Andrea Broderick (A.C.)

Prof. Dr. Andrea Broderick is a full Professor at Maastricht University. In September 2022, she was appointed by UNESCO as the Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Peace, at Maastricht University. She was previously an Associate Professor at the Department of International and European Law of Maastricht University. She was also a Marie Sklodowska-Curie researcher in an FP7 research project entitled DREAM, funded by the European Commission. Andrea is the Co-director of the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights. In addition, Andrea is the National (Dutch) Director and the Director (on behalf of Maastricht University) of the European Master's Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation, Venice, having been appointed to those positions in 2019. She was elected to the Executive Committee of the Venice Master Programme in 2020. Andrea was appointed as the Programme Director for the Master programmes at the European Law School at Maastricht University in early 2021 and fulfiled that role until November 2022. In addition, she is a Burton Blatt Distinguished International Fellow at Syracuse University, USA.

Andrea holds a Ph.D. (2012-2014) in international and comparative disability equality law from Maastricht University. Her Ph.D. thesis was nominated for the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award 2016. She received the Edmond Hustinx Prize for Science in 2018. Andrea also holds a BA International (law and French), awarded (with First Class Honours, outstanding performance) jointly by the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and the University of Poitiers, France. In addition, she graduated from NUIG with an LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws), and an LL.M. in International and Comparative Disability Law and Policy, with First Class Honours (2nd in class). Andrea is also a qualified lawyer (solicitor), having graduated at the Law Society of Ireland. Furthermore, she holds a University Teaching Qualification (Basis Kwalificatie Onderwijs, BKO).

Before working at Maastricht University, Andrea worked in professional legal practice for several years, mainly in the areas of contract law and employment law. She also worked as a legal officer in the banking sector and volunteered for free legal advice centres on disability rights cases.

Andrea has established a clear and interlinked research agenda in the fields of international and European human rights law. Her research focus lies, in partiuclar, in the following fields: economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to health and the right to (inclusive) education; international and European (comparative) disability equality law; emerging issues of human rights law (related, for instance, to the right to a healthy environment, and technology and human rights); and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. She has published widely in academic journals and books, and has written major thematic reports for the European Commission and the Council of Europe, among others.

Among her book publications, Andrea has co-authored the first academic textbook on international and European disability law (together with Prof. Delia Ferri, Maynooth University), which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. Together with Prof. Ferri, she has also co-edited the first Research Handbook on EU Disability Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020).

Andrea is regularly invited to give guest lectures at various legal institutes, including the European Academy of Law, Trier. She has also been commissioned to do consultancy work on the compliance of national laws with international and European disability and equality laws. She has  been invited as an expert in several projects, including the EU-CITZEN project of DG Justice. In addition, she has served as Expert Rapporteur for the European Commission on the implementation of the CRPD in the EU, and she successfully tendered to carry out the PROLOG Rule of Law project in Georgia, among other funded projects.  She is also a Senior Expert for the European Commission's European Disability Expertise network.

Andrea has teaching and coordination experience in a wide range of subjects, including substantive EU law and international human rights law at Maastricht University.