Dr. Tanja Ehnert awarded a Special Distinction for her PhD dissertation entitled "Regulating the Invisible: A Critical Analysis of the EU's Approach to Nanotechnologies"

On 16 September 2015, the European Public Law Organization in Athens awarded Dr. Tanja Ehnert a Special Distinction for her PhD dissertation entitled "Regulating the Invisible: A Critical Analysis of the EU's Approach to Nanotechnologies".

Dr. Ehnert wrote and defended her PhD dissertation at the Maastricht Centre of European Law under the supervision of Prof. Ellen Vos. In her dissertation, she analysed the EU institutions' approach to the scientific uncertainties that accompany the emergence of nanotechnologies in food and chemicals, especially in terms of legitimacy concerns.  Dr. Ehnert disclosed in her research a retreat of the EU to its executive powers, whereby political decisions are increasingly shifted to a de-politicised administrative setting. The EU legislature and fundamental democratic control mechanisms are thus bypassed. Dr. Ehnert now works as a lawyer in the office for policy matters and international affairs of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin.

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