Maria Weimer is an associate professor at the Amsterdam Law School at the University of Amsterdam, where she acts as the director of the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG). She is also an associate fellow of the Asser Institute for International and European Law in The Hague.

Amidst rapid technological advances, shifting geopolitical landscapes, and urgent environmental challenges, my work investigates the role of EU law in managing complex and systemic risks related to health, the environment, and sustainability. I explore innovative legal and regulatory strategies to foster sustainable change both within Europe and globally. A central question of my work is how we can leverage the law to manage risks and to protect public interests whilst upholding the core values of democratic constitutionalism, extending beyond national boundaries. My goal is to contribute to shaping resilient governance frameworks that are both effective and legitimate.

To achieve that goal, I am committed to the interdisciplinary study of law. I envision EU law not merely as a set of formal norms, but as a dynamic process of law-making that interacts with socio-political power as well as with various public and private actors at different levels of governance. I am therefore passionate about original socio-legal approaches to law, which engage different disciplines in a collaborative effort to address systemic risks and societal challenges.

I foster interdisciplinary collaboration as a member of the Governing Board of the interdisciplinary Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES) of the University of Amsterdam. I also act as a member  of an interdisciplinary group of independent experts advising the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission on a project titled ‘Challenges and opportunities for the future of democracy.’ Between 2018 and 2022 I represented the Amsterdam Law School as a member of the Amsterdam Young Academy (AYA), an independent interdisciplinary platform of 30 talented researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit who work together to better represent young researchers in science policy and to build bridges between science and society in Amsterdam. I am the deputy editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Risk Regulation published with Cambridge University Press and a member of the Editorial Board of EULawLive. Before joining UvA, I worked as a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of International and European Law of Maastricht University. I hold a PhD in Law from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

My scholarly work and interest in interdisciplinary approaches to law have led to significant collaborations on EU funded projects such as RECON (Reconstituting Democracy in Europe), INPROFOOD (Towards Inclusive Research Programming for Sustainable Food Innovations), Experimentalist Regimes in Transnational Governance (co-sponsored by the Watson Institute of Brown University), and InDivEU (Integrating Diversity in the European Union). I have also successfully secured research funding to develop and advance new projects. I have been awarded two individual talent grants by the Dutch research funding agency, NWO (Rubicon and Veni), and have successfully led projects financed by smaller collaborative grants from the University of Amsterdam.

My research is fundamentally driven by the inquiry how EU law manages complex and systemic risks related to health, the environment, and sustainability and proposes pathways through which law can catalyse sustainable change, both within Europe and globally. My work, published in leading international journals and with top publishers, has contributed to the advancement of interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of EU law, risk regulation and sustainability.

EU risk regulation

Firstly, my research has been pivotal in establishing EU risk regulation as a distinct field of interdisciplinary study (Weimer 2017), critically analyzing its legal frameworks and implementation, particularly concerning health, safety, and environmental risks. I have explored the interaction between law, science, and regulatory practices, revealing how expert opinions shape outcomes and emphasizing the need for greater accountability to bolster legitimacy and trust (OUP monograph 2019 and Hart edited volume 2017). My work examined the challenges of applying the precautionary principle in politicized contexts (Weimer 2015); explored tensions between economic harmonization and the necessity for local adaptation and accommodation of diversity in EU risk regulation (OUP monograph 2019 and Vos & Weimer 2017); and analyzed the difficulties courts face when reviewing regulatory science in complex areas (Morvillo & Weimer 2022). Advocating for transparency and public participation (Hickey & Weimer 2022), I proposed reforms to improve democratic legitimacy and regulatory quality. Overall, my contributions have advanced new concepts of legitimacy and expert accountability in EU risk regulation. Through my research, I have aimed to build a more robust and empirically grounded understanding of EU risk regulation, proposing solutions to enhance its responsiveness and adaptability to emerging challenges.

EU law and sustainable food systems

Secondly, my research critically examined the EU’s legal frameworks for food and agriculture, scrutinized the EU's contentious regulatory approaches to GMOs (OUP monograph 2019; Weimer 2010), pesticides (Zeitlin, van der Duin, Kuhn, Weimer & Jensen 2022), and novel foods (Weimer 2010). I have advocated for a shift from narrow risk-based evaluations to a comprehensive sustainability perspective. My work highlighted the necessity of developing new legal frameworks that embrace the ecological, health, and socio-economic interdependencies inherent in food systems. My findings reveal that current EU legal instruments are predominantly shaped by the paradigms of an intensive industrial agri-food system. My research proposes strategies for adapting EU law and governance to better address the systemic and interconnected nature of these challenges, thereby fostering a truly sustainable transition in food systems.

