The new open access series „Schriften des IRDT | Trier Studies on Digital Law", published by the new Förderverein Recht und Digitalisierung e.V. (VRD), has been launched.

Volume 1 contains contributions by Lea Katharina Kumkar, Martin Steinebach, Antje von Ungern-Sternberg, Mattias Wendel, Florence G'Sell and Ruth Janal on the topic of the recent IRDT-Herbsttagung:

Content Regulation in the European Union: The Digital Services Act.

Volume 1 is available here. The works in the series are also available as print-on-demand.

Also in the summer semester 2023, the Institut für Recht und Digitalisierung Trier (IRDT) invites you to the Trierer Gesprächen zu Recht und Digitalisierung (Trier Talks on Law and Digitalization). These are under the heading: „Cyberwarfare".
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., Prof. Dr. David Roth-Isigkeit (Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer) will speak first on the topic of „Cyberwar and International Law: The Stony Road to a Digital World Peace Order". This will be followed by a presentation by Dr. Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan (Leibniz-Institut Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung) on „Russia's Cyberwar in Ukraine."

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., Prof. Dr. Tristan Barczak (Universität Passau) will speak on „Constitutional Issues of Hackbacks" and Dr. Carolyn Moser (Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht Heidelberg) will follow with „A European Law Classification of Hackbacks."

The events will take place in hybrid form and are open to all interested parties. Participation in attendance (Building C, HS 5) does not require prior registration. However, participation is also possible via Zoom.

For more information, please visit https://irdt.uni-trier.de/events/tgrd-cyberwar-und-int-cybersicherheit/ and https://irdt.uni-trier.de/events/tgrd-hackbacks/. You can access the participation link shortly before the event at the aforementioned URLs.

The Institut für Recht und Digitalisierung (IRDT) is pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Ivana Jelić, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, will give a lecture on „Freedom of Speech in the Digital Sphere" at an IRDT Lecture on Monday, May 22, 2023, at 3 pm.

The event will take place at Trier University (Room E 51) and is open to the public. It offers lawyers, academics, and students interested in human rights issues an excellent opportunity to engage in conversation with a leading expert in the field. Following the lecture, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in dialogue with Prof. Dr. Jelić.
Event language: English

In the podcast series „Im Treff - Trierer rechtspolitische Gespräche" produced by the Institute for Legal Policy at the University of Trier (IRP), the eighth episode has been released:

„Rechtsstaatlichkeit in der Europäischen Union“ („Rule of Law in the European Union.")

What is the state of the rule of law in the European Union? What instruments are available to the association of states to counteract questionable tendencies and how effective are they? Noah Drautzburg (Research Fellow at IRP Trier) will talk about this with Dr. Katarina Barley (SPD, MEP, Vice President of the European Parliament). They discuss, among other things, the perspectives of Art. 7 and infringement proceedings, the situation in Hungary and Poland, and the right way to deal with threats of withdrawal by Hungary.
All episodes available on Spotify and Buzzsprout!

In the JuristenZeitung (JZ 2023, 403) report research associate Noah Drautzburg  and research associate Thomas Kemper about the 66th Bitburger Gespräche, which took place in Trier on January 12 and 13, 2023. The event, organized by the Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik (gfr) and the Institut für Rechtspolitik an der Universität Trier (IRP), was devoted to the topic of „Stratetic Litigation - the Enforcement of Collective Interests before German Courts."

The article in the JZ is now available here (Mohr Siebeck Verlag).

Numerous conflicts about religion are present in society and politics and are fought out legally, e.g. bans on burqas in public or exemptions from school lessons on religious grounds. These and other topics will be dealt with in this lecture. In particular, it will be shown how classical national law (especially freedom of religion according to Art. 4 GG) is increasingly influenced by the requirements of the ECHR and European law.

