Network | FAMIMOVE | Protection of Families on the Move

The Network

FAMIMOVE - FAMIlies on the MOVE

The FAMIMOVE Network is composed by 7 Universities from 7 different EU Member States.

Prof. Marta Pertegás Sender

Marta Pertegás holds professorial positions at the Faculties of Law of Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Since 2019, she is a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and since 2021, an Adjunct Professor at IE Madrid (Spain). At Maastricht University, she currently serves as one of the two Directors of M-EPLI (Maastricht European Private Law Institute). She has extensively researched, lectured and published on international dispute resolution, the private International Law of the European Union and the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Through the PAX Moot Court Competition in Private International Law and other EU-funded projects such as FAMIMOVE, she hopes to raise awareness about uniform private international law and foster transnational exchanges over the role of private international law in global challenges.

Mayela Celis Aguilar

Mayela Celis Aguilar is currently a researcher at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University (the Netherlands). She worked at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) for 14 years. She started as a Legal Officer and was then promoted to senior and principal legal officer. She holds a PhD from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) and an LL.M. degree from New York University (NYU). She is deeply committed to children’s rights and hopes to publish soon her doctoral thesis on international child abduction. She is authorized to practice law in New York (USA) and Mexico.

Prof. Susan Rutten

Diana Schabregs

Maastricht University

Prof. Marta Pertegás Sender

Mayela Celis Aguilar

Prof. Susan Rutten

Diana Schabregs

University of Münster

Prof. Bettina Heiderhoff

Bettina Heiderhoff is the director of the Institute for German and International Family Law and professor at Münster University. Her research focusses on children’s rights and their best interests in the national and international context. She has not only covered the child best interests in EU family proceedings, but also published on the constitutional rights of the child.

Kai Hüning

Kai Hüning is a research fellow at the Institute for German and International Family Law headed by Prof. Dr. Bettina Heiderhoff at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) in Münster, Germany. In addition to working on the FAMIMOVE project, he is writing his PhD thesis which focuses on the interface of migration and family law.

©J.-H. Janßen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Prof. Dr. Stefan Arnold

Stefan Arnold is director of the Institute of International Business Law and holds the Chair for Private Law, Philosophy of Law, and Private International Law at the University of Münster. His research interests include International Family Law and he has published on project-related topics such as private divorces, surrogacy motherhood and the status of refugees in the perspective of Private International Law.

University of Milano-Bicocca

Prof. Costanza Honorati

(Coordinator of the Research Unit)

Costanza Honorati is Full Professor of European Union Law at the Milano-Bicocca University, School of Law, where she also holds the chair in Private International Law. She is a lawyer, admitted to the Milan bar and has a strong expertise in the field of Private International Law, in the last years focusing in particular on International Family Law. Her research interests are in the areas of EU Judicial Cooperation, International Family Law, Abduction of Children, Intellectual Property and PIL Law. Costanza has been the Chair of the EJN Working Group on a Guide on Maintenance Obligations. She has been a Member of the EU Expert Group assisting the Commission on the Revision of Regulation No 2201/2003 (Brussels IIa Regulation) and further participated as a member of the Italian Delegation to the EU Council’s Working Group for the final draft of Regulation 2019/1111 (Brussels IIb). She has published and lectures in several fields of Private International Law and EU Law. She is member of several scientific law journals and academic associations and involved in numerous EU-funded Projects. Among the latter in PIL in family matters: Brussels IIa Regulation: from South to East (JUST-JTRA- EJTR- AG-2014); C.L.A.S.S.4EU (JUST-JTRA-EJTR-AG-2016); POAM (REC-RDAP-GBV-AG-2017); AMICABLE (JUST-JCOO-AG-2018).

Dr. Giovanni Zaccaroni

Dr Giovanni Zaccaroni is an assistant professor of EU law at the School of Law of the University of Milan-Bicocca. His expertise varies from EU institutional law to the regulation of disruptive technologies. Before joining the School of Law of the University of Milan-Bicocca in 2022, he was previously Resident Academic (Lecturer) in European and Comparative law at the Faculty of Laws of the University of Malta, Postdoctoral Researcher in EU law at the Brexit Institute, Dublin City University, and at the University of Luxembourg. He holds a Ph.D. in EU law from the Universities of Bologna and Strasbourg (cotutelle) and an LLM in European Law from King’s College, London. He is member of AISDUE (Italian Association of EU Law Scholars), ICONS, SIDI (Italian Society of International and EU law) as well as member of the Council of the Jean Monnet Foundation.

