How the Grinch ... Looking Back at 2018 and Happy Holidays
News
Visiting Researcher Zilin Hao
We are currently hosting visiting researcher Zilin Hao, PhD researcher at Wuhan University, in January-June for a six-months research stay. She is working on her PhD thesis (Exclusive jurisdiction for cross-border litigation) and got LLM and LLB in Law (China University of Political Science and Law).
She presents herself: “My research interests focus on the fields of private international law and international civil procedure. Before I came to Rotterdam, I learned a lot from the publications of Prof. Xandra Kramer. Thus, I appreciate Professor Kramer, who integrated me into her research group. During my stay, Xandra Kramer and her team gave me warm welcome and care. Most
importantly, by participating biweekly academic seminar with professional
teammates, I can consider my thesis question from the comparative perspective of
European private international law and civil procedure law in a straight way.
I cherish this rare opportunity for an academic visit and look forward to learning more in the coming months.”
Published: December 21, 2018
Dear Reader,
2018 has come to an end. It was the first full year of our ERC project and it has been a very intensive, fruitful, learningful and rich year. Jos and Erlis defended their PhD theses. Emma and Georgia completed their first year of Erasmus Graduate School of Law. All six of us have presented our work in different countries and in different settings, moderated panels, published papers and blogs, taught courses and master classes, and participated in many interesting events.
Our highlights were the two events we organized in Rotterdam. On 10 July the seminar on Innovating International Business Courts, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and the Montaigne Institute of Utrecht University. We are happy and excited that the proposal on the Netherlands Commercial Court was finally adopted by the Senate on 11 December 2018. The ERC Conference Challenge Accepted! Pathways to Civil Justice in Europe, covering all four subtopics of our project took place on 19 and 20 November 2018. In the morning of the 19th we presented our work and discussed the progress with our Advisory Board. Our team devoted a lot of time, energy, passion and joy to organizing these two successful events.
In the last week before the Christmas break, Emma coorganized the annual ESL Private Law Christmas dinner with games, food, drinks and fun! (see picture). Riddles, a grinch, the quest to find two missing professors…
Thank you dear colleagues, friends, collaborators, participants in our events, advisory board members and our fantastic student assistant Kyra, for helping us in unraveling and connecting different pathways to achieve a sustainable civil justice system.
Dear fellow ERC groupies, thank you so much for all your wonderful work for our project, and for enriching me with all your multifaceted talents, intelligence, insights, wisdom, joy, passions, and for making me laugh. And thanks for supporting me when I needed it most.
It is now time to enjoy our holidays, cycling in Spain, with family and friends in the Netherlands, France, Ireland, England, Albania, and Greece. We will be back in Rotterdam in 2019!
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
Xandra