Master Class
‘The European
Multicultural Society
in the 21st Century’
Dear participants,
It is an honor for me to welcome you to this very special Master Class. This event is one of the
first of a series of mutual activities for currently registered students and the Law School’s Alumni.
Recently, a select group of alumni provided Tilburg Law School with a generous financial contribution in order to make this Master Class possible. A committee of Research Master in Law
students was formed, and they worked together with Alumni Officer Frederique Knoet to make
this great initiative possible.
As we all know the tradition of engaged and supportive alumni is quite a new phenomenon for
Dutch universities. Where American universities significantly benefit from the support of their
alumni, the ties between graduated students and their alma mater are often less strong in continental Europe. Therefore, I am proud to be the dean of a Law School where such great initiatives
take place. I am hoping this Master Class can be the start of a long-lasting tradition of activities
that are financially or personally supported by alumni from Tilburg Law School. I am confident
that both current students and alumni will gather the fruits from such collaboration.
I would like to thank all parties involved for their support, time and effort. They did a wonderful
job within very limited time. In addition, I would like to thank the participants for attending this
very special Thursday afternoon. An interesting program with
inspiring and influential speakers awaits. I know this afternoon will be a
great experience for all of you.
I wish you an inspiring Master Class.
Warm wishes,
Prof. mr. Corien Prins
Dean Tilburg Law School
Note from the organizing committee
This Master Class is financed by the Tilburg Law School Fund, which is supported by donations
of the Alumni of Tilburg Law School. The event is organized by four Research Master in Law
students
Jurgen Braspenning (Coordinator)
René Jansen (Secretary)
Caia Vlieks (Treasurer)
Tim Voskuil (PR)
who wish you a pleasant afternoon.
Program Master Class ‘The European Multicultural Society in the 21st Century’
Location: Lecture room AZ019 (Academia Building @ Tilburg University Campus)
13:15
13:30
13:40
14:25
15:10
15:30
16:15
17:00
17:15
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13:30 h.Registration
13:40 h. Opening and welcome by Master Class moderator Dr. Hervé Tijssen
14:25 h. Lecture by Professor Ernst Hirsch Ballin
15:10 h. Lecture by Mr. Zehra Dogan
15:30 h. Coffee break
16:15 h. Lecture by Mr. Omar Salah
17:00 h. Lecture by Kader Abdolah
17:15 h. Wrap up and closing by Master Class moderator
18:15 h. Drinks reception in Academia Building
Master Class lecturers
Prof. dr. Ernst Hirsch Ballin
Ernst Hirsch Ballin is Professor of Dutch and European Public Law at Tilburg
University and Professor of Human Rights at the University of Amsterdam. He
is well known due to his former position as Minister of Justice of the Netherlands, but has also served as a Member of Parliament in both the House of
Deputies and the Senate of the Netherlands. Furthermore, he was a member
of the Council of State and later President of the Judicial Division of the Council of State. His expertise is Dutch and European public law, with emphasis on
constitutional law, the rule of law and human rights.
His current research focuses on the Dutch constitution, including its European
dimension, the King in the Dutch constitution, and civil and political rights.
Mr. Zehra Dogan
Zehra Dogan is Director at the Dutch Dream Foundation and has experience
as entrepreneur, consultant and lawyer. She studied law at the Radboud
University Nijmegen. After getting her LLM, and having worked as a lawyer for
several years, she left to Turkey (Istanbul) to pursue an entrepreneurial career
along with her sister and husband. After returning to The Netherlands, Dogan
started her own consultancy business focusing on diversity management and
biculturality. Since 2011, she is Director at the Dutch Dream Foundation, which
tries to stimulate and inspire new entrepreneurs with a bicultural background
by organizing events and seminars, but also conducts research. More information about the Dutch Dream Foundation can be found at
http://www.dutchdreamfoundation.nl/(in Dutch).
Mr. Omar Salah
Omar Salah is currently an attorney at law at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
in Amsterdam. He is also a PhD Candidate at Tilburg University, where he is
working on a PhD thesis on Islamic finance from a civil law perspective. Salah
completed his LLM at Tilburg University (Cum Laude) in 2009. Since then,
he has spoken at several conferences on the topic of Islamic finance. He has
worked as a (guest) lecturer and a visiting researcher at the universities of
Tilburg, Leiden, Maastricht, Oxford, La Trobe, and Melbourne. In 2010, he
worked at the London offices of law firm King & Spalding.
Kader Abdolah
Kader Abdolah is a writer, poet and columnist, born in Iran. He made his
debut as a writer with the bundle ‘De adelaars’ in 1993. Other works include
‘Spijkerschrift’ (2000, translated: ‘My Father’s Notebook’) and ‘Het huis van
de moskee’ (2005, translated: ‘The House of the Mosque’). From 1996 until
2011, he had a weekly column, ‘Mirza’, in the Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’. These columns were collected in in the bundle ‘In de polder’ (2012).
The writings of Abdolah have been translated in more than 20 countries. He
won different prizes for his books, including the E. du Perron Prize of 2000 for
‘Spijkerschrift’.
Master Class moderator: Dr. Hervé Tijssen
Hervé Tijssen is Director of Studies of the Research Master in Law,
Coordinator of the PhD program and Coordinator of Tilburg Graduate Law
School. In addition to that, he is Assistant Professor in Legal Methodology.
Dr. Tijssen has been affiliated with Tilburg Law School’s research department
since 1988. In 2009 he finished his dissertation on the justification of
methodological choices in legal research.