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Phasing out of METRO

Phasing out of METRO

When the Maastricht European Institute for Transnational Research (METRO) started at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University on 1 September 1991, there were (with one exception) no other research institutes. METRO therefore received the task to stimulate European, comparative and international research at the Faculty of Law. It did so for a period of more than 30 years and has been quite successful in that respect, with inter alia:

  • The execution of many projects for external partners, such as a variety of ministries, OECD, professional associations, and the European Commission;
  • The creation of a Ius Commune Europaeum Series in which more than 150 volumes were published;
  • The creation of the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, which has existed as a leading journal in European law for more than 25 years now;
  • Hosting the Ius Commune Research School, a collaboration between the law faculties of the Universities of Amsterdam, Leuven, Maastricht and Utrecht, which brings together more than 400 researchers of which 200 PhD researchers;
  • Supervising many PhD students from different parts of the world, leading to successful PhD defences of several dozens of PhD candidates;
  • The development of joint research projects with various Chinese, Indonesian and African universities;
  • The creation of a master of environmental law and policy at the University of Lomé (Togo) from which more than 20 African students graduated each year;
  • The promotion of Law and Economics as a subdiscipline of law, both in research and in teaching, inter alia via a Master course taught at the UM Faculty of Law, a Summer course at the China University of Political Science and Law in China, and different versions of that course at several other universities; and finally
  • Developing its own research lines, mostly in the areas of competition law, accident law (tort law, insurance and compensation issues) as well as environmental law and policy leading to a wide variety of books and articles as well as the METRO seminar series.

The future

This means that METRO has reached the goals for which it was created in 1991, i.e. stimulating comparative, European and international research at the Maastricht law faculty. In the meantime several other research institutes have been established, now more than 10 in total, some of which equally focus on European, comparative or international law. It may therefore no longer be needed to have a separate institute promoting comparative, European and international law at the Maastricht law faculty, as this has now been completely embedded within the DNA of the faculty.

On 1 May 2025, both the academic director of the institute (since its start in 1991) Michael Faure, and the secretary of METRO (Marina Jodogne) will reach retirement age and will as a consequence leave Maastricht University. That implies that this may be the right date to phase out the activities of METRO and to bring the institute formally to an end.

Of course, the METRO research as well as its researchers will continue under different headings. The Vice-Director of METRO (Niels Philipsen), already Professor at the Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics (of Erasmus University Rotterdam) has recently been appointed to a Chair in Law and Economics at the UM Faculty of Law and will join the department of Foundations of Law. He will also join the Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR), assisting there in the development of a research cluster on competition & regulation. Moreover, both Philipsen and Faure will remain members of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI). Several of the current METRO PhD researchers, affiliated fellows, and external fellows will also contribute to the activities in IGIR and M-EPLI, and some others will continue to contribute to the Maastricht Centre of European Law (MCEL). 

For the time being, the METRO website will remain in the air, so that the information on the achievements from the past can still be traced. Also, references to the METRO website can be made by the other institutes.

Visit the METRO website here.

We would like to thank the many collaborators who participated with METRO over the past 34 years; we especially thank all the members of the administrative staff who have supported our activities and without whom none of our output could have been achieved. We equally thank our partners from other universities and institutions that have collaborated with us and generously supported our work. We are convinced that the METRO type of research will still continue and flourish in the future, albeit within other institutes and under other headings.

Prof. Dr. Michael G. Faure LL.M. , Academic Director METRO & Prof. Dr. Niels J. Philipsen, Vice-Director METRO

Maastricht, March 2025.

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