At the same time, the course is designed as a „reading course", because after a short input by the lecturer, the material is to be worked out together with the students by reading central court decisions. Thus, the methodology of how to read, understand, classify and criticize decisions of the BVerfG, the ECJ and the ECtHR will be taught.

The course is aimed at all interested students from the first semester onwards. It is also a component of Focus 1 (Fundamentals of European Legal Development). The final exam can be used to obtain a required certificate for the „Studium fundamentale" certificate.

Further information can also be found here.

In the fourth year of its existence, the Institut für Recht und Digitalisierung (IRDT), of which the chair Antje von Ungern-Sternberg is a director, can be proud of having established itself as a research institute in the German-speaking world. In the past year, the IRDT was able to consolidate this position and to turn to internationalization in a special way, i.e. to set international projects on track and to deepen existing international contacts.

Click here for a detailed version of the report.

On May 3, 2023, the Institut für Rechtspolitik an der Universität Trier (IRP) invites you to an online lecture by constitutional law expert Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) on the traffic light electoral reform and a subsequent classification by sociologist and chair of the German Society for Electoral Research Prof. Dr. Sigrid Roßteutscher (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.). In addition, Mr. Michael Frieser (Member of the Bundestag and legal advisor to the CDU/CSU Bundestag faction) will contribute a co-lecture. After the presentations, there will be an opportunity for discussion. The online event will start at 18:30 via Zoom.

Cordial invitation to this! Registrations to irpsek@uni-trier.de.

The dissertation„Der Schulfriede als Schranke der Religionsfreiheit" („School Peace as a Barrier to Religious Freedom"), supervised by Prof. Dr. Antje von Ungern-Sternberg and written by former chair member Dr. Joshua Moir, has been published by Mohr Siebeck Verlag. The work is available under ISBN 978-3-16-161776-8.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Goerlich has reviewed the publication in the German Administrative Gazette (DVBl. 2023, 590). The article is available here (Carl Heymanns Verlag/Wolters Kluwer).

On April 1, 2023, Prof. Dr. Antje von Ungern-Sternberg took over the office of Dean of Faculty V - Law at Trier University from her predecessor Prof. Dr. Benjamin Raue. The Vice Dean is Prof. Dr. Mohamad El-Ghazi.

Research assistant Manuel Beh (Institut für Deutsches und Europäisches Wasserwirtschaftsrecht und Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht Prof. Dr. Michael Reinhardt, LL.M. (Cantab.), Universität Trier) has published an article in the Bonner Rechtsjournal (BRJ 2023, 52) entitled „Human Right to Covid-19 Vaccines? - A Question of International Law Solidarity." This is based on his seminar paper written in SoSe 2022 in the focus „European and International Law" on the topic „Solidarity in International and European Law" with Prof. Dr. Antje von Ungern-Sternberg. You can access the journal here (Bonner Rechtsjournal).

On March 29, 2023, members of Prof. Dr. von Ungern-Sternberg's team participated in a field trip to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg organized by the Chair of Prof Dr. Birgit Peters. They visited the hearings (Grand Chamber) in the cases Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (application no. 53600/20) and Carême v. France (application no. 7189/21).

The 82nd volume of the „Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer“ contains the papers and discussions of the conference of the Association of German Teachers of Constitutional Law in Bremen from October 5 to 7, 2022. Antje von Ungern-Sternberg dealt with „Solidarity Communities" in the context of the second topic of deliberation, „Belonging and Participation".

The volume is available here (De Gruyter).

A new volume has been published in the open access publication series „digital | recht Staat und digitale Gesellschaft” supported by the Institut für Recht und Digitalisierung (IRDT):

Volume 4 published by Manuela Wagner, Oliver Vettermann et al. on February 27, 2023: Responsible handling of IT security vulnerabilities: problem situations and optimization options for an efficient interaction between IT security research and IT managers.

In the JuristenZeitung (JZ 2023, 198), research associate Lara Hausknecht and research associate Gregor Hilger report on the IRDT annual conference in October 2022 on "Content Regulation in the European Union". The article shows the main technical and legal issues regarding content moderation that the international conference participants dealt with and the significant impact of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) on these issues.

