Keri van Douwen is lecturer at the department of transnational legal studies. She obtained her PhD in international law (cum laude) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in September 2026. In her doctoral dissertation, Van Douwen combines extensive archival research with participant observation to study the ways in which the United Nations' International Law Commission makes sense of its own work and authority. Van Douwen holds an LL.M. in international law and politics (cum laude) and a BSc. in philosophy, politics and economics (cum laude).
Since early 2026, Keri is involved in the project entitled 'a Global Clearing House for Clinical Legal Education in Climate and Environmental Justice' as researcher. The project is a workstream of the GNELC (Global Network of Environmental Law Clinics) aiming to support and scale up the number of transnational collaborations between environmental law clinics worldwide.
Before joining the VU, Keri worked as policy researcher at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on international cybersecurity and the international legal order. Between 2023 and 2026, she was a member of the Board of Advisors of the John Stuart Mill College. In 2024 and 2025, Van Douwen worked as legal assistant of one of the members of the International Law Commission during its annual session in Geneva.
