Biographical Sketch

Stefan Mayr is an Associate Professor of EU law and International Law and the deputy head of WU’s Institute for Law and Governance. He holds a doctorate in law from WU, an LL.M. from the Central European University in Budapest, and a Magister Juris degree from the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. In 2024, Stefan was awarded the venia docendi for the subjects EU Law and International Law. His habilitation project dealt with interactions and conflicts between EU law and international law, specifically in the field of investment arbitration. Stefan has completed research stays at PluriCourts – Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order at the University of Oslo (Norway) and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg (Germany).

Stefan’s previous experience includes work as a post-doc researcher at the Institute for Law and Governance, as a research associate at the Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance at WU, and as a legal clerk at the Vienna District Court and the Court of Labour and Social Affairs. Stefan also has considerable experience in legal policy advice, including research consultancies for different civil society organisations and recurrent work as a consultant (STC) for the World Bank Group on issues of international and EU trade and investment law.

Research Interests

Stefan is particularly interested in the interactions between EU law and international law, legal issues of multilevel governance, the law of treaties, international trade and investment law, international dispute settlement, the autonomy of EU law, EU external relations law, EU constitutional law, and fundamental rights.

Selected Publications and Research Projects

• S Gáspár-Szilágy and S Mayr, ‘The Termination of Intra-EU BITs’, in P Delimatsis and A Dimopoulos (eds), Research Handbook on EU Trade and Investment (Edward Elgar, in progress)

• B Hollaus and S Mayr, ‘Pushing for sustainability abroad: EU environmental unilateralism and its legal limits’, in RA Wessel et al (eds), EU External Relations Law and Sustainability (Springer 2025) 225-255

• MD Brauch, S Mayr and CF Luthin, ‘After intra-EU BITs and the ECT, the EU needs to abandon extra-EU BITs – for legal, energy and climate policy, and political economy reasons’, Columbia FDI Perspectives No. 394 (Oct 2024)

• S Mayr, ‘Investment Protection in National Courts and the ECJ in Light of the Rule of Law Crisis’ [2021] Europarättslig Tidskrift, 17-35

• S Mayr, B Hollaus and V Madner, ‘Palm Oil, the RED II and WTO law: EU sustainable biofuel policy tangled up in green?’ [2021] Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 30, 233-248

A comprehensive list of Stefan’s publications and the research projects he is involved in can be found in the PURE documentation.