Hello! I am Associate Professor of Private Law at Tilburg Law School and research coordinator of the Tilburg Institute for Private Law (TIP). I write on private law and regulation, focusing on questions of rule-making, effectiveness and enforcement. My research interests concern European private law, EU Internal Market law, regulatory policy and risk regulation as applied in different policy areas (including advertising, cyber security, financial services, food safety, medical devises and CSR).
I am currently a NWO Veni Grant holder (2017-2020) for the project ‘The constitutionalization of private regulation’. Based on a comparative analysis of case law from the legal systems of England, Germany, the Netherlands and the European Union, I aim to assess the conditions and circumstances in which private regulatory bodies can be held liable (in tort or contract) by regulated entities, beneficiaries or third parties. In assessing this body of case law I apply ‘thematic content analysis’ as a socio-legal methodology to systematically reveal patterns in the application of civil liability regimes to the activities of private regulators.
I studied International and European Law at Tilburg University (LLM / meester in de rechten, with honours), also completing a Research Master degree (M.Phil, with honours) there. I conducted my PhD research at the European University Institute in Florence. I have enjoyed brief research visits at the Law Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (2011) and more recently at the Institute of European and Comparative Law at the University of Oxford (2018).