Sarah Schoenmaekers (S.L.T.)

Sarah Schoenmaekers is specialized in European public procurement law and free movement law (especially diploma recognition) and is particularly interested in European competition law and the relationship between law and culture. Her chair at the Open University focusses on the 'Culturally corrected market economy'.

Sarah Schoenmaekers graduated at the European Law School of Maastricht University in 2005. After having passed the entrance exam organised by the Flemish Bar Association in Brussels, she became a practising lawyer in Belgium.

In 2010 Sarah defended her PhD dissertation entitled: 'The Regulation of Architects in Belgium and the Netherlands.'

Since 2009 she works at Maastricht University where she became an assistant professor in 2013 and associate professor in 2021. At Maastricht University Sarah is the programme coordinator  of the Master 'International Laws' since 2017. She was the coordinator of the master 'European Law School' from 2017-2021.
Since 2020 Sarah is the Director or all master programmes of the faculty of law of Maastricht University.

Next to her work at Maastricht University, Sarah has been a visiting professor at Hasselt University since 2010. In 2013-2014 Sarah was a Post-Doc researcher at the Open University of Heerlen. In 2020 she was appointed as Endowed professor 'European law, more specifically the culturally corrected market economy' at the Open University. Her chair is established in collaboration with the Algemeen Nederlands Verbond (ANV) and is supported by the ANV Tijmen Knecht Fund.

Sarah frequently publishes on European integration and public procurement in (inter)national journals, has edited two books and has organised several conferences.

She has been successful in acquiring public money and has acquired a Jean Monnet module for setting up the course 'State aid and Public Procurement in the EU'. She has been the project leader of a CEDEFOP research project on 'The role of qualifications in governing professions and occupations' and was a core member of the team that successfully applied for a European Commission's tender on the 'Evaluation of the legal framework for the free movement of lawyers'.

Sarah regularly speaks at international congresses. She spoke at a public hearing of the European Parliament on the new Diploma Directive and was invited to speak about public procurement law at the World Bank in Washington and at George Washington University. Sarah lectured/presented/chaired workshops in New York, London, Stockholm, Oslo, Brussels, Torino, St.Gallen, Thessaloníki and is a visible member of the academic community.