The Young Belgian Association for European Union Law (Young BEDER) invites early-career EU law scholars and practitioners to submit abstracts for a presentation at the upcoming workshop ‘A European Union of Values: Quo Vadis?’, which will take place on 27 November 2025 at Ghent University. The keynote speakers will be prof. dr. Geert de Baere (judge of the General Court of the EU) and prof. dr. Paul Nihoul (judge of the General Court of the EU).
This domain-specific workshop will provide a platform for critical reflection on how the European Union (EU) protects and enforces its values within the EU legal order. The workshop will provide a forum for young researchers to present their research and to receive feedback from senior researchers and professors.
The EU is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights as enshrined in Article 2 TEU. Doubts have arisen concerning respect of these values, common to the Member States, in several of them, which represents a ‘test’ for those values. This raises numerous and difficult questions concerning the normative ‘value’ of those values, how and to what extent they are cognizable before national and EU courts, and how they can contribute to shaping the EU legal order and its constitutional framework.
The PhD workshop invites submissions that critically reflect on those values within the EU, and their enforcement in different areas of EU law. Early-career scholars and practitioners will be invited to prepare contributions addressing the role that EU values might play in their areas of expertise. Participants will examine how EU values shape and influence specific policy areas.
Publication and prize(s)
Selected participating authors will have the opportunity to publish their papers in a peer-reviewed journal or edited book following the workshop.
One or more prizes will be awarded to the best paper(s). The winner(s) will be offered the opportunity to undertake a study visit in the cabinet of one of the Belgian members of the Court of Justice of the EU (Court or General Court).
During this study visit, he/she will also have the opportunity to apply for a traineeship in these cabinets in accordance with the applicable selection procedure. The winner(s) will also be offered the possibility to undertake a traineeship at the Constitutional Court of Belgium.
The winner(s) will be invited to present the award-winning paper(s) at the annual event of the Belgian Association for European Law (BEDER) the following day (28 November 2025, in Brussels).
Guidelines for submission
Contributions should include:
A title and abstract (max 500 words) including at least the problem definition and envisaged method;
The author’s name and affiliation;
Whether you would like to be considered for publication following the conference.
Contributions can be submitted and presented in English, French or Dutch, and should be sent to [email protected] by 15 May 2025, along with the author’s CV.
The scientific committee will inform the selected applicants in the weeks following their submission whether their abstract is selected. Those whose abstracts are selected for the conference will be required to submit a full paper of 8.000 to 10.000 words by 15 September 2025.
There is no registration fee to attend the PhD Workshop. Subject to available funding and upon request, Young BEDER may be able to cover travel expenses and, where necessary, one night of accommodation in Ghent for selected speakers who do not have other sources of funding.
For further details about the workshop, please visit our website: https://www.beder.be/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/FINAL-CORRECTED-Young-BEDER-A-European-Union-of-Values-Quo-Vadis-1.pdf