Dr. Moritz Baumgärtel

I’m an Assistant Professor at University College Roosevelt, where I have taught courses on public international law, human rights law, the sociology of inequality, and qualitative research methods. My academic path has taken me from UCR (Class of 2010) to postgraduate studies in international law and international relations, and eventually to a Ph.D. in law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Along the way, I’ve had the chance to work and teach at different institutions and even countries, including as a lecturer at Tilburg University, a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University, and as a Fulbright-Schuman Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. I am currently affiliated to the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University and the Democracy Institute of the Central European University in Budapest.

At the heart of my work is a seemingly simple question: how can law help us build more inclusive and equitable societies? My research focuses on the rights of vulnerable migrants, such as refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants, and on the broader struggle for social justice and against xenophobia in Europe. What I love most about teaching at UCR is the chance to explore these big questions together with curious and engaged students — and to support them in projects like the Philip Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, where they take on real-world legal challenges and compete even against postgraduate law students.