University of Münster
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Professor Dr. Niels Petersen

Current affiliations

  • Professor of Public Law, International Law, EU Law, and Empirical Legal Studies
Logo ORCIDID
0000-0001-6272-6059

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

  • International human rights and domestic fundamental rights
  • Comparative constitutional law and constitutional theory
  • Law & Politics in the decision-making of courts and tribunals
  • Economic Analysis of Law

Academic Education

2010 - 2014Postdoctoral thesis (habilitation) at the University of Bonn
2009 - 2010M.A. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences at Columbia University
2005 - 2008PhD in law at the Goethe University in Frankfurt
2006 - 2007Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the New York University School of Law
2003 - 2005Legal clerkship at the Wiesbaden Court of Appeal
1998 - 2003Law studies in Münster and Geneva

Work Experience

since 2015University Professor at the University of Münster
2007 - 2015Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn
2012 - 2013Hauser Research Fellow and Emile Noel Fellow at the New York University School of Law
2006Legal Advisor at the GIZ Advisory Service to the Legal Reform in China, Beijing
2004 - 2006Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Functions and Memberships

since 2016ILA Human Rights Committee
since 2015Association Henri Capitant
since 2015German Society for International Law
since 2014International Society of Public Law
since 2014Association of German Public Law Professors
since 2006European Society of International Law
since 2006American Society of International Law

Publications

Equality’s Guardians: How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination Guarantees
Petersen, Niels (eds.) (2025)
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Book (edited collection)
Equality, Climate Change and Future Generations
Petersen, Niels (2025)
In: European Journal of International Law, 36.
Research article (journal)
Verantwortung der Staatsrechtslehre im Spannungsfeld zwischen Recht und Politik
Petersen, Niels (2025)
In: Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer (eds.), Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Research article (book contribution)
Gibt es ein “globales Modell” der Grundrechte?
Petersen, Niels (2025)
In: Bäcker, Carsten; Borowski, Martin; Sieckmann, Jan-Reinard (eds.), Grundlagen der demokratischen Verfassung: Festschrift für Robert Alexy zum 80. Geburtstag. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck Verlag.
Research article (book contribution)
Public Reason and the Smoking out of Illicit Motives: On Wojciech Sadurski’s Constitutional Public Reason
Petersen, Niels (2024)
In: Comparative Constitutional Studies, 2.
Research article (journal)
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Projects

German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG)
Duration: 01/01/2020 - 31/12/2024 | 5th Funding period
Funded by: German Academic Exchange Service
Type of project: Participation in other joint projects
CRC 1385 - B02: How and Why Do Law Courts Quote? Quotations and References in Verdicts of the Bundesverfassungsgericht und the Supreme Court of Canada
Duration: 01/07/2019 - 30/06/2023 | 1st Funding period
Funded by: DFG - Collaborative Research Centre
Type of project: Subproject in DFG-joint project hosted at University of Münster
Correcting Inequality through Law: How Courts Conceptualize Equality in their Constitutional Jurisprudence (EQUALITY)
Duration: 01/06/2019 - 31/05/2025
Funded by: EC H2020 - ERC Consolidator Grant
Type of project: EU-project hosted at University of Münster
Balkan Sommerschule 2018: "Die Balkanstaaten und ihr Verhältnis zur EU und regionalen internationalen Organisationen: Perspektiven der Annäherung"
Duration: 17/09/2018 - 26/09/2018
Funded by: The Franco-German Youth Office, Université franco-allemande | Deutsch-Französische Hochschule
Type of project: Scientific Event
Conference "Obama's Court: Recent Changes in US Constitutional Law in Transatlantic Perspective"
Duration: 28/10/2016 - 29/10/2016
Type of project: Own resources project
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Talks

Fragmentierung im Europäischen Parlament: Problem oder Chance?
Petersen, Niels (08/11/2025)
Treffen des Deutsch-französischen Gesprächskreises für Öffentliches Recht, Köln
Type of talk: scientific talk
AI and discrimination
Petersen, Niels (04/10/2025)
The Changing of Public Law: An International Perspective, Beijing
Type of talk: scientific talk
Proportionality and Judicial Activism
Petersen, Niels (30/09/2025)
Nankai University, Tianjin
Type of talk: scientific talk
Book Panel: Equality’s Guardians: How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination Guarantees
Petersen, Niels (29/09/2025)
Book panel, Beijing
Type of talk: scientific talk
Empirical Research in Comparative Constitutional Law
Petersen, Niels (27/09/2025)
Nanjing University, Nanjing
Type of talk: scientific talk
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Prizes

ERC Consolidator Grant
Awarded by: European Research Council (ERC)
Award given to: Petersen, Niels
Announced at: 03/12/2018 | Date of awarding: 01/06/2019
Type of distinction: Research award or other distinction

Doctorates

Proportionality Analysis in the Rights Jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court – Questioning the Claim of Methodological Exceptionalism of US…
Candidate: Neumann, Jonas | Supervisors: Petersen, Niels | Reviewers: Petersen, Niels; Fowkes, James; Lepsius, Oliver
Period of time: 01/04/2020 - 12/11/2025
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
Die Notstandspraxis als Menschenrechtssystemschutz: Eine Analyse der Entscheidungen menschenrechtlicher Kontrollinstitutionen
Candidate: Milas, Max | Supervisors: Petersen, Niels | Reviewers: Petersen, Niels; Markard, Nora
Period of time: 11/01/2021 - 06/05/2025
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
Zitierpraktiken von Bundesverfassungsgericht und kanadischem Supreme Court im Vergleich
Candidate: Wittmann, Laura Christin | Supervisors: Petersen, Niels; Korten, Lars | Reviewers: Petersen, Niels; Korten, Lars
Period of time: 01/01/2020 - 23/01/2024
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
Unveiling Inequalities by Addressing Poverty as a Matter of Discrimination Law: The Case of Brazil in the jurisprudence of the Brazilian Supreme Court and the…
Candidate: Garcia Maia, Tainá | Supervisors: Petersen, Niels; Tuffi Saliba, Aziz | Reviewers: Petersen, Niels; Tuffi Saliba, Aziz
Period of time: 01/09/2019 - 21/08/2023
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
Towards an Integrated Approach to Compliance: When Do People Obey Laws?
Candidate: Shubhangi, Shubhangi | Supervisors: Petersen, Niels | Reviewers: Petersen, Niels; Engel, Christoph; Jansen, Nils
Period of time: 01/09/2019 - 24/05/2023
Doctoral examination procedure finished at: Doctoral examination procedure at University of Münster
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