The future of European Law and policy IX: the EU and the UK, 10 years after the referendum

Vision

The Biannual “The future of European Law and Policy” conference organised by the Institute of European Law and Birmingham Law School since 2008, is the only open conference on EU law in the UK to which all interested academics, research students, and others may submit a paper proposal, rather than only on invitation. As such, this conference shall cover:

• Educating one another about the national and supranational dimensions of EU law and policy, the latest research, and recent updates on law, policy, and education.
• Network-building to create connections between academics, lawyers, NGOs, and students interested in EU law, and enhance the impact of work on EU and UK policy making and legislation.
• Collaborating to generate new ideas and share good practice on the teaching of EU law.

After the success of the eight conferences since 2008, scholars and postgraduate research students in any discipline (law, politics, history, economics …) are invited again to present papers on any issue on the Future of EU Law + Policy, especially: on the constitution of the EU (institutions, decision making…), the EU and the individual (citizenship, human rights, …), the EU and the economy (internal market, competition, …), and the EU and the  outside world (external relations, rearmament and Ukraine, sanctions, US, TCA …).

Opening panel: The UK and the EU - the current and the future relationship

The opening panel of the conference will be introduced by a keynote address of the EU Ambassador followed by presentations of representatives of three relevant academic disciplines. This discussion will explore the relationship of the EU and the UK, the current state but also the future, from a political, legal, and economic angle.

• Keynote: H.E. Ambassador Pedro Serrano, Ambassador of the EU to the UK
• Professor Anand Menon (The UK in a Changing Europe): Politics
• Professor Catherine Barnard (University of Cambridge): Law
• Professor Jun Du (Aston University): Economics

Our line-up of speakers, selected from the proposals responding to our call for papers, will be announced when the conference opens for registration in May. Follow these links to see details of our previous speakers, for example our 2016 edition held on the day of and after the Brexit referendum. The opening panel will also be available to join remotely via Teams. Please email lawoperations@contacts.bham.ac.uk, marked FAO Ellie, to receive this link.

Venue

The conference will be hosted at birmingham Law School at the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus. Catering will be provided, including vegan options. The venue is wheelchair accessible via ramps and lifts, with an accessible bathroom on site. You are welcome to share any accessibility needs when purchasing your ticket for the conference, and we will do our best to accommodate.

Programme

The conference will consist of the opening panel (as referenced above), and afterwards, a variety of parallel workshops.

• 10:00-11:30 - Opening panel: The UK and the EU: The current and the future relationship – Lecture Theatre (LT) 3, Birmingham Law School (BLS).
  
  
• 11:30-12:00 – Refreshments - LT2/3 foyer
  
  
• 12:00-13:00 – Book launch workshop – The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit, ‘Law Unbound’ Edited by Paul Craig and Viilija Velyvyte (OUP, 2026) - LT3, BLS. Chair: Viilija Velyvyte
  
  
• 13:00-14:00 – Lunch – Senior Common Room, 221, BLS.
  
  
• 14:00-15:30 – Workshops 1
• 1A Divergence
  Discussant: Aleks Cavoski TBC (University of Birmingham) BLS LT2
  • Omar Mashjari (Liverpool Hope University): Strategic Divergence and Doctrinal Gravity: UK Competition Law Identity Ten Years after the Brexit Referendum
  • Bernadette Zelger (University of Innsbruck): Divergent Developments in EU Competition and Internal Market Jurisprudence in Shaping the EU (Constitutional) Economic Order?
  • Illona Shembri (University of Malta): Divergence in Disclosure and Market Consequences: Post-Brexit Flexibility of UK MAR versus Rigidity of EU MAR

• 1B Constitutional issues
  Discussant: Tim Haughton (University of Birmingham) BLS 111
  • Marco Sciarra (University of Rome III): All unhappy unions are alike: a modest attempt to reframe the current debate about Scottish Independence.
  • Philip Bajon (Aston University): Veto Power: Lessons from the EU’s Constitutional Trajectory and the UK’s Historical Role
  • Barbora Tomečková (T. G. Masaryk University of Brno) Brexit and Its Influence on Language Regime: Case of North Macedonia as a Candidate State
  • Charlotte Galpin (University of Birmingham) Gendering Europe: Media and Anglo-British National Identity from EEC Accession to Brexit

• 1C Rearming Europe
  Discussant: Sami Bensassi (University of Birmingham) BLS 112
  • Martin Trybus (University of Birmingham): The EU Internal Market for Armaments after the Invasion of Ukraine
  • Luke Butler (University of Nottingham): UK Defence Procurement Regulation a Year on from the Procurement Act 2023: Bearing the Fruits of Flexibility?
  • Aris Georgopoulos (University of Nottingham): Joint Defence Procurement in the Union 

• 15:30-16:00 – Refreshments - LT2/3 foyer
  
  
• 16:00-17:30 – Workshops 2 

• 2A Interdependence
  Discussant: Andreas Kokkinis (University of Birmingham) BLS LT2
  • Farjana Ibrahim (University of Arkansas): Trade Wars or Trade Bridges? Economic Interdependence with the EU after Brexit
  • Xenia Seabright (University of Vienna): Managed Dependence After Brexit: EMIR 3, UK CCP Equivalence, and the EU’s Clearing Strategy
  • Katarina Mirkovic (University of Geneva): The EU’s Unilateral Energy Standard Setting and the Structural Limits of Post-Brexit Dispute Settlement
    
    
• 2B Migration and trade 
  Discussant: Rilka Dragneva-Lewers (University of Birmingham) BLS 111
  • Oleana Chub (University of Bristol): Temporary Protection in the UK and the EU for Displaced Ukrainian Nationals
  • E. Prema (Valore Institute of Technology, Chennai): The Assimilated Reality Judicial Discretion and Migrant Worker Rights Ten Years Post Brexit
  • Natalia Spataru (University of Birmingham): Sustainability in the Procurement Chapters of EU Free Trade Agreements
    
    
• 2C Digital Europe
  Discussant: Chen Zhu (University of Birmingham) BLS 112
  • Xinyue Xue (Aston University): Public Procurement of Cloud Services: Hyperscaler Dominance and the Limits of SME-friendly Procurement
  • Stefano Faraoni (University of Birmingham): Addressing AI-Led Manipulation in the EU and the UK. Divergent or Similar?
  • Alison Harcourt (University of Exeter) Brexit and Digital Market Regulation

Registration

All attendees must register for this conference.

For participants who are presenting a paper, or for current BLS staff and students, please register here.

For participants who are not presenting a paper, a £25 registration fee applies. Please purchase your ticket from  the University of Birmingham Online Shop

Please note that the deadline for registration is Friday 19 June at 12:00 BST. If you have registered and are no longer able to attend, please email lawoperations@contacts.bham.ac.uk , marked FAO Ellie, as soon as possible.

Save the date: The EU Citizen’s Gathering

On Wednesday 1 July 2026, the day before the 9th Institute of European Law Biannual conference the University of Birmingham (Arts Building, Edgbaston Campus) will host the Annual EU Citizen’s Gathering organised by the EU Delegation in London. Details will be announced here closer to the date. Organising the two events on two consecutive days is intended to facilitate participation in two events with only one trip to Birmingham.