Rianne Letschert - Biography#

Prof. Rianne Letschert (1976) studied International Law at Tilburg University, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Montpellier. She obtained her PhD at Tilburg University with a thesis titled ‘The impact of minority rights mechanisms’ (2005), dealing with competing international organisations making policy and law on national minorities. Prof. Rianne Letschert was appointed Rector of Maastricht University on 1 September 2016.

In March 2011 Letschert was appointed professor to the new chair of victimology and international law at Tilburg University. From April 2010 to August 2010 she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge (UK), and Research Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, where she was offered a lifelong membership. In 2014 she was Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona. Letschert has authored and edited several book publications and articles in national and international journals.

In May 2015 she was awarded a Vidi grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research on the impact of international tribunals on societies and individuals that have been confronted with serious human rights violations and international crimes. She is expert consultant for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on victim issues. Apart from her position as professor she served as director of the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVICT). In 2012, Letschert joined De Jonge Akademie (Young Academy) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences of which she became chairperson in April 2015.