prof. mr. Lieneke Slingenberg

Lieneke Slingenberg is Professor of Migrants and the Rule of Law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studies the regulation of migrants' lives from the perspective of the rule of law. She studies how law is both a governmental instrument to shape migrants’ lives (‘rule by law’) and an important limit on governmental power (‘rule of law’). From February to June 2018 she was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS-KNAW). In 2018 she was awarded a Veni grant by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for her research project entitled 'Human Rights Law, Non-Domination and Spatial Restrictions for Refugees'. Since 1 January 2022 she has been appointed Professor of Migrants and the Rule of Law within the VU University Research Chair (URC) programme. In 2024 she was awarded a Vidi grant by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for her research project entitled 'Executive supremacy? Executive lawmaking in migration law'. 

Lieneke is involved in (bachelor- and master) courses and supervision of PhD projects on migration law and human rights and offers on a regular basis training courses for professionals in the field of migration law. She was head of the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law from May 2015 until September 2021 and of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law from January 2016 until January 2018. Since January 2024 she has been vice dean of research in the faculty board.   

Lieneke Slingenberg has published widely on (judicial discourse on) the social rights of irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. In her work, she analyses how states use the provision of and/or exclusion from social rights as an instrument of migration control and how this relates to human rights law, the rule of law and political theory. In addition, she studies how the field of migration law intersects with other fields of law, such as social law, administrative law and constitutional law and what theoretical notions can be identified in law as relevant for the legal position of territorially present migrants (e.g. vulnerability, deservingness, non-domination, (social) membership). 

In 2014 she published a monograph, based on her doctoral research, on state obligations under refugee law, international social security law and international human rights law with regard to the reception of asylum seekers (Hart Publishing). In her veni research project (2019-2023), she investigated the (lack of) domestic, European and international regulation of spatial restrictions imposed on refugees and (rejected) asylum seekers, in the light of human rights law and the theoretical concept of freedom as non-domination. In her current vidi research project (2025-2030), she examines the relation between the executive and the legislator in Dutch and European migration law. She maps the scope of executive legislation in migration law and analyses whether executive lawmaking is sufficiently constrained to prevent arbitrariness. 

Lieneke Slingenberg is involved in the following courses/programs:

• Master's track International Migration and Refugee Law 
• Minor Law and Global Society: Internet, Migration and Climate Change (B3)
• Fundamental Rights in Europe (B2)
• Supervision of bachelor's and master's theses

• Vidi grant Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), October 2024

Research project: 'Executive supremacy? Executive lawmaking in migration law' (duration 2025-2030)

Vidi is part of the Talent Programme, that offers personal grants to enable researchers to conduct the research of their choice.

• University Research Chair, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, December 2021

The VU University Research Chair (URC) is a selective and privileged position as a full professor. The URC is both an appointment and an honorary distinction.

• Veni grant, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), July 2018

Research project: 'Human Rights Law, Non-Domination and Spatial Restrictions for Refugees' (duration 2019-2022).

Veni is part of the Incentives Scheme. It allows outstanding researchers to conduct independent research and develop their ideas.

• NIAS fellowship, February - June 2018

The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS-KNAW) offers fellowships to selected researchers in order to stimulate advanced research and scientific innovation. 

•  Grant from Gezina van der Molenfonds, 2014

The Gezina van der Molenfonds of the Faculty of Law of the Vrije Universiteit offers grants to selected female researchers in order to stimulate their career.

• Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland | Amsterdam | Adviseur | 2013-12-02 - present
• Asiel&Migrantenrecht | Amsterdam | Voorzitter redactie | 2015-05-01 - present
• St. Fonds Rechtsbescherming Immigranten | Utrecht | Bestuurslid | 2016-06-01 - present

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