Sarah Isabel Pfeiffer, LL.M. (VU Amsterdam) is pursuing a joint PhD degree (cotutelle) in law at the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law (VU Amsterdam) and at the Chair of Public International and Human Rights Law (University of Münster), where she also works as a teaching and research assistant.
Her areas of research interest include European and international human rights law (with a focus on the ECtHR’s jurisprudence), EU migration law, and critical legal theory. For her doctoral project, supervised by Prof. Dr. Nora Markard and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Janna Wessels, she is analysing the European Court of Human Rights’ migration jurisprudence, focusing on its application of the living instrument doctrine, margin of appreciation doctrine and European consensus analysis. Specifically, she conducts a doctrinal and legal discourse analysis to explore how rights-restrictive national migration legislation and policies impact the Court’s application of its legal doctrines in migration-related cases.
Sarah previously studied law at the University of Münster and the University of Strasbourg, obtaining her first legal state exam in Germany. She also completed the International Migration and Refugee Law master’s programme at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. While studying for her master’s degree, Sarah worked as a student assistant at the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law.
