Last week, Prof. dr. Corina Heri delivered her inaugural lecture on the temporal and equity dimension of climate change litigation, which presented her newly started FWO Odysseus Project "No Time to Litigate? The Temporal and Equity Dimensions of Human Rights and Climate Change".
The project will be carried out over the course of the next five years (2026-2031) at the Brussels Centre for Law Government and Society (BruCeL), forming part of the Faculty of Law and Criminology, and the Department of Water and Climate (HYDR) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
In her lecture, Prof. Heri engaged with the issue of temporality transcending the current human rights-based climate litigation cases and the need to examine how the law’s temporality can rise to the challenges posed by climate change. The project tests the assumption that time can shape core legal concepts of human rights cases (including jurisdiction, victim status, causality, risk, vulnerability, and due diligence). Through explicating such temporal assumptions and limitations, the project aims to produce new ideas about central issues such as the possibilities and limits of the law, its treatment of scientific evidence, historical responsibility for emissions, and the protection of current and future generations.
We are proud to have Prof. Heri as part of our research group and wish her every success in leading this impactful project!
Interested in a PhD position within the project? Apply by 29 May 2026.
Read more about the project here.