PhD Summer School 2025

iCourts and MOBILE presentation graphic

The Centre of Excellence for International Courts (iCourts) and Centre of Excellence on Global Mobility Law (MOBILE) are hosting a Summer School for ambitious PhD students working on International and European law in its social and political contexts. We particularly welcome applications from students adopting an interdisciplinary, empirical approach in their projects, and focus on the core research areas of iCourts and MOBILE, i.e., international courts and global mobility law.

The idea

The MOBILE / iCourts PhD Summer School is a celebration of intellectual curiosity, academic cooperation, and professional networking. Since its inception in 2013, the Summer School has challenged and assisted more than 200 PhD students from around the world. Students who sign up for the Summer School will meet an engaged group of both young and senior scholars who look forward to sharing their experience and knowledge with you.

 

Download the PDF leaflet here.

 

 

 

 

 

The summer school will admit between 24-30 PhD students and is designed for students in the early stages of their research. To be admitted to the program, students must be enrolled in a doctoral program. As part of the application, PhD students are requested to submit a 300 word abstract describing their research project.

Participants will be expected to take an active part in the scholarly discussions, to submit assignments, present their own work, and to give feedback to their co-participants. Students should be prepared to refine and change their projects in light of the feedback given during the Summer School; thus, the optimal time to participate in the summer school is after students have an approved project and after they have surveyed the relevant literature. Participants may have begun their research, but it is better to participate before any serious writing up of findings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2025 Summer School will be held in person at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Law. The program will consist of morning lectures, afternoon working group sessions and a social program. The program will also include a keynote lecture by Katerina Linos, the Irving G. and Eleanor D. Tragen Professor of Law at UC Berkeley. Professor Linos is renowned for her empirically grounded and groundbreaking research on policy diffusion and international refugee and migration law.

Lectures 

Faculty members will teach a session related to their own research interests and methodological approaches. They will present some of their own work and discuss methodological issues related to researching a specified topic. Students will have assigned readings (approximately 200 pages).

Working group sessions

Small groups of 4-5 students will be formed based on similarity or complementarity of topics and/or methods. These groups of students will meet every day with researchers from MOBILE and iCourts to work on methodological issues related to their own projects.

Social programme

As an integrated part of the Summer School, MOBILE’s and iCourts’ PhD students will arrange sightseeing in the city of Copenhagen.

Evenings 

Most evenings will involve homework — doing readings for the next morning’s lecture and preparing assignments for the working group session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

iCourts is a research center dedicated to the study of international courts, their role in a globalising legal order and their impact on politics and society. iCourts opened in March 2012 as a Centre of Excellence funded by a large grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. Since its founding, iCourts has contributed to transforming the scholarly and practical understanding of international courts (ICs) at both the global and regional level by developing and applying novel theoretical and methodological tools. To read more about iCourts’ current research, click here.

MOBILE is a research center dedicated to the study of global mobility law. MOBILE was established in 2023 as a Centre of Excellence funded by a large grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. The center’s mission is to systematically study the legal infrastructures of human mobility across geographies, social divides, travel patterns and time. To read more about MOBILE’s research, click here.

Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is among the oldest universities in Northern Europe. The Faculty of Law was among the four original faculties and about 4,500 students are enrolled in the legal programs.  In 2017, the Faculty of Law moved to South Campus in completely new buildings with excellent facilities and green outdoor areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

The fee for attending the Summer School is 250 EUR.

The organizers offers financial support for up to 6 PhD scholars. If successful, the grants will cover travel and accommodation during the Summer School, as well as the registration fee.

If you wish to apply for a MOBILE / iCourts grant, please indicate so in the registration form. Please indicate also whether your participation is contingent on obtaining a MOBILE / iCourts grant.



If you wish to apply for iCourts / MOBILE's grant, please indicate so in the registration form. Please indicate also whether your participation is contingent on obtaining a iCourts / MOBILE grant.

 

 

The MOBILE / iCourts Summer School is organized by Associate Professor Zuzanna Godzimirska (iCourts) and Assistant Professor, Lucía López Zurita (MOBILE).