Dr. Alessia Voinich

Alessia is a lawyer admitted to the Italian bar and PhD in Law (curriculum of Comparative, International and EU Law). Her research interests and expertise lie in various fields of EU Law, including general principles and fundamental values; human rights; EU immigration and asylum Law. She has been actively involved in research projects carried out by academic institutions, including PRIN – Research Projects of National Relevance (University of Trieste, 2015). In 2022, she awarded a one-year research grant from the Department of Public, International and EU Law of the University of Padua, in the framework of the research project “UNI 4 JUSTICE” coordinated by Alma Mater -University of Bologna and intended to contribute to identifying strategies to improve the efficiency of the judicial offices in handling proceedings on international protection. Alessia is member of the Associazione Italiana Studiosi di Diritto dell’Unione europea – AISDUE (Italian Association of European Union Law Scholars) and of the editorial committee of the blog of the said Association (BlogDUE).

Patrizia Scapinelli

School of Law, Administration and Economics, State University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan

University of Milano-Bicocca

Prof. Costanza Honorati

(Coordinator of the Research Unit)

Dr. Giovanni Zaccaroni

Dr. Alessia Voinich

Patrizia Scapinelli

School of Law, Administration and Economics, State University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan

University of Versailles
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Prof. Fabienne Jault-Seseke

Fabienne Jault-Seseke is a Law Professor at the University of Paris Saclay (Versailles Saint-Quentin). Since 2021 she is Senior Member of the Institut universitaire de France. Her research focuses on Private International Law and Migration Law. She authored numerous publications in these fields. She coordinated two Studies for the European Parliament related to Private International Law and Migration of Children: Children on the Move a Private International Law aspect (2017). She is Member of the GEDIP (European Group for Private International Law) where she coordinates the Project on Codification. She is vice-President of the French Branch of the ILA (International Law Association).

University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Prof. Fabienne Jault-Seseke

Lund University

Ulf Maunsbach

is Professor of private international law at Lund University (Sweden) and in that capacity he is head of private international law at the faculty, with a responsibility to engage in research, PhD supervision and teaching on bachelor and advanced level in all areas of private international law. During recent years he has been engaged in several cross-European research activities within the area of international family law and is now engaged in the FAMIMOVE project in order to take part in the identification of and raise awareness as regards problems related to the best interest of the child in relation to family migration.

Lina Rönndahl

is a law graduate from Lund University. During her studies and after obtaining her Master of Law diploma in 2022/23 she has been working as a part-time research assistant at the Faculty of law in Lund. She is presently working on the FAMIMOVE project. Lina also works as an associate at the law firm Lindahl (Malmö/Sweden) and hence combine her academic engagement in FAMIMOVE with her work as a practitioner.

Lund University

Prof. Costanza Honorati

(Coordinator of the Research Unit)

Dr. Giovanni Zaccaroni

Dr. Alessia Voinich

Patrizia Scapinelli

School of Law, Administration and Economics, State University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan

Eötvös Loránd University

Prof. Orsolya Szeibert

Orsolya Szeibert PhD, habil. is a full-time Ordinary Professor of civil and family law and the Head of the Civil Law Department of Faculty of Law on Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE, Budapest, Hungary). She gives lectures on family law, children’s rights, international, European, comparative and cross-border family law for graduate and postgraduate students and performs the tasks of lecturer and professional supervisor of ELTE’s LLM postgraduate courses in children’s rights and in family law, respectively. She regularly gives lectures on Hungarian and international conferences and contributes to Hungarian and international volumes of studies on family law. She has taken part in EU-funded projects on international family law and succession law and has led two research funded by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund. Her recent research focused on the child’s best interests and the child’s right to be heard in parental responsibilities cases. She is the Hungarian member of the International Board of Zeitschrift für das gesamte Familienrecht (FamRZ), member of the International Advisory Board of European Review of Private law (ERPL), Hungarian member of the Cambridge Family Law Center, the Hungarian expert of the Commission on European Family Law (CEFL) and Family Law in Europe: Academic Community (FL-EUR). Orsolya Szeibert is also a member of the Editorial Board of both Hungary’s most prestigious legal periodical (Jurisprudential Bulletin) and the only Hungarian periodical on family law (Family Law). She is the co-president of the Division of Family Law of the Hungarian Lawyers Association and worked as an expert of the Advisory Board on Curia (Hungarian Supreme Court) on issues concerning the 2013 Hungarian Civil Code.