The EU as a global regulator

More recently, in a project funded by the Dutch Scientific Organization (NWO) I have been exploring the external dimensions of EU law and regulation concerning sustainable food systems, particularly the shift towards EU regulatory unilateralism in the EU deforestation regulation and similar initiatives of EU sustainable business regulation (Weimer 2024). These instruments represent a new shift towards supply chain approaches in EU regulation. My analysis seeks to foster a deeper understanding of the EU as a global regulatory state, exploring its regulatory capabilities and the new challenges it faces in terms of rights protection and legitimacy. By examining these supply chain mechanisms for sustainability, my research assesses how effectively the EU can extend its influence beyond its borders to promote sustainable practices and highlights the complexities involved in balancing regulatory authority with the protection of rights and maintaining legitimacy on a global scale.

The role of experts in democracy

Throughout my work, I am intrigued by the role of knowledge in democracy. As modern democracies increasingly rely on specialized knowledge to address complex challenges posed by rapid technological advances and global crises, the dependency on experts, including unelected specialists from private sectors and regulatory bodies, becomes more pronounced. I explore the use of 'regulatory science' within the framework of EU regulation, focusing on the role of EU law in shaping the integration of expert advice in democratic decision-making; and proposing institutional reform to enhance transparency and accountability. I carry out this work currently as an independent expert advising the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission on a project titled ‘Challenges and opportunities for the future of democracy.’

Books:

M. Weimer, Risk regulation in the internal market – lessons from agricultural biotechnology, Oxford University Press, 2019

M. Weimer & A. de De Ruijter (eds), Regulating Risks in the European Union – The Co-production of Expert and Executive Power, Hart Publishing, 2017

Special issues:

L. Marin & M. Weimer (eds), Regulating Emergent Technologies, Special Issue of the European Journal of Risk Regulation, 3/2016

Peer-reviewed journal articles:

M. Weimer, The EU global regulatory state and the search for transnational democracy – reflections from the edges of Europe, European Law Open 2024 (under review)

M. Morvillo & M. Weimer, ‘Who shapes the CJEU regulatory jurisprudence? On the epistemic power of economic actors and ways to counter it,’ European Law Open, Vol 1, Issue 3, 510-548, 2022 (open access)

E. Hickey & M. Weimer, ‘The transparency of EU agency science – towards proactive transparency,’ Common Market Law Review 59: 1-38, 2022

J. Zeitlin, D. van der Duin, T. Kuhn, M. Weimer, M. D. Jensen ‘Governance Reforms and Public Acceptance of Regulatory Decisions: Cross-National Evidence from Linked Survey Experiments on Pesticides Authorization in the EU" Regulation & Governance, (2022) Vol 17, Issue 4,  (open access)

A. Pacces & M. Weimer, “From Diversity to Cooperation – A European Approach to Covid19,” European Journal of Risk Regulation, 11 (2) (2020), 283-296 (open access)

M. Weimer, “Reconciling regulatory space with external accountability through WTO adjudication – trade, environment and development” Leiden Journal of International Law 30 (4) (2017) 901-924

M. Weimer, “The origins of ‘risk’ as an idea and the future of risk regulation”, European Journal of Risk Regulation 8 (2) (2017) 10-17 (open access)

M. Weimer & L. Marin, “Regulating new and emerging technologies – the role of law in managing the tension between risk and innovation” Introduction to special issue edited by L. Marin & M. Weimer, Regulating Emergent Technologies, European Journal of Risk Regulation, 7 (3) (2016) 469-474

M. Weimer, “Risk regulation and deliberation in EU administrative governance”, European Law Journal, 21 (5) (2015) 622-640

M. Weimer, “‘It’s the Politics, Stupid.’ Or is Reality More Complex?” European Journal of Risk Regulation, 4 (2) (2013) 297-306

M. Weimer, “Applying Precaution in EU Authorization of Genetically Modified Products – Challenges and Suggestions for Reform,” 16 (5) European Law Journal (2010) 624-657

M. Weimer, “What Price Flexibility? – The recent Commission Proposal to allow for national ‘opt-outs’ on GMO cultivation under the Deliberate Release Directive and the Comitology post-Lisbon”, European Journal of Risk Regulation 1 (4) (2010) 345-352

M. Weimer, “The Regulatory Challenge of Animal Cloning for Food – the Risks of Risk Regulation in the European Union,” European Journal of Risk Regulation 1 (1) (2010) 31-39

M. Weimer, “Regulating Animal Cloning under WTO Law – Policy Choice versus Science,” Finnish Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 20 (2009) 291-332

