The International & Interdisciplinary Social Affairs Lab is a multidisciplinary research institute established within the Faculty of Law (Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law) of Ghent University and set up by the professors of the former Department of Social Law (Prof M. De Vos, Prof P. Humblet, Prof Y. Jorens, and Prof W. Van Eeckhoutte). The institute’s directors are Professor Y. Jorens and Prof. A. De Becker. In an independent and academic manner, the research institute aims to conduct high-quality research into national and international social policy aspects from a legal, sociological, and economic point of view. Special attention is paid to the role of social law in the implementation of sociopolitical policy measures, and they are also considered from a broader multidisciplinary and international perspective. The research institute wants to enhance the research field by bringing together professors and researchers with very different backgrounds to conduct joint research at the national and international level into topical social problems. The research institute is characterized by its multidisciplinarity, social relevance, academic independence, dynamic character, European and international perspective, and networking. To achieve its objective, the research institute cooperates with a range of domestic and foreign experts. An international scientific board guards the institute’s objective. The research institute’s current fields of research cover several aspects of (European) social security law and (European) individual and collective labor law in the private and the public sector: e.g. fundamental rights within companies and authorities, equality of treatment, social dialogue, atypical forms of employment and flexibility, the interaction between labor law and social security law, misconduct at work, the devolvement of power to regions, globalization, cross-border employment, social dumping, and fraud. A multi-level approach is adopted at all times, paying attention to the way in which the national and European/international levels inspire each other; to the mutual legal, economic, sociopolitical, and criminological influences; and to the dialogue between the legal and the social field. In particular, the institute wants to open up these forms of cooperation for new, young researchers; to set up a multi-country, multidisciplinary network of pan-European researchers with potential for continuous growth and long-term sustainability by means of different joined activities and initiatives; to organize multidisciplinary seminars, congresses, and colloquia both on a national and international level.
LIISA – International & Interdisciplinary Social Affairs Lab (UGent)
