We want to highlight you!
ELS Summer Readings on LinkedIn
Are you working on empirical-legal research or have a recent publication, blog post, or article you’d like to share? We’re spotlighting the work of ELS researchers this summer!
Submit your piece to be featured on the ELS LinkedIn — a great opportunity to boost your visibility, share your insights, and connect with a broader academic and professional audience. Publications will be grouped based on similar topics, offering an amazing opportunity to get in touch with scholars from other universities in your same niche.
Filling in the form only takes a few minutes. We take care of the rest!
Submit your abstract now
ELS Academy Kick-Off Event – The Normative-Empirical divide in Empirical Legal Research: Obstacles and opportunities – Abstracts
The ELS Academy is pleased to announce the Kick-Off Event for the academic year 2025–2026 on Friday 26 September at the Vrije Universiteit (Main building, Room Aurora). This event aims to inspire and support PhD candidates and scholars engaged in Empirical Legal Studies (ELS), with a focused exploration of the complex relationship between normative legal theory and empirical research methods.
For more information and registration, see ELS Academy Kick-off Event Friday 26 September 2025 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The submission form is currently closed. We thank everyone for submitting their abstracts, and will be in contact with you shortly!
PhD Event
ELS Midseason Event 2025: A Recap
On the 20th of March, ELS Academy organized a successful Midseason Event themed around funding grants at Leiden University.
The event began in a relaxed manner with an informal lunch, providing participants with an opportunity to mingle and get ready for the day. The event was named Funding Forward, and that is what the panel discussion was all about. Panelists Matthew Canfield, Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Vanessa Mak and Jekaterina Savicka delved into the challenges of funding, gave tips and tricks, and shared their personal experiences, including rejections. The audience had plenty of time to question them about subjects such as the challenge of securing a position post PhD, selling the empirical component in your research, collaboration in grant writing, developments in the funding landscape, and the types of grants and funding bodies out there.
After some coffee and tea, presentations were given by grant receivers on their projects which received funding from the ELS Academy. These included Aylin Aydin Cakir (How does Court-Curbing affect Public Attitudes Towards the Judicial Institutions?); Loran Kostense and Sofia de Jong (Comparing Legal Research Methods); Marie-Therese Sekwenz (Empirical Systemic Risk Evaluation in Political Advertising under the Digital Services Act) and Sarah Vahed (The Neuroscience of Digital Justice).
Afterwards, we finished up with drinks and a borrel. We were happy to see so many scholars from Leiden University and other universities present and are thankful to our speakers!
Midseason Event 2025
Programme & Registration
On March 20, 2025, we’re bringing together researchers and experts for another engaging edition of the ELS Academy’s midseason event, this time on the topic of research funding. This is your opportunity to gain valuable insights into securing grants, navigating funding opportunities, and learning from other’s experiences, including rejections. Because let’s be real—funding success doesn’t come without setbacks. That’s why we’ll also discuss the challenges of rejections, what we can learn from them, and how to turn them into future opportunities.
This event is free of charge. More information and sign up here.
News
Small grants scheme closed, budget has been allocated fully
The entire budget allocated to the Small Grants Scheme has now been awarded, reflecting the high demand and strong interest in this initiative. We wish all grant recipients the best of success in the coming months as they carry out their empirical-legal studies!
For more updates and information, you can check out the small grants scheme page and keep up to date through our newsletter and LinkedIn.
PhD Event
ELS Kick-off Event 2024: A Recap
On 10-11 October, we organized two incredible, informative and community-building days at the Kick-off event at Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam. From thought-provoking presentations by Prof. Lee Epstein, to a broad range of panels from our community, we had a productive event! Here’s a quick rundown of the days:
We started off the first day with a warm welcome from Jessie Pool (ELS Academy, ELS Lab @Leiden) and Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko (Organizing Committee). Prof. Lee Epstein followed by delving into her empirical legal research on judicial politics, political polarisation in the US, and the US Supreme Court.
After energizing with coffee and cookies, Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko guided the group in a workshop through ethics and data in empirical legal research.
Over a delicious lunch, attendees had the chance to meet other PhD cohort members and connect and exchange ideas. We continued the discussions by splitting up into several panels on pre-analysis and research papers. These consisted of:
- Session 1A led by Nina Holvast, comprised of Marleen Kappe, Serkan Yolcu and Pablo Pizarro Zuniga.
- Session 1B led by Peter Mascini, comprised of Luuk de Boer, Tabea Krauss and Anastasiia Panicheva.
- Session 1C led by Jessie Pool, comprised of Amarilys Abreu and Federica Casano.
After more coffee, we continued with more panels, consisting of:
- Session 2A led by Arno Akkermans, comprised of Vladimir Belev and Eduardo Silva de Freitas
- Session 2B led by Elena Kantorowicz-Recnichenko, comprised of Gijs Custers, Prateek Jain and @Iris Meiejer
- Session 2C led by Lieselot Bisschop, comprised of Sophie Melchers and Jerome Yves Vanwelde
As the first day came to an end, we wrapped up the productive day on a high note with drinks and dinner.
The next day, we were once again treated to a talk by Prof. Lee Epstein, this time in the form of a workshop on how to conduct empirical legal research.
After a coffee break, the last research panel took place led by Rowie Stolk, comprised of Jessica Kluger and Inessa Sakhno.
The event finished with a collaborative research design group work, followed by presentations, jury deliberation, and the announcement of the winner. We’d like to congratulate Loran Kostense, Anne Verboom, Sofia De Jong and Rieneke Stelma-Roorda for winning €5000 ELS Academy Small Grant to conduct research on comparing (the outcomes of) different case law reviews.
A huge thank you to all our speakers, organizers, and attendees for making this event a resounding success!
