Mission & governance

Our mission
The Asser Institute’s mission is to contribute to the development of international and European public and private law. We achieve this by:

• Independent legal research: We conduct fundamental, policy-oriented, and applied legal research in international and European public and private law.
• Knowledge dissemination: We initiate and facilitate academic and expert meetings, (professional) education, and public events aimed at disseminating knowledge of international and European public and private law. We further share our legal knowledge by adding to the public debate.

Our strategic research agenda, entitled “Rethinking public interests in international and European Law (2022-2026); Pairing critical reflection with perspectives for action” forms the substantive basis for the Asser Institute’s activities in the field of research, education, knowledge dissemination and events.

Our vision
We envision a world in which local, national and transnational public interests are protected and promoted by international and European public and private law. This is supported by critical reflection conducive to perspectives for action to confront our global challenges.

Our values
The Asser Institute is a public-spirited community that is committed to excellence, integrity, inclusivity, and public values when conducting fundamental and applied research, offering education and training, and informing legal practice, policy development, and public debate.

Governance 
The T.M.C. Asser Instituut is a foundation affiliated with the University of Amsterdam (UvA). It is an inter-university institute with a modern governance structure and a close working relationship with the Amsterdam Law School (UvA). 

Executive board
The T.M.C. Asser Instituut has a two-tier board governance model with an executive and a supervisory board. The executive board consists of:

• Managing director Kasper Vrolijk.
• Acting chair of the executive board and academic director Christophe Paulussen.

Supervisory board
The supervisory board of five people, appointed by the UvA, includes representatives from the University of Amsterdam, the international community in The Hague and the Dutch Law Schools, with the deans of the Dutch stakeholder universities nominating the latter. Current members of the supervisory board are: 

• Liesbeth Lijnzaad, Chairperson supervisory board (Maastricht University),
• Ronald Janse (Open University Netherlands),
• Mireille van Eechoud (University of Amsterdam),
• Garance Reus- Deelder (Plan International Netherlands)
• Ben Smulders (European Commision).

Remuneration of board members
None of the supervisory board members receives any remuneration or compensation for their board-membership, nor for attending board meetings. The executive board members and the Asser Institute staff members are employed by the University of Amsterdam and seconded to the Asser Institute. The Collective Employment Agreement (CAO) governs their remuneration for the Dutch Universities (VSNU).