Department of Research

The department of research is responsible for organisational and policy support of research within Leiden Law School.

The department manages the registration of faculty research and is responsible for (internal) evaluations for the purpose of research assessments. The department provides support in the field of external research funding and datamanagement. In addition, the department of research comprises the Graduate School of Legal Studies, responsible for the training of PhD candidates. The department’s team supports the Research Board, the Director of Research and the Dean.

Also known as: E.M. Meijers Institute

The department of research is also known as the E.M. Meijers Institute, named after Prof. Eduard Meijers, Professor of Civil Law. In November 1940, along with 29 other Jewish members of staff, he was dismissed by the Nazis. Prof. Rudolph Cleveringa, Professor of Commercial Law and Civil Procedure and Dean of the Law Faculty during the Second World War, expressed his abhorrence of this act in the form of a protest speech. Meijers survived the war and returned to the university, where he was one of the authors of the new Civil Code.  

Every year, the Meijers Lecture highlights a current legal scientific topic. The lecture has been held since the establishment in 1997 of the E.M. Meijers Institute for Legal Research (now: Research Department). The lecture coincides with the Faculty of Law's New Year's Reception and the presentation of several awards.