The article in the JZ is now available here (Mohr Siebeck Verlag).

The proceedings of the 65th Bitburger Gespräche are now available. The event, organized by the Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik (gfr) and the Institut für Rechtspolitik an der Universität Trier (IRP), was devoted to the topic of „The Capacity of the Democratic Constitutional State to Act in Times of Crisis." The volume contains contributions by Tristan Barczak, Udo Di Fabio, Horst Dreier, Katarina Barley, Uwe Volkmann, Thomas Darnstädt, Aurore Gaillet and Eckhard Lübkemeier.

The conference proceedings are available under ISBN 978-3-406-79964-8 (C.H.Beck Verlag).

In the podcast series „Im Treff – Trierer rechtspolitische Gespräche" produced by the Institut für Rechtspolitik (IRP), the seventh episode has been released:

„The Triage Law - Successful Regulation or Missed Opportunity?"

With the Triage Law (§ 5c IfSG), has the German Bundestag created a regulation that can prevent discrimination in the allocation of scarce intensive care capacities? How should the BVerfG's triage decision of December 16, 2021 be evaluated? Thomas Kemper (research associate at IRP Trier) talks about this with Prof. Dr. Steffen Augsberg (Giessen, member of the German Ethics Council).

All episodes available on Spotify and Buzzsprout!

This winter semester 2022/23 the Institute for Digital Law Trier (IRDT) invites again for the Talks of Trier about Digital Law (Trierer Gespräche). Those are concerning the topic: “Sicherheitslücken“ (“security holes“)

On the 17^th January 2023 Prof. Dr. Thomas Wischmeyer (Universität Bielefeld) will talk about security holes approved by the state. On the 7^th January 2023 will follow a presentation by Prof. Dr. Christian Gomille (Universität des Saarlandes) with the title: „Der Feind im eigenen Haus? – (Vertragliche) Ansprüche auf Sicherheits-Updates“ (The enemy in your own house? – (Contractual) Claims for security updates“).

Just like last year, the IRDT will also hand out certificates for participations for those students who attended both events and participated actively in the discussion (at least one contribution per event).

For the meetings access data, please, send an e-mail to irdtuni-trierde (until 18 o’clock on the events day).

In 2023 the Gesellschaft für Rechtspolitik (company for Legal Policy) (gfr) and the Institut für Rechtspolitik an der Universität Trier (Insitute for Legal Policy Trier) (IRP) organize the Bitburger Gespräche (Talks of Bitburg). The topic of the 66. Talk on 12th and 13th January 2023 in Trier is: „Strategic Litigation – die Durchsetzung kollektiver Interessen vor deutschen Gerichten“  („Strategic Litigation – the execution of collective interests at German courts“.

The event is non-public and only for invited guest. The contributions will be published in due course.

The publishers C.H. Beck and Mohr Siebeck allow the Institut für Rechtspolitik (Institute for Legal Policy) (IRP) to download all single contributions of the Bitburger Gespräche (Talks of Bitburg) and the „Bitburger Gespräche in München“ („Talks of Bitburg in Munich“) in pdf-format for free.


The contributions can be found here.
Further informations to former kinds of events and to the yearbook are available on the website of the IRP.

Now, the “Cambridge Handbook of Responsible Artificial Intelligence – Interdisciplinary Perspectives” (Vöneky/Kellmeyer/Mueller/Burgard (eds.)) were published as e-books and, further more, as printed versions. Antje von Ungern-Sternberg contributed with an article with the title “Discriminatory AI and the Law – Legal Standards for Algorithmic Profiling”.

The whole handbook is available open acces and can be found here. To the contribution by Prof. Dr. von Ungern-Sternberg follow here.

The printed version of the handbook is obtailnable with the ISBN 978-1-00-920786-7.