Book chapters:

D. Curtin & M. Weimer, “The Court of Justice of the European Union – supranational adjudicator and accountability forum” in F. Amtenbrink, D. Curtin, P.J. Kuyper, A. McDonnell and B. De Witte (eds), The Law of the European Union, fifth edition (The Hague: Kluwer 2018)

M. Weimer & A. De Ruijter, “Regulating Risks in the European Union – The co-production of expert and executive power” in idem (eds) Regulating risks in the European Union – The co-production of expert and executive power (Hart Publishing 2017)

M. Weimer & G. Pisani, “Expertise as justification: the contested legitimation of the EU risk administration”, in Weimer & De Ruijter (eds) Regulating risks in the EU – the co-production of expert and executive power (Hart Publishing 2017)

E. Vos & M. Weimer, “Differentiated integration or uniform regime? National derogations from EU internal market measures” in B. De Witte, A. Ott and E. Vos (eds), “Between Flexibility and Disintegration: The Trajectory of Differentiation in EU Law” (Edward Elgar 2017)

M. Weimer & E. Vos, “The Role of the EU in Transnational Regulation of Food Safety: Extending Experimentalist Governance?” in Jonathan Zeitlin (ed), The Role of the EU in Transnational Regulation: Extending Experimentalist Governance? (Oxford University Press, 2015) p. 51-80

M. Weimer, “Risk regulation, GMOs, and the challenges to deliberation in EU governance - politicisation and scientification as co-producing trends” in C. Joerges & C. Glinski (eds), The European Crisis and the Transformation of Transnational Governance (Hart Publishing, 2014) p. 293-316

C. Joerges & M. Weimer, “A Crisis of Executive Managerialism in the European Union – No Alternative?” in Joanne Scott, Gràinne De Bùrca & Claire Kilpatrick (eds), Critical Legal Perspectives on Global Governance. Liber Amicorum for David Trubek (Hart Publishing, 2013), p. 295-322

M. Weimer, “EU Risk Governance of ‘Cloned Food’ – Regulatory Uncertainty Between Trade and Non-Trade” In: Marjolein Van Asselt, Esther Versluis and Ellen Vos (eds) Science and Politics in EU Risk Governance: Integrating Legal and Social Science Perspectives (Taylor & Francis/Routledge, 2013) p. 33-58

Other academic publications:

J. Zeitlin, M, Weimer, D. van der Duin, T. Kuhn, M. Jensen, ‘Reforming EU Pesticides Regulation, Rebuilding Public Support: Evidence from Survey Experiments in Six Member States’, Amsterdam Centre for European Studies Research Paper No. 2021/03

M. Weimer, C. Eckes, & K. Cseres (eds), The rule of law in the technological age – challenges and opportunities for the EU, ACELG Working Paper 2017-02

Schrauwen, C. Eckes, and M. Weimer, “Inclusion and Exclusion in the European Union” Amsterdam Centre for European Law Working paper No 2016-05

M. Weimer, “Reconciling Regulatory Space with External Accountability through WTO Adjudication – Trade, Environment and Development” Postnational Rulemaking Working Paper No 2016-09

M. Weimer & G. Pisani, “Expertise as justification: the contested legitimation of the EU risk administration” Postnational Rulemaking Working Paper No 2016-06

M. Weimer & G. Pisani, “The EU adventures of ‘Hercules’ – Report on the EU authorization of the genetically modified maize 1507”, European Journal of Risk Regulation Issue 2/2014

M. Weimer, “The Right to Adopt Post-Market Restrictions of Genetically Modified Crops in the EU – A shift from De-Centralised Multi-Level to Centralised Governance in the Case of GM Foods”, Case note on Court of Justice of the European Union, Joined Cases C-58/10 to C-68/10 Monsanto SAS and Others, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Issue 3/2012

M. Weimer, “Administrative Constitutionalism and European Conflicts Law” in: Christian Joerges and Tommi Ralli (eds) After Globalisation – New Patters of Conflicts, RECON Report No 15, Arena, Oslo, 2011

M. Weimer, “Legitimacy through Precaution in European Regulation of GMOs?” in: Christian Joerges/Poul Kjaer (eds.), Transnational Standards of Social Protection: Contrasting European and International Governance, RECON Report No 4 (Arena, Oslo), 2008

Coordinator EU Regulated Markets, a compulsory course in the Master European and International Law

Coordinator Risk and Complexity, a compulsory course in the Advanced Master on Technology Governance

Other teaching:

Principles and Foundations of EU Law (LL.M)

Current Challenges of EU law (LL.M)