Rónán Riordan (R.R.)
Rónán Riordan is an Assistant Professor of European Law in the Department of Public Law at Maastricht University and an Affiliate Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin. He obtained his PhD in Governance at the Jacques Delors Centre, part of the Hertie School, with a dissertation entitled “Shadows and Shelter: The Doctrinal Influence of the Court of Justice on European Union Law-Making in the Field of Services”.
Rónán’s research examines the dynamics of European integration through the interaction between law and politics, using governance studies as a conceptual bridge between these domains. His work analyses how legal norms, institutional structures, and political processes interact within the EU’s multi-level system, and how these interactions impact integration. His research combines theoretically informed doctrinal analysis with interdisciplinary and empirically grounded approaches. In particular, he employs case studies to generate broader findings about the dynamics of integration. Rónán’s current research is largely supported via the award of a StartersGrant by the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, awarded for the period 2025-2031.
Rónán is an active member of the Globalisation and Law Network and the Maastricht Centre for European Law. Prior to his appointment at the Faculty of Law, Rónán held a variety of academic positions. He was a Research Associate on the CIVICA-funded Contesting the Court project and at the Jacques Delors Centre. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Law of the European University Institute and a Visiting Fellow at the Historical Archives of the European Union. In addition, he worked as a Research Assistant to the Dean of Law at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, and as a Research Assistant on the European Research Council-funded Effective Nature Laws project. He has contributed to teaching in courses on European Union politics and policy, law and governance, and Irish contract law.
Rónán holds a Bachelor of Arts from University College Dublin, specialising in Politics with International Relations and Sociology (2016), and a Master’s in Common Law from the Sutherland School of Law at UCD (2018).