Research

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Faculty of  Law was associated with avant-garde research and teaching, which sometimes caused frictions with the mainstream of the scientific community.  Since then, the Bremen subjects of those years have become central social challenges for today‘s legal science.

 

Main Research Areas

Transnationalisation of Law

This has been a research area of the Faculty of Law for some time, which has thus contributed to the linking of theoretical and practical questions. The trannationalisation of law progressing within the context of digitalisation transforms traditional approaches to the law.

Foundations of Law

From the beginning, the Faculty has placed a focus on researching philosophical, sociological and historical references of the law. These have changed over the course of time and remain subject to constant change. While empirical research dominated in the beginning, in more recent times, there has been an emphasis on legal theory and legal philosophy research, which covers a wide spectrum.

Digitalisation

The process of digitalisation encompasses is a number of technical developments affecting essential sections of society, such as the economy and education system, politics and administration and, not least, the legal system. Data protection and data safety are central issues for a responsible organisation of the process of digitalisation.

Institutes

BIGAS

Bremen Institute for Gender, Labour and Social Law

The Bremen Institute for Gender, Labour and Social Law was founded in 2002 as a  research institute of the Faculty of Law. It continues the work of the research unit "Labour Law, Social Law, Gender Relations Law", which existed from 1995 to 2002.

FEU

Research Centre for European Environmental Law

The Research Centre for European Environmental Law (FEU) was established in 1994 as an Institute of the Faculty of Law. Its research activities are mostly funded by third parties, up to now e.g. by the European Commission, the Federal Environmental Agency, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology, the Global Environment Facility, the German Research Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation.

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FTT

Research Centre for Animal Rights and Animal Welfare Law

In the field of animal rights and animal welfare law, there is a conspicuous lack of high-quality legal literature. The Beck Online database, which is mainly used by the judiciary, lists for example two publications on sect. 4 Animal Welfare Act ("papers on the subject") focused on this provision. They are the only ones that judges and prosecutors will come across when dealing with the interpretation of this central norm. This shortcoming is to be remedied.

IGMR

Institute for Information, Health and Medical Law

The IGMR was established in 1998 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bremen. The Institute concerns itself with legal science, practice and policy issues of the regulation of health and information law. The central concern of the Institute is the intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary development of an approach responding to the challenges of a modern information society.

IHR

Institute for Commercial Law

The Institute for Commercial Law brings together the competences of the Faculty of Law in the fields of commercial, company and economic law. Research at the Institute is concerned with the external and internal law of economic enterprises.

ZERP

Centre of European Law and Politics

The Centre of European Law and Politics, University of Bremen (ZERP), is an interdisciplinary research institute which was established as a foundation in 1982 by the Senate of the “Freie Hansestadt Bremen”. Its specific feature is an interdisciplinary approach, involving Law, Political and Social Sciences and encompassing political theory, international relations, gender studies, legal theory and sociology, as well as European and international constitutional law, business law and private law.

Collborative Research Centres

Sfb 597 Logo

SFB 597: Transformations of the State (2003-2014)

Scholars in political science, law, sociology, economics and communication studies work together to determine if, and precisely how, pressure from globalisation and liberalisation over the past thirty years have changed the core institutions and functions that define the classical nation state.

SFB 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy

Project A03. Worlds of Labour. Normative Standards of Employment Relationships as National and Global Patterns of Welfare State Development

Research cooperations

Violence, Age and Gender (VAG)

Ten Bremen University scholars from three departments (Law, Social Sciences, Pedagogy and Educational Sciences) and three institutes (bigas, artec, and SOCIUM) found an interdisciplinary lab.

What is it about? 

Research innovations need cooperation. The interdisciplinary lab, which was founded as part of the WoC (Worlds of Contradiction) will approach the topic of “Violence, Age and Gender” from a legal and social science perspective and bundle competencies. The aim is to merge national and international knowledge about the occurrence and causes of gender-specific violence and harassment in public, institutional, and private spheres in an interdisciplinary manner to derive further research questions and develop strategies to prevent violence.

Research Ambassador

Prof. Alex Boniface Makulilo of the Open University Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has been Research Ambassador of the Faculty of Law since 2019. He is one of the eleven research alumni appointed by the University of Bremen to act as ambassadors worldwide and promote the research work of the University.

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Research Funding

Calls 2022

For more information on funding opportunities see www.uni-bremen.de/zf.