Prof. dr. Martijn W. Hesselink is Director of the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL). He is assisted by Coodinator dr. Chantal Mak and Management Assistant LLM Yvonne ter Horst.  The specific (four) themes within the research programme are led by the senior researchers prof. dr. Arthur Salomons, prof. dr. Marco Loos and prof. dr. Martijn Hesselink.

The CSECL consists of a diverse research group where researchers interact with other researchers from different backgrounds in terms of nationality, gender, education et cetera. By creating attractive positions for assistant professors (more research time), occasionally in combination with the possibility of a ‘tenure track’ to become associate professor, the CSECL has managed to attract and retain talented researchers.

The CSECL actively searches for talented PhD students. All PhD positions are widely advertised in the CSECL’s international networks. PhD students spend some time at a foreign university (mostly at Harvard, Columbia, NYU and the MPI in Hamburg). They are stimulated to develop their own research profiles which are visibly distinct from that of the research leaders.

All researchers, including PhD students, participate in the Ius Commune research school. Moreover, all researchers are facilitated to excel in their work by showing confidence in their capacities to be innovative while at the same time showing a real interest in their ideas and projects. In this respect bi-weekly seminars are organized on Mondays and are dedicated to discuss each others’ research and recent developments in the field of (European) regulation and literature. In a series of CSECL Seminars, which take place twice-monthly on Mondays and which are public, invited leading scholars from across the world present and discuss their working papers.

The Master’s programme in European Private Law is directed and co-ordinated and, for the most part, taught by members of our research group. Students in that programme are invited to participate in CSECL seminars, conferences, and, where possible, research.