New UCL Laws – Max Planck Research Visiting Fellowship announced
17 May 2024
UCL celebrated a key milestone in its longstanding collaboration with Germany’s Max Planck Institutes (MPIs) with the launch of a new Research Visiting Fellowship Scheme with the Max Planck Law (MPL) network.
The new scheme, launching in September 2024, will enable up to two UCL Laws academic staff members to undertake research visits of one to three months at any of the nine MPL institutes. MPL is a national network engaging in a broad spectrum of legal studies, operating the world's most extensive doctoral and postdoctoral research programme in law and employing approximately 400 researchers.
This scheme was formally agreed during a UCL delegation visit to mainland Europe in May 2024, led by Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) Professor Geraint Rees. He was joined by Professor Eloise Scotford, Dean of UCL Laws, and by colleagues from UCL Global Engagement.
Professor Scotford said: "Our partnership with Max Planck Law opens doors to unparalleled access to specialised legal communities for our researchers. This valuable opportunity strengthens the intellectual ties between our institutions, consistent with our outstanding research environments."
Professor Stefan Vogenauer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory and Chair of Max Planck Law, said: "We are delighted and honoured that UCL Laws has chosen to enter into an exchange agreement with Max Planck Law. It will be an unrivalled opportunity for our researchers to spend some time at one of the finest law schools, and we look forward to receiving their outstanding scholars for research stays at our Institutes."
The Fellowship complements an existing PhD mobility scheme that UCL Laws has enjoyed with four MPL institutes since 2022 and is the first time UCL has collaborated with all nine.
The ongoing Max Planck Doctoral Mobility Scheme enables Laws PhD researchers to spend two to three months at one of the MPIs in Bonn (for law and economics), Frankfurt (for legal history and legal theory), Hamburg (for comparative and international private law), Heidelberg (for comparative public law and international law) or Munich (for intellectual property and competition law).
For the new Research Visiting Fellowship, joint funding from UCL Global Engagement and UCL Laws will be made available to cover reasonable travel and accommodation expenses incurred by Laws academics during their research visits. The arrangement works on a reciprocal basis, with UCL Laws welcoming a maximum of two MPI Visiting Fellows per year (for a period of one to three months) and their accommodation and travel expenses being covered by Max Planck Law.
The Fellowship joins a wealth of activity between UCL and the Max Planck Society, marked by vast collaboration across multiple research areas. This includes the renowned Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, which has received international recognition and extended funding.
UCL's participation in three International Max Planck Research Schools and collaboration on numerous Horizon 2020 projects with the Max Planck Society is a testament to its commitment to maintaining solid international academic networks in Germany and across Europe.
Links
- UCL Laws
- Max Planck Law
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research
- UCL and Europe
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Professor Eloise Scotford, Professor Geraint Rees and Max Planck's Professor Stefan Vogenauer at the new Research Visiting Fellowship launch