SSH/JURI Institut pour la recherche interdisciplinaire en sciences juridiques (JUR-I)
I am a researcher working at the intersection of philosophy of law, science and technology studies, and international law, with a particular focus on regimes governing access and benefit-sharing (ABS), as well as the regulation and ownership of seeds, genetic resources, and the status of Digital Sequence Information (DSI).
Currently, I work as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne, where I examine the influence of metaphors and scientific rationalizations in debates surrounding new genomic techniques (NGTs) in Europe and Switzerland. I also teach a seminar in legal theory at UCLouvain.
Following a background in law, philosophy, and EU interdisciplinary studies, I completed a PhD as an FNRS doctoral student at the Centre for Philosophy of Law at UCLouvain (Prom. Christine Frison and Olivier De Schutter). My dissertation explored the role of scientific discourses as arguments of authority, as well as the epistemological conflicts shaping the definitions of genetic resources in the context of their “dematerialization.”
Drawing on ecological approaches to law, as well as decolonial, Indigenous, and feminist scholarship, I further develop relational perspectives in law, politics, and science. My work seeks to reconnect categories often treated as separate: objects and subjects, humans and non-humans, materiality and immateriality.
My research also combines empirical and interdisciplinary approaches developed across different settings, including European policymaking processes (European Commission and European Parliament), international negotiations within the FAO and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as Indigenous contexts.
Legal Implications of Scientific Rationalisation for New Plant Breeding Technologies (LISR-NPBT) (Postdoctoral Research @ UNIL/SNSF)
Research funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF-PNR84). The project focuses on scientific metaphors and their role in international legal argumentation, with particular attention to GMOs and new genomic techniques. It adopts a comparative approach to Swiss and European law, examining how scientific discourses shape regulatory frameworks and legal interpretation in this field.
Abstract: A decade after their discovery, genome editing products have yet to reach the market, particularly in Europe. This delay appears to be driven less by technical barriers than by legal and institutional constraints. In both Switzerland and the European Union, strong path dependencies rooted in the complex development of legal frameworks for Genetically Modified Organisms continue to shape regulatory approaches and hinder the integration of new technologies. The LISR (Legal Implications of Scientific Rationalisation) project aims to examine current and emerging regulatory frameworks in Switzerland and the EU through combined legal and philosophical analysis. Its central objective is to better understand and strengthen the relationship between scientific knowledge and regulatory decision-making. By analyzing how scientific developments are translated into legal norms, the project seeks to identify barriers and opportunities for more effective science-informed regulation. With a research team closely engaged with ongoing regulatory processes, LISR will directly contribute to current discussions on revising the legal regime governing New Plant Breeding Techniques (NPBTs). Beyond plant biotechnology, the project will also develop analytical tools and policy recommendations to support the integration of scientific evidence into regulatory frameworks in other political-technical contexts. In doing so, it aims to facilitate more responsive governance capable of addressing emerging technologies and their sustainability potential.
Researchers: Prof. Véronique Boillet (UNIL), Prof. Christine Frison (University of Liège), Dr Sylvain Aubry (UNIL)
Scientific Discourses as Arguments of Authority in Legal and Political Fields: The Case of Seed Dematerialization and Its Legal Regime (PhD @ UCLouvain/FNRS)
My PhD thesis examines the strategic use of scientific arguments in political and legal spheres. It focuses on debates surrounding Digital Sequence Information (DSI) within the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and other Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) instruments. Due to advances in sequencing technologies, genetic data are increasingly used alongside, or in place of, physical genetic resources for research and industrial purposes. This use contributes to the bypassing of existing ABS obligations, without consensus on whether such uses of DSI fall within the scope of ABS instruments.
Within this hybrid context, characterized by concerns over biopiracy, gene editing, and the patenting of genetic resources, the thesis analyzes how scientific arguments are mobilized in these debates. It examines the epistocratic use of science by states in negotiations on DSI, particularly regarding the integration of DSI into ABS mechanisms and in relation to the definitions of “genetic resources” and “genetic material.” It also explores how science is used to frame the ontological questions raised by DSI, including the determination of their terminology, scope, and the types of knowledge considered legitimate, thereby contributing to epistemic injustices toward Indigenous knowledge systems.
The thesis then investigates how scientific perspectives shape the interpretation of international law by analyzing the ontological assumptions underlying a conception of “modern science” presented as objective and universal. Situated at the intersection of international law, philosophy of law, philosophy of science, and posthuman approaches, this thesis examines how this “modern science,” drawing on a dualistic framework, produces normative “ontological cuts” between physical plants and their immaterial components, and between nature and culture.
Finally, the thesis advances a relational and cosmopolitical approach to international law. It argues that international law should not be interpreted solely through supposedly universal, Western, and anthropocentric frameworks, but can instead be understood as a space of ontological diplomacy, open to reinterpretation in light of the ontological and epistemological claims at stake within these human–seed relationships.
Jury composition: Christine Frison (co-supervisor, University of Liège), Olivier De Schutter (supervisor, UCLouvain), Charles Pence (chair, UCLouvain), Emily Jones (Newcastle University), Konstantia Koutouki (University of Montreal)
Other research activities:
Member of the Editorial Board of the Louvain Law Review (2024–present)
Co-Secretary of the European Journal of Human Rights (2025–present)
Managing Editor of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment (2026–present)
Member of the Governance Committee of the interdisciplinary research group iDSI (Digital Sequence Information) (2023–present)
Scientific Staff Representative (CORSCI) at the JURI Institute (2025–2026)
| Année | Libellé | Établissement |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | UCLouvain | Université catholique de Louvain (Belgique) | |
| 2022 | Master of Arts in European Interdisciplinary Studies | College of Europe, Natolin (Pologne) |
| 2021 | Mater en philosophie | UCLouvain | Université catholique de Louvain (Belgique) |
| 2021 | Master en droit à finalité droit publc et international | Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (Belgique) |
| 2019 | Bachelier en philosophie | UCLouvain Saint-Louis | Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (Belgique) |
| 2018 | Bachelier en droit | UCLouvain Saint-Louis | Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (Belgique) |