The research of Tilburg Law School has received the highest score in the Dutch national assessment for legal research. Both the quality of the research programmes and the research organization and policy were awarded the highest scores, confirming Tilburg’s leading position in legal research in the Netherlands.

According to the Legal Research Assessment Committee, the success of the Tilburg Law School research may be attributed in part to the system of internal Competitive Research Funding (COF), but also to quality care and dedicated research leadership. The committee awarded the maximum score (5 out of 5) for mission and strategy, quality care, capacity for innovation and leadership, and guidance to and coaching of researchers. No other Dutch university received an equal score. According to the committee, its judgement is vindicated by the prominent international position of the Law School, its ability to raise external funding – so that staff have more time for research – and the positive research climate fostered by the Law School.

Excellence in research
All eight research programmes at Tilburg Law School that started between 2003-2008 were awarded a score of 4 out of 5 or higher. The research programmes of the three interdisciplinary institutes scored 4.75: those of the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC), the Tilburg Institute for Law and Technology (TILT), and the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (Intervict). The programme of the Tilburg Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems (TISCO), entitled Perspectives on Private Law: Cooperation and Rulemaking, was the only one in the Netherlands to secure the score of 5 out of 5.

The TISCO programme was cited as 'a model of successful programme-based research'. The committee praised, amongst other things, the excellent quality of the research, the academic and social relevance, and the innovative methodology, which incorporates multidisciplinary and empirical research in legal theory formation. For TISCO, the assessment means a continuation of the previous evaluation in 2002, which likewise resulted in the designation 'excellent'. In 2002, the other research programmes of Tilburg Law School also achieved the best average score in the Netherlands.

Notice for the press
For more information, please contact Jonathan Verschuuren, Vice-Dean for Research at Tilburg Law School,  phone +31 13  466 2694, email j.m.verschuuren@uvt.nl. The report of the Research Assessment Committee is available through this link (in Dutch).