Tilburg Law School

Witteveen Memorial Fellowship

Tilburg University has established the annual ‘Witteveen Memorial Fellowship in Law and Humanities’ in order to commemorate the life and work of Willem Witteveen, who died in the disaster with flight MH17 in Ukraine in July of 2014 in the company of his wife and daughter. The fellowship aims to enable a junior scholar (PhD or postdoc level) to further develop his or her research in the area of ‘Law and Humanities’ during a three-month visit to Tilburg Law School.

Professor Willem Witteveen was an early representative of the interdisciplinary and contextual approach to legal scholarship in the Netherlands and at Tilburg Law School. Whereas the emphasis often is on social sciences, Willem’s focus was on law and humanities. Rhetoric, literature, political philosophy, and (intellectual and cultural) history in particular were breeding grounds for Willem’s many contributions to academia, politics, and society.

Tilburg University is establishing the annual Witteveen Memorial Fellowship in Law and Humanities in order to commemorate the life and work of Willem Witteveen. The purpose of the fellowship is to give a junior researcher (PhD or postdoc) in the field of ‘Law and Humanities,’ whether Dutch or international, the opportunity to develop their research for several months in Tilburg. Besides that, the purpose of this fellowship is to promote research in the field of ‘Law and Humanities’ at Tilburg University. It is preferable that the fellow resides in Tilburg during the spring semester, so that she or he has an opportunity to meet with the Montesquieu lecturer.

The Witteveen Memorial Fellow in Law and Humanities offers the fellow reimbursement of travel expenses and accommodation expenses in case the fellow is based outside of the Netherlands. In case the fellow is based at a Dutch university, we offer a replacement subsidy to his or her employer to compensate for the loss of teaching hours of the researcher, as well as reimbursement of commuting costs. The fellow will be provided with office space and with access to the university library.