As of 1 September 2022, Leonie Reins has been appointed as Professor of Public Law and Sustainability at Erasmus School of Law. This chair will allow public law to be approached from a broad perspective and, at the same time, enables Reins to focus on the themes of sustainability and technological development.
Reins is an expert in public law with specific expertise in the fields of energy and environmental law. She obtained her PhD in 2015 with her thesis entitled: The coherent regulation of energy and environment in the European Union, using Shale Gas as a case-study from KU Leuven. Thereafter, she worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the same University and from 2017 as an Assistant Professor of International and European Energy and Environmental Law at Tilburg University. Her research in the field of environmental law, climate law, and the regulation of the energy transition has resulted in numerous publications, including the handbook EU Environmental Law, a KNAW Early Career Partnership and a KNAW team fund for her structural effort in science communication regarding climate change and the energy transition.
The energy transition calls for the connection of public and private interests
Climate change and the energy transition are among the greatest societal challenges of our time. In order to prevent disastrous consequences, sustainability targets must be translated into appropriate (legal) frameworks and concrete actions in a short period of time.
The current geopolitical challenges force the EU and its member states to accelerate the energy transition.
All of this requires a legal framework that accommodates innovative and new technologies and a fundamental discussion on the respective roles and responsibilities of public and private actors and appropriate modalities of regulation.
Public law from a sustainability perspective
As Professor of Public Law and Sustainability, Reins will focus primarily on investigating public law from an international and European perspective with a focus on sustainability, digitalisation, and economic inequality.
Reins is excited about her appointment, "I feel honoured by the trust that Erasmus School of Law has placed in me, and I am committed to using the Chair as a means to offer my contribution towards the academic and societal debate on the regulatory design of a sustainable future. This calls for a dynamic and facilitating regulatory framework that provides room for innovative technologies that contribute to environmental protection and the energy transition. Rotterdam, as the Maritime Capital of Europe, and one of the front-runners in the implementation of an energy system based on renewables and hydrogen offers an interesting case study of these new technologies in practice. It will be exciting to use this practical input in future research.”
The approach to law as a meaningful factor for economic actors and the complex societal issues we face as a result of (technological) developments fits seamlessly with the motto of Erasmus School of Law: Where law meets business.
The Board of Erasmus School of Law congratulates Leonie Reins on this appointment and wishes her all the best with her activities.
- Professor