The Liverpool Summer School on the Law of the Council of Europe (3-14 July) has begun, with 42 young scholars from 15 Council of Europe member states. This is the first such Summer School that Liverpool University has hosted and comes just two months after the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Reykjavik.
Among the subjects taught, students will learn about “Challenges and opportunities” after the Summit and “Illiberal Democracies; Russia and the Council of Europe”. They are also having sessions on “Scepticism in the UK on the European Convention on Human Rights”, “How to strengthen social rights within the Council of Europe” and on the “Role and contribution of the Council of Europe to the human rights - Climate change nexus legal discourse.”
One of the subjects early on the agenda included a presentation by the project of Open Council of Europe Academic Networks (OCEAN) which aims to strengthen the Council of Europe´s co-operation with universities and research institutions. The OCEAN project was initiated in 2018 by Prof. Michele Nicoletti, then president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, with the objective that institutional members organise a minimum of one academic activity per year – for example workshops, conferences, summer or winter schools.
"Teaching young scholars and legal professionals about the current challenges of the Council of Europe is laying the groundwork for future cooperation with our academic partners and enhancing the knowledge of the Council´s values, standards and mission in European academia. The "Liverpool Summer School on the Law of the Council of Europe is thus a very powerful start of the Open Council of Europe Academic Networks´ activities, said Prof. Michele Nicoletti, who is European Academic Coordinator of OCEAN and Professor of political philosophy at the University of Trento in Italy.
