(English) Dr Nicola Gundt grew up in Germany and started studying law in Trier, where she could combine law and languages. During the third year of her studies, she went on an exchange to Maastricht University. Maastricht, with its particular education and teaching methods was perfect, so she started all over again, graduating in 2002 from the European Law school. She then accepted a PhD position at Utrecht University, under supervision of Prof. Teun Jaspers. The PhD involved a comparative research regarding room for flexibility in employment contracts in France and the Netherlands. She started teaching from 2003 onwards.
In 2007, an associate professor position in Maastricht opened up and Nicola was accepted for the position. Since then, she has been employed at Maastricht University, most recently as associate professor of labour law and chair of the Board of Examiners. Her research interests concern all types of collective labour law, restructuring and rigidity / flexibility of contracts, preferably in a comparative setting or with an EU-law component.
- Lecture for the students:
Title: Modifications of the employment contract: the Netherlands v. Poland in the light of European standards
18th of November, Tuesday, room no. 1.4, 17.15
- Meeting with the Faculty staff:
Title: Collective bargaining from European and Dutch perspective
18th of November, Tuesday, room no. 1.49, 13.45
(English) Katrien Steenmans is currently a postdoc on the Circular Supply Chains (CirCus) project at the Centre for Private Governance in the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Her research expertise focuses on investigating different law and policy tools to promote circular economies. Katrien is currently investigating circular public procurement, extended producer responsibility, and circular product labels. This builds on her previous research within waste law, which has focused on the role of regulations and policies in enabling industrial symbiosis, the implications of different property rights in waste, and how blockchain technology can be used to underpin and support waste regulations and policies. Katrien was previously an Assistant Professor at Coventry University (UK) and a postdoctoral research fellow at King’s College London (UK), as well as having worked for the Urban Land Institute, University College London, and EDF Trading.
- Lecture for the students:
Title: Circular Economy in the Public Sector
26th of November, Wednesday, auditorium no. 2, 11.30-13.00
- Meeting with the Faculty staff:
Title: Circular Supply Chains – identifying and allocating legal risks (CirCus).
The project of the Centre for Private Governance, University of Copenhagen
26th of November, Wednesday, room no. 1.4, 10.00 -11.00
(English) Gábor Kártyás is Professor of labour law at Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Budapest). He has been involved in a number of international research projects, including the Digilare project (http://www.digilare.eu/), the European Trade Union Institution (migrant workers) and Eurofound (new forms of employment). Between 2018 and 2021 he supported the labour law jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Hungary (Kúria) as Advocate General. During his 20-year academic career, he has taught courses on Hungarian and EU labour law, atypical employment and collective labour relations. He has been a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis, 2023) and the University of Vienna (2025).
More information regarding upcoming meeting with students and academic stuff will be revealed at later date.
(English) David J. Gunkel is an award-winning author, educator and researcher, specializing in the philosophy of technology with a focus on the moral and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and robots. Dr. Gunkel is internationally recognized for his innovative work on the moral and legal status of artificial intelligence and robot rights, his efforts to diversify the theory and practice of AI ethics, and his agenda-setting contributions to the new field of human-machine communication (HMC).
He currently holds the position of Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University (USA) and associate professor of applied ethics at Łazarski University in Warsaw, Poland. His innovative curriculum design and teaching has been recognized with numerous awards, including NIU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the prestigious Presidential Teaching Professorship.
The lecture for students on the theme ‘Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond.’ will take place on December 10, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Lecture Hall No. 6.