Call for Abstracts: Conference on ECtHR Jurisprudence, Maastricht University [Maastricht, 14-15 January 2027; Abstracts by 16 October 2026]

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence (MCLJ), a research centre within the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, invites abstracts for a two-day conference titled "ECtHR jurisprudence: an incremental and progressive development or time to take a breather?", to be held on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 January 2027.

The conference asks whether the European Court of Human Rights' evolutionary, living-instrument reading of the Convention should continue, in light of growing pushback from Convention states, including the Open Letter of May 2025 signed by several European Presidents and Prime Ministers and the Chisinau Declaration adopted by Council of Europe member states a year later, which stressed subsidiarity, the margin of appreciation and judicial restraint, particularly in migration.

• Methods of interpretation and judicial development: the normative foundations and limits of the Convention as a living instrument; text and history versus social change; the role of incrementalism; parallels with originalism and living constitutionalism.
• The margin of appreciation and European consensus: the future of the doctrine; its effect on constitutional democracy in Europe; the role of consensus in setting the scope of rights and deference; whether the Court reflects or shapes developments in member states.
• Legitimacy and authority of the Strasbourg Court: the sources of the Court's legitimacy; reliance on legal authority, democratic endorsement, consensus or moral reasoning; the effect of its increasingly constitutional role.
• Political resistance and the future of the Convention system: responses to backlash and demands for subsidiarity; constitutional pluralism; whether the Open Letter and the Chisinau Declaration signal a broader shift; whether state criticism is constructive or a threat to the Court's authority.

Keynote speakers: Prof Mattias Kumm (WZB Berlin) and Prof Janneke Gerards (Utrecht University and Council of State).

Organisers: Dr Massimo Fichera, Prof Roland Pierik and Dr Maarten Stremler.

The call is open to interested researchers working on the European Convention on Human Rights and the Strasbourg Court. The call places no restriction on nationality or country, so researchers from India may submit. Abstracts must state the author's institutional affiliation.

• Abstract of a maximum of 500 words on one of the four conference themes.
• The abstract should clearly set out the contribution's main argument, methodology and relevance.
• Include your name, institutional affiliation and a short biography (maximum 150 words).
• Participants are welcome but not required to develop full papers for the conference.

Email your abstract to law-mclj@maastrichtuniversity.nl by Friday, 16 October 2026, with the subject line "Abstract ECtHR Conference".

The call does not mention any submission or participation fee. The conference is hosted by the MCLJ at Maastricht University, Netherlands. The organisers state that further information on the conference programme and venue will follow in due course. The call does not mention travel or accommodation support.