghent University), member of the working group “International relations” of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development, member of the Royal Belgian Marine Academy. 

Prof. Maes retired on 01/10/2023 and is still active as affiliate emeritus professor.

Dr. Paul David Mora is a former doctoral researcher at Ghent University. In 2022, he successfully defended his PhD on ‘the barriers in international law to transnational human rights litigation involving allegations of torture’. He previously held various research and teaching positions at King’s College London (2017), the National University of Singapore (2013-2015), BPP University (2011-2013), the University of Birmingham (2008-2010), and Durham University (2005-2007). Paul currently works for an investment management company in London. Paul has a research interest in public international law and human rights, as well as private international law.

From October 2018 to February 2023, Zhenzhen Rong worked on her PhD research, ‘The public trust principle as a possible means to advance ecological restoration in China,’ under the supervision of Prof. Dr. An Cliquet and Prof. Dr. Hendrik Schoukens, at the Department of European, Public and International Law (Faculty of Law and Criminology, Ghent University). Since September 2023, Dr. Zhenzhen Rong has been a voluntary postdoctoral researcher at the faculty.

Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Zhenzhen Rong is working on her research, ‘Unpacking China’s water diplomacy from a legal perspective: An analysis of transboundary freshwater treaties’ at the School of Humanities and Social Science of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).

Dr. Emre Turkut is a post-doctoral researcher at Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights. He also holds a re:constitution fellowship (2021-22). Emre received his PhD from Ghent University in December 2020. His research covers a variety of fields within the domain(s) of public international law, international human rights law and comparative constitutional law including states of emergency, derogations, emergency powers, counter-terrorism, international law in domestic courts, transnational judicial dialogue and judicial politics in authoritarian regimes. Emre previously taught at the Riga Graduate School of Law, held a Swedish Institute fellowship at Uppsala University (2018-19) and a DAAD fellowship at Hertie School (2019-20).

Ms. Shuwen Wu obtained her Master Degree in International and Comparative Law at the University of Macau (UM) in 2018. She was an exchange student at the University of Vienna in 2016 and previously participated in the ICC Moot Court Competition for UM (2015) and in the Model United Nations Conferences in Macau and mainland China. Since 2019, she is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Public International Law at Ghent University. Her research is carried out under the supervision of Prof. Frank Maes, on the topic of “Transboundary Environmental Law Implications of the Belt and Road Initiative: A Case Study on the Chinese-European Railway Corridor Construction”. Currently, Shuwen is affiliated as a volunteer at the UGent and aims to finalize her doctoral reseach at the end of academic year 2023-2024.