A collaborative PhD programme
on doctrinal and theoretical aspects of international economic law

The programme is a collaboration between the University of Antwerp and the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern that brings together expertise in all fields of international economic law and legal philosophy. International economic law and governance gives rise to many unsettled doctrinal questions of systemic importance for the international legal order. They also raise challenging theoretical inquiries about notions of democracy, human rights, distributive justice, the possibility of state-independent transnational law and others. PhD proposals are invited that examine unsettled doctrinal questions in international economic law or that combine doctrinal research with rigorous theoretical thinking.

What we offer
The opportunity for PhD research in a collaborative framework involving research centres at the forefront of research in international economic law and in legal philosophy is unique in Europe.

This programme combines the advantages of close, personalised supervision with those of integration into bigger research units with an international community of interdisciplinary researchers. The first-year PhD training is a novel approach to PhD supervision: PhD candidates analyse legal problems and academic comment together with their supervisor and have the opportunity to engage renowned experts in the fields of their research. This rigourous training ensures they have the knowledge and tools to complete a PhD research project that is internationally recognised as excellent.