This conference was organised by the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) in cooperation with the Institute of Law and Economics at Hamburg University (Prof. Stephan Voigt) and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University Dr. Freya Baetens.

SIEL was founded in 2008 to act as an umbrella organisation to foster coordination, collaboration and debate on issues of international economic law. It aims to be genuinely global in its reach and highly inclusive – not only in the geographical distribution of its membership but also in terms of the members’ expertise and interests. One of the ways in which it tries to achieve this goal, is through the creation of specific outreach networks, such as PEPA. The idea behind the PEPA network is to provide a forum where junior academics and professionals can present and discuss their research in a supportive and welcoming environment.

At this first SIEL-PEPA Conference, forty Ph.D. Fellows from universities all over the world, selected from a large pool of applicants, presented their ongoing research, which was subsequently commented upon by senior academics and practitioners, followed by a group discussion. A selection of papers will be published in a collected edition later this year. Due to the success of this inaugural conference, the SIEL-PEPA network is planning to organise a similar conference next year, at a date and place to be confirmed. Universities or institutes which would be interested in hosting this event are welcome to contact Dr. Freya Baetens

More information about the 2012 SIEL-PEPA Conference (including paper abstracts).