International law plays many different roles in contemporary society. The life of the over 8 billion people in the world is vexed by a series of challenges on both local and global levels—be it inequality, climate change or conflict, among others—that can hardly be tackled without international cooperation and the mechanisms of international law. While the law aspires to offer protection, especially for weaker parties, it is also an instrument for stronger actors to exert their power. While it harbours aspirations towards justice, it may also take part in perpetuating instances of injustice. In short, while international law should be an important part in tackling some of the key challenges for society, it may also contribute to the creation of those challenges to begin with.

In clear recognition of these different roles of international law, research at ACIL aims at the critical understanding and its progressive development. It combines a plurality of methods to understand and develop international law in its context.

In order to pursue its aims, collaboration across sub-disciplines is as necessary as specific expertise. The aims put fundamental and applied research work in sync: one typically works better in close proximity of the other. This combination of theoretical and practice-oriented work is one of the particular strengths of ACIL. It also contributes to both high academic impact of research at ACIL and to great societal relevance.

The Amsterdam Center for International Law:

• creates a rich, stimulating research environment for its members and guests;
• initiates and encourages collaborations with other researchers and institutes at the national and international level;
• organizes lectures, workshops and conferences in order to support an exchange of views on individual and collective research;
• supports and facilitates efforts to seek and obtain external funding for its members and for researchers who would like to become members;
• contributes to research-based teaching in the LL.M. programme, and in the two-year Research Masters, in particular;
• engages students in the activities of the Center, inter alia through research assistant positions;
• aims at contributing to knowledge transfer so as to show the relevance of its research for society and to bring it to bear on societal challenges;
• disseminates research output, knowledge and expertise to relevant stakeholders via different resources and networks, and via consultancy.