Asser International Sports Law Blog

Our International Sports Law Diary
The Asser International Sports Law Centre is part of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut

The Editors

Dr. Antoine Duval (Editor-in-chief)

Antoine is a Senior researcher at AISLC since February 2014, before he was a PhD researcher at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy). His work focuses on the interaction between International Sports Law and EU Law. He is particularly interested in grasping the practical and theoretical relevance of the concept of lex sportiva. His recent publications are available on SSRN.

Oskar van Maren 

Oskar is a Junior Legal Counsel at FIFA's Players' Status Department since December 2017. He previously worked as a junior Researcher at AISLC between April 2014 and March 2017. He holds an LL.M in European law from Leiden University (The Netherlands). His academic interest lies mainly in the involvement of EU law in sport.

Prof. Dr. Ben Van Rompuy

Ben was the coordinator of the AISLC until August 2016. He is Assistant Professor for Competition Law at Leiden university and Visiting Professor for Competition Policy and Media Regulation at the VUB in Brussels. His research focuses primarily on EU law, competition law, and regulatory issues in the sports and media sectors and on the protection of the integrity of sports competitions (financial fair play, match-fixing).

Dr. Ryan Gauthier

Ryan Gauthier is a consultant and lecturer on sports law, based out of Vancouver, Canada. Ryan defended his PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam in December 2015. His dissertation examined human rights violations caused by international sporting events, and how international sporting organisations may be held accountable for these violations.

Beverly Williamson

Beverley is a PhD candidate at Newcastle University (England).  Her research considers the regulatory dynamics of competition law in the UK, and the relationship between competition law and sport.  She has a special interest in competition law issues in professional rugby union. 

Emily Wisnosky

An attorney admitted to the California bar, Emily specializes in anti-doping and international sports arbitration law. She currently participates as a scientific collaborator at the University of Neuchâtel on a research project to produce the first article-by-article legal commentary of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code. This project is conducted at the University of Neuchâtel and supported by a grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation. As a component of this project, she also pursues doctoral research on the role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in anti-doping disputes.

Dr Marjolaine Viret
Marjolaine is a researcher and attorney admitted to the Geneva bar (Switzerland) who specialises in sports and life sciences. Her interests focus on interdisciplinary approaches as a way of designing effective solutions in the field of anti-doping and other science-based domains. Her book “Evidence in Anti-Doping at the Intersection of Science & Law” was published through T.M.C Asser Press / Springer in late 2015. She participates as a co-author on a project hosted by the University of Neuchâtel to produce the first article-by-article legal commentary of the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code. In her practice, she regularly advises international federations and other sports organisations on doping and other regulatory matters, in particular on aspects of scientific evidence, privacy or research regulation. She also has experience assisting clients in arbitration proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport or other sport tribunals.
Yann Hafner
Yann is a PhD student and a scientific collaborator at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). His research focuses mainly on the concept of sporting nationality, i.e. athletes' eligibility in national team. Besides his academics involvements, Yann works for an International Federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Christopher A. Flanagan
Christopher holds a degree in law from the University of Exeter, a master’s degree in International Banking and Finance Law from the University of the West of England, and a post graduate diploma in legal practice, also from the University of the West of England. His research interests cover a spectrum of sports law topics, with a focus on financial regulatory disputes, particularly in professional football, a topic on which he has regularly lectured at the University of the West of England. Christopher spent a number of years managing litigation in-house at a ‘Big Four’ bank before moving into private practice to complete his professional training. 
Asser International Sports Law Blog | Call for Papers - 20 Years of the World Anti-Doping Code in Action - ISLJ Conference 2025 - 6 & 7 November 2025

Asser International Sports Law Blog

Our International Sports Law Diary
The Asser International Sports Law Centre is part of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut

Call for Papers - 20 Years of the World Anti-Doping Code in Action - ISLJ Conference 2025 - 6 & 7 November 2025


 


Call for papers

20 years of the World Anti-Doping Code in Action

International Sports Law Journal Conference 2025

Asser Institute, The Hague

6 and 7 November 2025

 

The Editors of the International Sports Law Journal (ISLJ), the Asser Institute and the Research Chair on Responsible Sport of the University of Sherbrooke invite you to submit abstracts for the ISLJ Conference on International Sports Law, which will take place on 6 and 7 November 2025 at the Asser Institute in The Hague. The ISLJ, published by Springer and T.M.C. Asser Press, is the leading academic publication in the field of international sports law and governance. The conference is a unique occasion to discuss the main legal issues affecting international sports with academics and practitioners from all around the world. 

 

The 2025 ISLJ Conference will focus on assessing the first 20 years (2004-2024) of operation of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) since its entry into force in 2004, while also discussing its future prospects, in light of the new version of the Code due to be adopted at the Busan Conference in December 2025 and the 10th Conference of the Parties to the International Convention against Doping in Sport, to be held in Paris from 20 to 22 October. The aim of the conference will be to take a comprehensive stock of the operation of the private-public transnational regulatory regime which emerged in the wake of the WADC.  This regime is structured around a complex network of national and global institutions engaged in anti-doping work (WADA, NADAs, IFs, accredited laboratories) and guided by an equally complex assemblage of norms located at the global (WADC and the WADA Standards), international (UNESCO Convention against Doping in Sport), regional (Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention), and national (various national anti-doping legislations) level. This makes for a fascinating and convoluted transnational legal construct in need of being studied, analysed and criticised by scholars. 

 

Reviewing 20 years of implementation of the WADC warrants a special edition of the ISLJ Conference and of the journal, which invites scholars of all disciplines to reflect on the many questions and issues linked with it. We welcome proposals touching on the following subjects (and more): 

  • The governance of the world anti-doping regime
    • The public-private nature of this governance
    • The transparency of this governance
    • The legitimacy of this governance
    • The participatory nature of this governance
    • The role of scientific experts in this governance
  •  The normative content of the WADC and the international standards
    • The strict liability principle 
    • The privacy rights of athletes under the WADC
    • The sanctioning policy under the WADC
    • The role of the international standards in implementing the WADC
    • The compatibility of the WADC with human rights
  • The glocal implementation of the WADC
    • The role of local institutions (NADOs/Labs/NOCs) in the implementation of the WADC
    • The tension between global (WADA) and local (NADOs/Labs/NOCs) in the implementation of the WADC
    • The role of the IFs in the implementation of the WADC
    • The role of the ITA in the implementation of the WADC
    • The role of judicial bodies (national courts, disciplinary committees of IFs, CAS) and their jurisprudence in the implementation of the WADC 
  • The effectiveness of the world anti-doping regime
    • The evaluation and evolution of the effectiveness of the world anti-doping regime in preventing doping
    • The role of the media in unveiling the ineffectiveness of the world anti-doping regime
    • The role of states in hindering the effectiveness of the world anti-doping regime
    • The world anti-doping regime as a regime with a variable geometry of effectiveness
  •  The future of the world anti-doping regime: Revolution, reform or more of the same?
    • Do we need a world anti-doping regime? 
    • If we do, should it be reformed? How? 


Abstracts of 300 words and CVs should be sent no later than 1 June 2025 to a.duval@asser.nl. Selected speakers will be informed by 30 June 2025. The selected participants will be expected to submit a draft paper by 15 October 2025. Papers accepted and presented at the conference are eligible for publication in a special issue of the ISLJ subject to peer-review. The Asser Institute will provide a limited amount of travel and accommodation grants (max. 350€) to early career researchers (doctoral and post-doctoral) in need of financial support. If you wish to be considered for a grant, please indicate it in your submission.  


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