François Prize 2026 Invitation

,

The Board of the

ROYAL NETHERLANDS SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

INVITES

those who are students at a Dutch university, or have obtained a Master’s degree from a Dutch University after 31 December 2023, to submit their Master’s thesis on a subject of Public International Law or Private International Law to compete for the

FRANÇOIS PRIZE 2026

Please note that submissions written by more than one author will not be accepted. Neither will be theses that have been adapted, for example with a view to publication.

The submissions will be judged by a jury chaired by Prof. Dr C.M.J. Ryngaert, Professor of Public International Law at Utrecht University. The other two members of the jury are Dr O. Spijkers, Assistant Professor of International and European Law at Leiden University College, and Dr Vesna Lazic, Associate Professor at Utrecht University and Senior Researcher at the Asser Institute. Submissions should be sent to the Secretariat of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law, in triplicate and anonymized, addressed as follows:
c/o Ms. I.W.C. Hogervorst
P.O. Box 778
2300 AT LEIDEN

Each submission must be accompanied by a completed and signed entry form and should reach the Secretariat no later than 31 December 2025. The entry form may be found here. The François Prize Bye-laws may be consulted here.

The François Prize, named after Prof. Mr J.P.A. François (1889-1978), was created in 1975 by the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law with a view to encouraging the study of Public International Law and Private International Law.
The prize consists of an award of € 2,000 and a certificate.

Winner – François Prize 2024

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At the Annual General Meeting of 1 November 2024, held in The Hague, the J.P.A François Prize was awarded to:

Lautaro Melcón

Lautaro Pablo Melcón Meroi

Click here for the jury report

Click here for the prize winning paper

Mr Cor de Boer (Groningen University) received an honourable mention for his paper entitled “Perspectives on Advancing Protection for LGBTIQ+ Prisoners of War”.

Jury Report François Prize 2024

It is with immense pleasure that we present to you our jury report for the 2024 François Prize, awarded by the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law (Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Internationaal Recht, KNVIR). The François Prize, established to inspire and promote excellence in the study of public and private international law at universities across the Netherlands, is awarded every two years to recognize the best master’s thesis in these fields.

This year, we had the privilege of reviewing a noteworthy set of submissions, which were anonymized to ensure fairness. Each thesis was carefully evaluated on originality and the relevance of the topic, the systematic and logical presentation of ideas, the strength of legal analysis and conclusions, as well as style. It was truly inspiring to see the high level of scholarship represented in this edition’s entries. That being said, we did notice that the conclusions were generally on the brief side. We strongly encourage the next generation of students to dive into this final section. It is your chance to leave a lasting impression and drive your key points home, as it is often the part readers pay the most attention to. Additionally, we saw a strong focus on English-language literature across all the theses we reviewed. Expanding into more diverse sources could add depth and breadth to future research. One final critical note: we only received a single thesis on private international law. There is room to explore this fascinating field further – hopefully, we will see more work in this area submitted for the prize in the future.

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Winner – François Prize 2022

At the Annual General Meeting of 4 November 2022, held in The Hague, the J.P.A François Prize was awarded to:

Emma R. van den Boogaard

Ms Emma R. van den Boogaard

Click here for the jury report

Click here for the prize winning paper

Ms Ingeborg H. de Koningh (Leiden University) received an honourable mention for her paper entitled “Consolidating International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: the Protection from Gender-Based Violence against Women in Non-International Armed Conflict”.

Jury Report François Prize 2022

It is with great pleasure that we hereby present to you the jury report of the 2022 François Prize of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law or Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Internationaal Recht (KNVIR). The François Prize was initiated to promote the study of public and private international law at universities in the Netherlands and is award biannually to the very best master thesis in the fields of public or private international law. We read and evaluated the anonymised submissions we received on originality and relevance of the topic, the systematic and logical way of reasoning, the quality of the legal analysis and conclusions, style and, finally, presentation. More information on the Prize can be found in the Byelaws, available on the KNVIR’s website.

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François Prize 2022 Invitation

The Board of the

ROYAL NETHERLANDS SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

INVITES

those who are students at, or have obtained a Master’s degree from, a Dutch university, to submit their Master’s thesis on a subject of public international law or private international law to compete for the

FRANÇOIS PRIZE 2022

provided that on 31 December 2021 they have obtained their Master’s degree less than two (2) years ago.

Please note that submissions written by more than one author will not be accepted.

The submissions will be judged by a jury chaired by Prof.mr dr G.R. de Groot, Professor emeritus of Comparative Law and Private International Law at Maastricht University.  The other two members of the jury are Dr I. Boerefijn, Coordinating Policy Advisor at the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights and former Senior Lecturer in human rights at Utrecht University, and Prof.dr O. Spijkers, LL.M., Professor of Public International Law at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS) and the Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL), and Founding Staff Member of the International Water Law Academy (IWLA) of Wuhan University (China).

Submissions should be sent to the Secretariat of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law, in triplicate and anonymized, addressed as follows:

c/o Ms. C.H.M. Verhaar   
P.O. Box 778       
2300 AT  LEIDEN

Each submission must be accompanied by a completed and signed entry form and should reach the Secretariat no later than 31 December 2021.  The entry form may be found here.

The François Prize, named after Prof.mr J.P.A. François (1889-1978), was created in 1975 by the
Royal Netherlands Society of International Law
with a view to encouraging the study of public international law and private international law.
The prize consists of an award of € 2,000 and a certificate.

Report of the Jury – François Prize 2020

On 6 November 2020, the KNVIR awarded the biennial Francois Prize. The report of the jury reads as follows:

It is my great pleasure and honour to present the jury report of the 2020 François Prize of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law.  The François Prize was created to promote the study of public international law and private international law and is offered, every other year, to an excellent master’s thesis or other comparable paper in these fields of law.  Ph.D. dissertations, books, articles published in scientific journals or publications that otherwise have been reviewed and revised externally do not qualify.  The anonymised submissions are judged on originality and relevance of the topic, the systematic and logical way of thinking, the quality of the legal analysis and conclusions, style and, finally, presentation.  More information on the Prize can be found in its Bye-Laws, available on the Society’s website.

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Winner – François Prize 2020

Vassilis Dokalis

At the Annual Meeting on 6 November 2020, which was held online, 
the J.P.A François Prize was awarded to:

Mr. Vassilis Dokalis

Submissions – François Prize 2020

The Board of the

Royal Netherlands Society of International Law

Invites

those who are students at, or have obtained a Master’s degree from, a Dutch university, to submit a paper or other similar writing (not being a Ph.D. thesis, a book, a published article or another publication that has been judged externally) on a subject of public international law or private international law to compete for the

François Prize 2020

provided that on 31 December 2019 they have passed their exam less than two (2) years ago.

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Report of the Jury – François Prize 2018

It is my great pleasure to announce the winner of the 2018 François Prize of the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law to you today at our annual meeting. This prize is a bi-annual prize that honours the best Master’s thesis in the fields of public international law or private international law written at a Dutch University in the past two years, in as much as these papers have not yet been published and have been sent to the jury. The anonymous or anonymized submissions are judged among other things on their originality, their demon­stration of a profound understanding of the law in a particular field, and the language used.  For those interested, you may find the Bye-Laws for the Prize on our website.

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