The people, issues and stories behind our research

Making the essential information about a research project quickly understandable by means of visualization: Research posters are increasingly being used for this purpose. Poster sessions complementing a lecture program have become a standard feature at academic conferences. As part of the most recent evaluation of the Institute by its advisory board, young researchers presented the topics addressed in their doctoral and post-doctoral theses in a poster session. more

It is nothing unusual for an Institute alum to have a career that is both international and interdisciplinary. The career path of Cathrin Bauer-Bulst, which has combined the law, technology, and the humanities through studies at Harvard and stints in New York and Hamburg before arriving in Brussels, is a bit less common. Hamburg actually features as a crucial career station. It is where she, as she puts it, “discovered her love of private international law”. Today she works in Brussels on security issues in the digital age. more

For over 50 years, the animal rights movement has been advocating a change in the relationship between humans and animals. In the humanities and social sciences, an “animal turn” has been proclaimed. There is now also growing interest in the question of how animals should be legally treated and whether they are entitled to their own rights. “While constitutional rights for animals have been in the foreground up to now, it is precisely private law that has a long tradition of gradually emancipating new legal subjects and of giving them an individual and autonomous character,” says Felix Aiwanger, research fellow at the Institute. more

Corporate forms are the essence of company law. They not only shape ideas in business practice but also determine the composition of textbooks. For much of the 20th century, the established canon of rules regarding partnerships and corporate forms remained virtually unchanged. This long phase of “legislative calm” lasted until the end of the 1970s. “In the past five decades, we have witnessed an enormous dynamic of development”, says Institute Director Holger Fleischer. more

When Klaus J. Hopt joined the Institute as a Director in 1995, he came from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. His academic career and life had already taken him around the globe. To this day, he is an internationally sought-after expert on the commercial law topics with which he has made a name for himself, and he encourages young researchers embarking on an academic career to similarly adopt an international perspective. His credo: “quality prevails.” more