What is your current professional activity?

Since June 2018, I am Associate Professor at Université Catholique de Bukavu (hereafter UCBukavu) where I teach international law courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Also, I have definitely been registered as an attorney at South Kivu Bar.

What was the topic of your PhD?

I did a dissertation on the issue of the political rights of refugees. My research focused on the limitations of refugees' political rights in international law. These limitations have the effect of reducing the refugee to the situation of "Stateless” and "rights-less", according to Hannah Arendt's political thought.

In which context did you write your PhD?

I did my thesis in the context of funding from the Administration of International Relations (hereinafter ADRI/UCLouvain) for 36 months in Belgium. With this funding, I followed a complementary Master's program in international law (10 months) and I realised my doctoral research by alternating my stays between the DRC and Belgium for 27 months. My stays in the DRC (9 months in total) allowed me to teach at UCBukavu Law School as an assistant. During my doctoral research in Belgium, I also participated in the work of EDEM / CEDIE.

Which specific competence did you develop during your PhD?

The completion of my thesis allowed me to acquire several specific skills. In the field of education, I took advantage of my doctoral training to attend seminars in the field of university pedagogy. This allowed me to strengthen my abilities in teaching for university or higher education. On the human level, the thesis allowed me to acquire a synthesis spirit as well in the writing as in the research results presentation.

In general, what was the added value of your thesis for your career?

The added value of the thesis has allowed me to start an academic career in the DRC. It has also strengthened my capacities in the field of writing research and training projects. These days, I am part of several research projects.

What is your best PhD anecdote (if any!)?

The best anecdote of my thesis occurred during the public defence. A member of the jury asked me several questions. I was embarrassed by one of them around Mr Carles Puigdemont's political rights and his situation in Belgium. Having no answer to this question, I said, "Cat's got my tongue".

Damien Gérard

What is your current professional activity?

Currently, I am an official with the Directorate general for competition of the European Commission (DG COMP). I manage merger control proceedings, which entails ensuring that large mergers and acquisitions notified to the European Commission do not result in a significant impediment to effective competition within the EU Single Market. In addition, I read EU Competition Law at UCLouvain and the College of Europe. 

What was the topic of your PhD?

My doctoral thesis studied the evolution of regulatory strategies underpinning the European integration process as a result of the completion of the EU Single Market and in anticipation of the 2004 enlargement of the Union. On the basis of a comparative study of the transformation of EU competition law enforcement, on the one hand, and of the development of cooperation in criminal matters, on the other hand, I identified the emergence of a regulatory model – a “Union’s method” – combining conflict-of-law methods and network governance principles, aimed at triggering convergence among national regulatory frameworks and anchored into the concept of mutual trust between EU Member States as a constitutionalism.

In which context did you write your PhD?

To support my doctoral research, undertaken after a first professional experience in the Brussels office of an international law firm, I benefited from a financing from the UCLouvain’s special research fund (FSR) granted to Professor Stéphanie Francq in the framework of the Chair of European Law. After three years full-time during which I spent time in the US (HLS) and Germany (Max Planck Institute in Hamburg), I went back to private practice and completed my thesis at the same time, before enrolling in a post-doctoral program at the European University Institute (Max Weber program).

Which specific competence did you develop during your PhD?

With a bit of distance, the doctorate has prompted me to deconstruct what I thought I knew about EU law and competition law after relatively advanced studies, and to reconstruct an understanding of the Union’s “legal system” based on my own research. In retrospect, I think I developed an ability to (re-)think through the application of EU law as part of a governance system, and therefore an ability to connect and put in context legal problems, to exercise judgement of individual situations relatively quickly, as well as a form of creativity that enables me to design innovative solutions to legal issues I face in practice.

In general, what was the added value of your thesis for your career?

Overall, the added-value of the thesis is real but relatively diffuse. To be sure, it enabled me to develop and legitimize an expertise, to deepen professional relations, to secure the pursuance of a part-time academic activity but it was rather an important step in a process of individual development than a transformative experience. Paradoxically, the completion of a doctorate while working in a large corporate law firm also blurred my professional identity. Still, soon after the completion of my thesis, I took part in a competition for EU Commission officials and, suddenly, I ticked all the boxes and my profile matched exactly the requirements of the function and so I got in and since then I genuinely feel that leveraging my experiences of academia and private practice enables me to bring added value to my day-to-day work.

What is your best PhD anecdote (if any!)?

There are lots of difficult moments to go through during the doctoral process (and afterwards…); you have to be resilient, have confidence in life and accept that the experience will not necessarily get you where you expected to land. But there are also truly unforgettable moments, both intellectually and from a human point of view, which will shape you in the long run. Research stays abroad are very special and enabled me to establish friendships for life. If I had to single out a particular anecdote, it would go back to a seminar organized by a very good friend of mine now Professor at University College London where I was invited to comment on a contribution. At the break, the eminent Professor and thinker of EU law Christian Joerges whom I admired very much walked towards me and said: “You, I don’t know who you are but you are not a real lawyer!” And I replied: “Coming from you, I assume this is a compliment!” And then we spent the whole train journey between London and Cambridge in the evening exchanging about my research project…