Prof. Dr. Silja Voeneky

svoeneky@jura.uni-freiburg.de
+49 761/203-2206

Lebenslauf (DE) Prof. Dr. Silja Vöneky

Lebenslauf Silja Vöneky (72 kB), 27. November 2024
CV (EN) Prof. Dr. Silja Voeneky

Curriculum-Vitae-Silja-Voeneky (71 KB), 14. April 2026

Curriculum Vitae

Professor of Public International Law, Comparative Law and Ethics of Law at the University of Freiburg and Director of the Institute of Public Law of the Law Faculty (since 2010)
Since July 2024: member of the Verfassungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg
Her research and teaching cover various areas of public and international law. These include questions of democratic legitimacy, international environmental law, human rights, and humanitarian law, as well as AI and Biotech law. In her research she links aspects of ethics and law, in the field of international law and tech regulation, and is a principal investigator of national and international interdisciplinary third-party-funded research projects and initiatives, such as CIBSS and ReScale.
Before, she was a Fellow at FRIAS (Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies) as member of the research group “Responsible AI“ and co-edited the interdisciplinary Cambridge Handbook of Responsible AI (CUP 2022).
She is Chair of the dual use research of concern advisory body (Kommission für Verantwortung in der Forschung) of the University of Freiburg.
Co-Director of the US/German Human Rights Research Consortium (HRRC) that serves as a human rights hub for researchers in Baden-Württemberg and Connecticut.
She is a member of national and international advisory bodies, including the high level Advisory Council on International Law (Völkerrechtswissenschaftlicher Beirat) of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Ethics Council of the Max Planck Society.
From 2015 to 2016, she was a Fellow at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.
Until 2016 she was a member of the German Ethics Council, and during this time the head of the working group on biosecurity (see report on “Biosecurity“).
Besides, she was Head of Independent Max Planck Research Group: Democratic Legitimacy and Ethics of Governance from 2005 to 2011 and Senior Researcher (Internat. Security Law, Environmental Law, Ethics and Law, Biomedical Law) from 2001 to 2005 at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Habilitation “Recht, Moral und Ethik“, University of Heidelberg (2009)
Disseration, Dr. jur. “The Applicability of Peacetime Environmental Law in International Armed Conflicts“, University of Heidelberg (2000)
2. Staatsexamen Rechtswissenschaften (Law) from 1998 to 2000 (Kammergericht Berlin)
1. Staatsexamen Rechtswissenschaften (Law) in Heidelberg, after studies in law at the Universities Freiburg, Bonn, Edinburgh (UK) and Heidelberg.

Research, publications and third-party funded projects

Supervised dissertations

Teaching

Team

Science transfer/Press

International conferences

Silja Voeneky regularly organises international conferences and interdisciplinary symposia, the results of which are published, such as the Virtual Conference: Global Perspectives on Responsible AI (25-26 June 2020), published as The Cambridge Handbook of Responsible AI, CUP 2022, „Human Rights, Democracy, and Legitimacy“ (3-4 May 2016, Harvard Law School, USA, published 2018, CUP), „Das Missbrauchsrisiko in den Biowissenschaften – Biosicherheitsrelevante Forschung zwischen Freiheit, Fortschritt und Verantwortung“ (3 July 2014, Freiburg i.Br.), “The Ethicalization of Law – Fundamental Questions, Dangers and Opportunities from an Interdisciplinary Perspective” (29-30 September 2011, Freiburg i.Br.), “Law of the Sea in Dialogue” (4-5 December 2009, Heidelberg), “Demokratische Legitimation ethischer Entscheidungen” (4-5 December 2009, Heidelberg), “Democratic Legitimation of Ethical Decisions” (29-30 November 2007), “Terrorism as a Challenge for National and International Law” (24-25 January 2003, Heidelberg) and “Towards an International Ban on Human Cloning” (7-8 October 2003, Heidelberg).

In 2025, as co-director, she is organising the HRRC conference “Human Rights in the Balance: Safeguarding Social and Environmental Sustainability” together with Sebastian Wogenstein (UConn), Shareen Hertel (UConn) and Ralf von den Hoff (FRIAS).

(Co-)Editorships

Journal Ordnung der Wissenschaft (online and print version)
Journal series “Ethik und Recht”, Duncker & Humblot (together with Wilfried Hinsch, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cologne) (since 2014)
Journal series “Recht in Ostasien“, Nomos Verlag
Journal series digital | recht: Staat und digitale Gesellschaft (since 2021)
Freiburger Informationspapiere zum Völkerrecht und Öffentlichen Recht

Memberships (selection)

Silja Voeneky is also a member of various academic associations such as the Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer (VDStrL), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationales Recht / German Society of International Law (DGfIR), the European Society of International Law (ESIL), the American Society of International Law (ASIL), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wehrrecht und Humanitäres Völkerrecht (DGWHV), the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War, the Deutsche Juristinnenbund (DJB), the Deutsche Juristentage (DJT) and a founding member of the Cambridge Working Group.