Prof. Dr. Silja Voeneky

• Since July 2024: Member of theConstitutional Court of Baden-Württemberg
• Since 2016: Executive Director of the Institute for German, European, and International Public Law at the Faculty of Law
• Since 2010: Professor of Public International Law, Comparative Law and Ethics of Law at the University of Freiburg and Director of the Institute for German, European, and International Public Law at the Faculty of Law
• 2005 to 2011: Head of the Independent Max Planck Research Group “Democratic Legitimation of Ethical Decisions” at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg
• 2009: Habilitation “Recht, Moral und Ethik” at the University of Heidelberg; awarded the venia legendi for the subjects of Public Law, International Law, Foreign Public Law, European Law, and Philosophy of Law
• 2001 to 2005: Research Fellow in International Security Law/International Humanitarian Law, International Environmental Law, Ethics and Law, and Biomedical Law at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg
• 2000: Dissertation “The Applicability of Peacetime Environmental Law in International Armed Conflicts/Die Fortgeltung des Umweltvölkerrechts in internationalen bewaffneten Konflikten” at the University of Heidelberg under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wolfrum
• First State Examination (Law) 1995 (Baden-Württemberg) und Second State Examination (Law) 2000 (Kammergericht Berlin)
• 1989 to 1995: Studies in Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Freiburg, the University of Edinburgh (UK), and the University of Heidelberg

• Since 2026 member of the advisory board for the podcast series recht:zeitig
• Since 2021 chair of the Commission on Responsibility in Research (Kommission für Verantwortung in der Forschung) at the University of Freiburg: advising on dual-use research
• Since 2018 co-director of the US/German Human Rights Research Consortium (HRRC) as interdisciplinary human rights center for researchers in Baden-Württemberg and Connecticut
• Since 2016 member of the Advisory Board on International Law at the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) (Völkerrechtswissenschaftlicher Beirat)
• Since 2016 member of the Ethics Council of the Max Planck Society and various working groups (such as export control law and artificial intelligence)
• 2012-2016 member of the German Ethics Council and Chair of the Biosecurity working group until 2014 (see report “Biosafety – Freedom and Responsibility of Research”)
• Since 2001 legal advisor to German federal ministries (Ministry of Science, Ministry of Environment, Foreign Office, etc), inter alia as as a member of the German delegation to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) (including the negotiation of the Antarctic Liability Annex and the preparation of the German approving and implementation act)

• 2019-2021: Fellow FRIAS (Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies) as member of the “Responsible AI” research group, and (co-)editor of the interdisciplinary “The Cambridge Handbook of Responsible AI” (CUP 2022)
• 2015-2016: Fellow Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School: Research concerning Human Rights, Democracy, and Legitimacy in the 21rst Century

• ReScaLe – Responsible and Scalable Learning For Robots Assisting Humans
• CIBSS – Responsible Science and Technology
• AdRegEm – Adaptive Regulation of Emerging Technologies
• Responsible AI
• Finished projects

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 organised 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), as well as Laura Tribess (UFR, event coordinator).

(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

Expert opinions (selection)

S. Voeneky, C. Born, L. Tribess and S. Weller, Compatibility of the EU proposal for a regulation on plants based on certain new genomic techniques with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 15.04.2025

German Ethics Council, Biosicherheit – Freiheit und Verantwortung in der Wissenschaft, written in 2014 by the members of the German Ethics Council 2012-2016 and Silja Voeneky as co-author and head of the Biosecurity working group

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.