Eötvös Loránd University

Prof. Orsolya Szeibert

Ghent University

Prof. Jinske Verhellen

Jinske Verhellen studied Law and Anthropology. She has always combined these two disciplines in her work, both in academia and in practice (e.g. as an attorney). In 2006, Jinske Verhellen had the unique opportunity to help establish the Private International Law Centre in Brussels (now part of the Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering), which gives advice and does policy work in the field of private international law in family matters. In January 2009, she returned to Ghent University, where in 2012 she obtained her doctoral degree on ‘The Belgian Code of Private International Law in family matters’, an empirical study on the law in practice (financed by the Research Foundation – Flanders). Since 2014, she is Professor of Law at Ghent University, lecturing private international law, international family law and notarial private international law. She is head of the Private International Law Institute at the Ghent Faculty of Law and Criminology. Jinske Verhellen is a member of the Ghent University Interfaculty Research Group CESSMIR (Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees) and the Ghent University Human Rights Network. Jinske Verhellen serves in the coordination team and editorial board of the CUREDI project (Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe), coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Jinske Verhellen has published on various aspects of private international law, international family law, migration law and nationality law (full publication list can be found here).

Prof. Ellen Desmet

Ellen Desmet is an Associate Professor of Migration Law at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Ghent University. She founded and heads the Migration Law Research Group (MigrLaw). Her research is situated at the intersection of migration law, human rights and legal anthropology. She teaches migration law and ‘Law and Society’, and coordinates the migration law component of the Human Rights and Migration Law Clinic. She is affiliated to the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR), the Human Rights Centre (HRC), the Human Rights Research Network (HRRN), the consortium Crime, Criminology and Criminal Policy (CCCP) and the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI). Ellen Desmet complemented her law studies (KU Leuven) with a master in Cultures and Development Studies (KU Leuven) and a master in Development Cooperation (Ghent University). She holds a PhD in Law from the KU Leuven (2010) and previously held positions at the Children’s Rights Knowledge Centre, the Law and Development Research Group of the University of Antwerp and the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University.

Leontine Bruijnen

Leontine Bruijnen is a law graduate from the University of Maastricht. After obtaining her master of laws diploma in 2014, she obtained the advanced master international relations and diplomacy at the University of Antwerp.

After graduating in 2016, she worked for two years at a notary office. In 2018, she started working at the University of Antwerp as a PhD-researcher and teaching assistant in the field of private international law. Her PhD-subject is the role of private international law in the recognition of kafala and child marriage for family and migration law purposes. Besides private international law, family law and migration law, she is particularly interested in Islamic law and children’s rights law.

In February 2023, she started working part-time at the University of Ghent on the FAMIMOVE project.

Geertrui Daem

Geertrui Daem studied Law in Ghent and Aix-en-Provence (2003) and holds an additional Master in Conflict and Development (2004).

After practicing three yars as a lawyer specialized in migration and asylum at the Antwerp Bar Association, she worked for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Algeria and Kenia as a refugee status determination officer and resettlement officer. Back in Belgium, she took up positions as a legal officer for the Flemish Refugee Action (Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen) and the Belgian Refugee Council (now Nansen vzw). She was also an independent consultant for UNHCR Brussels and conducted, as a national expert for Belgium, research for the report “Safe at last”, a comparative study regarding subsidiary protection in the EU. Before taking up her PhD research, she worked as an immigration expert for the Flemish Agency for Integration and Civic integration with a particular focus on refugee law and civic integration.

In October 2021, Geertrui Daem started at the Institute for Private International Law at Ghent University, where she is working on a PhD entitled “Refugees in identity crisis – interactions between private international law and refugee law”. Her empirical research focuses on the complex legal problems refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection encounter in Belgium regarding the recognition of their personal status. She is a member of the Ghent University Interfaculty Research Group CESSMIR (Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees) and the Ghent University Human Rights Network. She is particularly interested in migration law, private international law and human rights law.

Ghent University

Prof. Jinske Verhellen

Jinske Verhellen is a member of the Ghent University Interfaculty Research Group CESSMIR (Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees) and the Ghent University Human Rights Network.

Jinske Verhellen serves in the coordination team and editorial board of the CUREDI project (Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe), coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.

Jinske Verhellen has published on various aspects of private international law, international family law, migration law and nationality law (full publication list can be found here).

Prof. Ellen Desmet

She is affiliated to the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR), the Human Rights Centre (HRC), the Human Rights Research Network (HRRN), the consortium Crime, Criminology and Criminal Policy (CCCP) and the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI).

Ellen Desmet complemented her law studies (KU Leuven) with a master in Cultures and Development Studies (KU Leuven) and a master in Development Cooperation (Ghent University). She holds a PhD in Law from the KU Leuven (2010) and previously held positions at the Children’s Rights Knowledge Centre, the Law and Development Research Group of the University of Antwerp and the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University.

Leontine Bruijnen

In February 2023, she started working part-time at the University of Ghent on the FAMIMOVE project.