Jurgen Kurtz

Jürgen Kurtz is a Professor at the University of Melbourne Law School, where he has taught since 2001, advancing through positions as Lecturer (2003–2005), Senior Lecturer (2006–2010), Associate Professor (2011–2015), and Professor (since 2016). He holds a BA, LLB (Hons), and LLM by Thesis from the University of Melbourne, along with an LLM and SJD from the University of Michigan. From 2018 to 2022, he held the Chair in International Economic Law jointly in the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies and the Department of Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He has served as Director of International Economic Law Studies at the University of Melbourne Law School and Associate Dean (Engagement) from 2013 to 2014. Kurtz has also been a visiting professor at institutions including the University of Bocconi and the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies in London, and co-directed the latter from 2015 to 2016.

His research centers on international economic law, encompassing the World Trade Organization and international investment law, with particular attention to the justification and impact of treaty disciplines on regulatory autonomy and development strategies. Additional interests include legal hermeneutics, jurisprudential borrowing in public international law, political economy, and development theory. Key publications include The WTO and International Investment Law: Converging Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and Investing the ASEAN Way: Theories and Practices of Economic Integration in Southeast Asia (with Sungjoon Cho, Cambridge University Press, 2022). He has published extensively in journals such as the European Journal of International Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, ICSID Review, and Journal of International Economic Law. Kurtz serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement and the Journal of World Investment and Trade. He has acted as a party-nominated arbitrator in ICSID proceedings and provided expert consultations to the World Bank, European Union, ASEAN Secretariat, United Nations Development Programme, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Awards include the Grotius Fellowship (2005, University of Michigan), Research Fellowship at the Hague Academy of International Law (2004), and Emile Noël Fellowship (2002, New York University).

Professional Email: j.kurtz@unimelb.edu.au