I have held the Chair of Global Law and Development at Tilburg Law School since 2015. I received my Ph.D. from the European University Institute, Florence (2006) on ‘The Romani Claim to Non-territorial Nationhood’; hold an LL.M. (distinction; British Academy scholarship) in International Law from the University of Nottingham (2000) and an M.A. Hons. (1st) in History from the University of Edinburgh (1999). I have worked as a researcher at the European Roma Rights Center, Budapest, and as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University. I have been a visiting professor at FGV Direito, Sao Paolo; Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto; and IDC Tel Aviv. I am a founder and series editor of the CUP Global Law book series; am director of the European Joint Doctorate in Law and Development (EDOLAD); and was elected a corresponding member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences (KAOW) in 2018.
My research straddles two fields of law: Law and Development, and Law and Globalization. My work focuses on questions of exclusion, inclusion and participation – and on the impact of law in creating exclusion, structuring inclusion and in providing space for both participation and resistance. I am particularly interested in how global (development) narratives shape and are shaped by these dynamics.
I recently completed a three-year Dutch Science Organisation (NWO) funded research project in Rwanda examining questions of the exclusion and (self-)identity of the Batwa in relation to global narratives of indigeneity; and I am currently working on the accompanying book. I head the second pillar of TLS's Global Law research programme, which focuses on what it is (ethically/ politically) to be a global lawyer.