Biography
Josephine van Zeben is Provost for Education and Academic Staff Development and full-time professor at the Florence School of Transnational Governance
As Provost for Education and Academic Staff Development, Professor van Zeben leads the EUI’s educational initiatives, encompassing doctoral supervision, master’s education, executive education, and postdoctoral programmes, together with the Dean of Graduate Studies and Academic Director of the Max Weber Programme and other Fellowships. She is also responsible for academic staff development, promoting an inclusive, diverse working culture that upholds academic excellence and reflects the EUI’s values.
Professor van Zeben’s research focuses on the regulation of transnational issues by public and private actors across jurisdictions, with particular attention to polycentric governance theory and developments related to the European Union. Her work on the EU as a polycentric system exemplifies this line of her research.
The other main lines of her research speak to environmental problems, which are often intrinsically transnational. This research includes work on (the interactions between) climate change, biodiversity, agriculture and pollution, specifically pollution caused by so-called ‘forever chemicals’ such as PFAS.
Another important aspect of her academic activities centres on the teaching of law to non-law students and lawyers from foreign jurisdictions. This work feeds back into her research as it allows for identifying additional perspectives on how to regulate complex legal and societal problems through interdisciplinary solutions.
Professor van Zeben is co-editor-in-chief of Transnational Environmental Law and series editor of the Transnational Environmental Law book series (both Cambridge University Press). She i s also part of the Transdisciplinary Advisory Board of JPI Climate and has been an affiliate faculty member of the Ostrom Workshop since 2014.
Before joining the EUI, prof. van Zeben was Professor and Chair (head of department) of the LAW group at Wageningen University (the Netherlands) and a Law Fellow at Worcester College, University of Oxford. Between 2012 and 2022, she taught Environmental Law and Policy at ETH Zürich. She has held visiting professorships at Notre Dame Law School (United States), Bocconi University (Italy), La Trobe Law School (Australia) and has given guest lectures in various international institutions. Professor van Zeben holds a PhD in Law and Economics (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam, and LLM degrees from Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam (European Private Law), an LLB in Scots Law from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Social Sciences from University College Utrecht, Utrecht University.