Research project: Practically oriented legal fundamentals

The main objectives of the research project are the following: 1) To investigate the importance of legal fundamentals in legal practice; 2) To provide young scholars with academic, scientific, and financial support to produce their best work on the topic; 3) To provide the young scholar with the best chances to publish internationally the results of the work in the research project; 4) To further the scientific and academic career of young scholars; 5) To enable the cooperation of younger international scholars with young Serbian scholars.

Target/stakeholders: I) Belgrade Affiliated Staff (Young scholars, students); II) Non-Belgrade Affiliated Scholars (Consortium and other young scholars); III) Scientific communities; IV) Jurists in a wide sense; V) General Public.

T.6.1 Formulating the research project documentation: Specifying the details of the research project by drafting a preliminary assessment of the situation regarding the use of legal fundamentals in legal practice in general with a special emphasis on Serbia. Based on this assessment senior researchers from partner institutions will formulate tentative topics that the young researchers will focus on within the research project.

T.6.2. Creating one open postdoc position: Opening one BGL postdoc position for a scholar researching the role of legal fundamentals in legal practice. The postdoc position will be officially opened by fulfilling all the administrative requirements of the BGL and by providing the postdoc fellow all necessary conditions for research.

T.6.3. Forming a young researcher team: Lead by the BGL scholars the consortium members will form a team of young scholars gathered around the research project. Members of the team will be selected based on academic excellence and interest in working on topics connecting logic, language, and practical rationality with general and specific practical legal issues.

T.6.4. Establishing a project office within the Centre for Legal Fundamentals: A working space on the BGL will be provided for individual and joint work of the research team members. The office is to be provided with equipment that will allow both individual and group work of junior researchers and their senior supervisors (see T.2.2). The equipment shall allow for in person and remote work.

T.6.5. Research activities: Identifying topics of interest and selecting mentoring teams: The members of the team, MA and PhD students, will identify topics of interest with the research project documentation as a starting point. Based on the topics of interest, supervisor teams will be formed with the task of working with young scholars. Their work will be supervised by teams of two supervisors, one from BGL and one from a partner institution. The supervisors will work jointly to make the young scholar output publishable in internationally renowned journals.

T.6.6. Research activities: Individual research activities and visits: Supervised by senior researchers each junior researcher will work on one individual topic of interest with the aim of producing research papers published in internationally renowned journals. The researchers will work intensively with their supervisors on the premisses the respective consortium partner.

T.6.7. Research activities: Group research activities: As a project team the young researchers will organize single events in the domain of their specific topics in the form of seminars and lectures. The seminars and lectures will be organized either online or in person, with material published and promoted on the ALF website. As a team young researchers will organize a conference bringing together the topics of interest including both experienced researchers, young researchers, and the members of the junior research team.

T.6.8. Publication of research project results: The individual publications of research team members will be submitted for review and publication in renowned international journals, under the supervisors’ guidance. Depending on the point of academic career of the young scholar the supervisors will provide guidance for the completion of MA or PhD thesis, with an emphasis on those parts of the thesis regarding legal fundamentals. The results of the research project will be published within an edited volume or a special journal issue.

T.6.8. Blog posts and short video lessons: The working group will produce blog posts and short video lessons on different topics about practical application of legal fundamentals, and derivate questions and approaches. These blog posts and short video lessons will be uploaded to ALF-WP for dissemination. For more details, see T.3.8.

T.6.9. Young Scholar Conference: “Practically oriented legal fundamentals”: The research team will organize a conference gathering young scholars with contributions regarding the import of the study of legal fundamentals in legal practice on BGL premises in month 24 of the project.