2023 Meijers Lecture and prize winners
The 2023 Meijers Lecture was held on Tuesday 10 January 2023, delivered this year by Dr Tirza Cramwinckel. Following the lecture, the annual Meijers prizes, the Van Wersch Springplank Prize and the Faculty thesis prizes (for the year 2022) were awarded. More information is given below about the lecture and this year’s winners.
Meijers Lecture Tirza Cramwinckel
Following an introduction by Stefaan Van den Bogaert, Tirza Cramwinckel took the floor in the Lorentz Hall. She also answered some questions from the audience afterwards. Her lecture dealt with:
'The law, information and the filling station: the legal perspective and the citizen’s perspective towards trust'
Most citizens do not read legal texts, but instead turn to information provided by those who implement the law, such as the tax authorities. Problems arise when this information is subsequently found to be incorrect. So are citizens able to rely on that information? The citizen’s perspective, in which information is a form of inherently trusting communication between government and citizen ('yes, of course'), has an entirely different starting point from the legal perspective ('no, unless'), in which information is merely a 'translation' of a legal text. The conceptualisation of the legally and socially relevant field of tension between the two perspectives, as well as the search for solutions to it, formed the theme of this year’s Meijer Lecture.
Tirza Cramwinckel received her doctorate cum laude from Leiden University on 12 October 2022 for her multidisciplinary thesis: ‘Voorlichting door de Belastingdienst in rechtsstatelijke context. Een juridisch en communicatiewetenschappelijk onderzoek naar gewekt vertrouwen’. (A multidisciplinary study of information provided by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration in a context of the rule of law and its implications for the application of the principle of legitimate expectations in Dutch tax law).
Watch the recording of the Meijers Lecture and the presentation of the awards
The Meijers Prizes and Van Wersch Springplank Prize
The Meijers Prizes are awarded each year for the best published article from each Faculty research programme.
Director of Research, Stefaan Van den Bogaert, announced the following winners:
Criminal Justice: Legitimacy, Accountability and Effectivity
Lisa Ansems: ‘The importance of perceived procedural justice among defendants with a non-western background involved in Dutch criminal cases’
Published in: Ansems, L.F.M., Bos, K. van den, & Mak, E. Frontiers In Psychology, 12.
Coherent Private Law
Charlotte Vrendenbarg:’Het ex parte bevel’
Published in: Cohen Jehoram T., Groot E.F., Maas W.J.G. & Vrendenbarg C.J.S. (red.) IE-procesrecht. Constant in beweging. Amsterdam: deLex. 194-211.
Exploring the Frontiers of International Law
Hilde Woker: ‘Interactions between Law and Science within the law of the Sea: A Systems Theory Perspective’
Published in: Nele Matz-Lück, Øystein Jensen and Elise Johansen (eds), The Law of the Sea: Normative Context and Interactions with other Legal Regimes (Routledge 2022), 14-43.
Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Pluralist World
Asmaa Khadim: ‘A Citizen-Centric Approach to Evidence-Based Decision-Making under the European Green Deal’
Published in: European Journal of Law Reform 2022 (24) 1.
Limits of Tax Jurisdiction
Martijn Nouwen: ‘The Market Distortion Provisions of Articles 116-117 TFEU: An Alternative Route to Qualified Majority Voting in Tax Matters?’
Published in: Intertax Volume 49, Issue 1 (2021) pp. 14 – 28.
Reform of Social Legislation
Jordy Meekes: ‘Gender differences in job flexibility: Commutes and working hours after job loss’
Published in: Meekes J. & Hassink W.H.J. (2022), Journal of Urban Economics 129: 1-15 (103425).
The Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Law & Governance in a World of Multilevel Jurisdictions
Gert Jan Geertjes: ‘Machtsverdeling, Grondwet en conventie’
Published in in: Ars Aequi 71(4): 315-325 (AA20220315).
The Progression of EU Law: Accommodating Change and Upholding Values
Simona Demková: ‘The Decisional Value of Information in European Semi- automated Decision-making’
Published in: Review of European administrative law 2022; vol. 14, nr. 2, 29-50.
Van Wersch Springplankprijs
The winners receive a certificate and a sum of money to use for his or her research. One of these winners was also awarded the Van Wersch Springplank Prize, which consists of two time €5,000 for scholarly publications by active and talented researchers in the field of legal research. The winner this year is: Gert Jan Geertjes.
The Van Wersch Springplank Fund also donates €10,000 each year for research in the field of pharmaceutical science.
Watch the recording of the Meijers Lecture and the presentation of the awards here
Thesis prizes
Besides the Meijers prizes, awards for the best master’s theses in 2022 were awarded during the New Year’s reception. Three prizes of respectively 1000, 800 and 600 euro are funded in part from a contribution from Stichting Oukha.
The prizes were awarded by Professor Bart Krans, who was delighted that the thesis prizes could be presented again live this year. Under an imaginary drum roll and confetti, he asked the winners one by one to come forward. This year the winners were:
1 Bettina Schmiedler
Can Climate Litigation Put Enhanced Climate Governance on the Road?
The Role of Climate Litigation in Shifting Notion of Corporate Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation within the German Automotive Sector
Supervisor: Matthew Canfield
2 Renske Caminada
De verzakelijking van het wetenschapsembryo
Een onderzoek naar de regulering van het speciaal tot stand gebrachte embryo
3 Till Steinkamp
Intergenerational Justice as a Lever to Impact Climate Policies?
Lessons from the Complainants Perspective on Germany’s 2021 Climate Constitutional Ruling
University Thesis Prize
Bettina Schmiedler’s thesis has been put forward as this year’s faculty entry for the University Thesis Prize. As yet, the outcome is unknown.
Bart also mentioned that the first prize last year of the Faculty Thesis Prize was won by Tim Lubbers with the title: Jacob Corens Observatio 40: Over de beperkte verhaalsaansprakelijkheid van de reder voor buitencontractuele vorderingen in het Rooms-Hollandse zeerecht (on shipowner liability for inculpable ship collision and its limitation in Roman-Dutch law).
His thesis was put forward for the University Thesis Prize and Tim won second prize.