Ulla Neergaard

Ulla Neergaard

Professor

Medlem af:

    Ulla Neergaard (UN), Professor of EU Law at the University of Copenhagen, is a leading, internationally recognized, scholar in EU Law. UN was appointed as a professor at the University of Copenhagen in 2009. UN initially became Professor of EU Market Law and subsequently Professor of EU Law. Prior to that, UN had been Professor of Competition Law at the Copenhagen Business School. In 2015-16, UN was Visiting Professor at the Law Faculty at Oxford University and a member of St John’s College. UN obtained her PhD at the European University Institute, Florence.

    UN has held several appointments as an “expert member” to several boards/committees (among others the Danish Council of Competition and the Danish Energy Regulatory Authority). Most recently, UN has been a member of the Appeals Permission Board (i.e. “Procesbevillingsnævnet”). UN presently performs the function as alternate in the board of directors of the Danish Court Administration (i.e. “Domstolsstyrelsen”).

    UN was the President of the International Federation for European Law (FIDE) from 2013-14 and organised the FIDE-Congress in 2014. UN has for more than a decade been the President of the Danish Association for European Law. UN has published widely with leading international publishers and has been involved in several larger, international research projects. Thereby, UN has for a period of approximately 10 years been working on externally funded research projects and has over the years been successful in raising significant amounts of external funds.

    UN is a member of the advisory boards of “Common Market Law Review”, “Nordic Journal of European Law” and “Europarättsligt Tidskrift”, and is a member of the editorial board of “EU-ret & Menneskeret”. UN is often used as a peer reviewer, among others for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. UN also acts as an assessor of PhD-theses and in relation to senior academic appointments, e.g. professors, as well as in research councils such as the Swedish Research Council.

    UN is responsible of several of the EU Law courses (BA and MA) at the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen, which mainly focus on the internal market. In the role of PhD-coordinator UN takes part in the management of the PhD-School at her faculty. UN is also a member of the Academic Council. UN is the vice-head of her faculty’s research centre, Centre for European and Comparative Legal Studies (CECS). UN also acts as PhD course coordinator with managerial responsibilities regarding approximately 15 PhD-students.

    UN has in particular developed many different fields of basic research among which UN has been a pioneer in several. At least the following five may be mentioned. One concerns the relationship between EU Law and Danish law, in which field UN has recently co-edited a book marking the 50 years anniversary of the Danish EU membership. Another concerns the foundations of EU Law, where UN (together with Professor Ruth Nielsen) publishes textbooks on EU Law (“EU-ret”, 8th ed., and “EU-ret. Fri bevægelighed”, 4th ed.), which are being used at a majority of Danish universities. A third, fourth and fifth concerns European legal method and theory, solidarity as well as the social dimensions of the European Union, and significant challenges and changes for Europe at a given time (e.g. defence matters, digitalisation, European sovereignty and Covid-19). At times, UN has also worked intensively with the area of EU competition law.

    UN has worked with many different methods besides dogmatic research, including in particular comparative and interdisciplinary methods. Understanding EU Law in its wider (political) context has continuously been in her interest. UN cooperates with prominent researchers around Europe and is continuously invited to leading universities, including e.g. the University of Oxford and University of Sorbonne, to present her research and cooperate with acknowledged researchers.

    UN is an internationally oriented person, who is influenced by the following five universities: University of Kansas (USA), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), the European University Institute (Italy), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and Oxford University. UN has also worked at the Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg) and has her second home in Sweden. UN has thus altogether lived in six different countries and two different continents. 

    Primære forskningsområder

    1) Relationship between EU Law and Danish Law; 2) Foundations of EU Law; 3) European legal method and theory; 4) Solidarity in EU Law; 5) Social dimension of the EU; 6) Significant challenges and changes for Europe at a given time (e.g. defence matters, digitalisation, European sovereignty and Covid-19).

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