Departments and research groups
The Faculty of Law and Criminology has 4 departments, which are mainly oriented towards education and combine similar disciplines.
In addition, we also house 4 research groups in which researchers from different departments work together to conduct thorough and pioneering research in a number of legal and criminological disciplines. Discover them all below.
Our departments
On the department
The department of Interdisciplinary Study of Law (Metajuridica) is a hub for teaching and research from the perspective of philosophy of law, legal history, sociology of law, comparative law and legal theory. This transpires in the many courses taught in bachelor- and master programmes at the Faculty of Law and Criminology. The three research groups cover all areas of law, with spearheads in law and technology (AI, privacy and data protection), fundamental rights (criminal law, political foundations of the legal system), history of international law and public law or history of commercial law.
Department Chair: Prof. Dr. Frederik Dhondt
Affiliated research groups
Our departments
On the department
The department Private and Economic Law (PREC) unites the groups of Private Law (PRIR) and Economic Law (ECOR). The department is responsible for education in following courses:
- Master of Laws in de Rechten, afstudeerrichting Burgerlijk en Procesrecht
- Master of Laws in de Rechten, afstudeerrichting Economisch Recht
- Master of Laws in het Notariaat
Department Chair - Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Alofs
Vakgebieden
- Economic Law
- Civil Law
- Notary Training
Our departments
On the department
The PUBR department provides education and conducts research in two scientific domains:
- Administrative law, a research on the collaboration between the state, the communities and the regions after the third state reform
- Educational law and issuing concerning university as well as non university education
Department Chair: Prof. Dr. Stefaan Smis
Vakgebied(en)
Our departments
On the department
The CRIM department provides education and conducts research in various scientific domains such as youth criminology, penology, urban criminology, and policing and surveillance.
Department Chair: Prof. Dr. Kristel Beyens
Vakgebieden
- Penalty and society
- Policing and Surveillance
- Youth justice studies
- Crime and the city
Affiliated research group
Our research groups
On the research group
This research group carries out critical, multidisciplinary research into juvenile criminology, penology, urban criminology, and control and supervision. The focus is on the experiences and perceptions of actors in the fight against crime.
Our research groups
On the research group
How do you deal such with issues as the use of location data, the linking of databases, the digitisation of publications, genetically modified crops? LSTS figures it out.
Our research groups
On the research group
The research group CORE (Contextual Research in law) brings together different aspects of law: legal history, legal theory, comparative law, sociology of law, philosophy of law, etc.
Our research groups
On the research group
The FRC reports on issues such as:
- citizens' access to justice
- asylum, migration and borders
- gender and LGBTI
- hate crime
- information society, privacy and data protection
- LGBTI
- people with disabilities
- racism and related intolerance
- children's and Roma rights
What's the difference between a department and a research group?
A Faculty consists of several departments. Each department within a Faculty is responsible for the educational and research activities within their specialisation.
Within each of these departments one or more research groups are active. These groups consist of an international team of researchers who are fully committed to socially relevant research within their specialisation. In this way, the educational offer can be permanently adapted to the latest scientific evolutions.