Hellow,

My name is Valentín Bou-Franch. I got the Degree in Law at the University of Valencia on July 4, 1984. In this same University, I defended my Undergraduate Thesis the 26th of September 1986, as well as  my Doctoral Thesis on the 21st of December 1990.

Currently, I am a Full Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Valencia (Spain). I am also the holder of a Jean Monnet Chair granted by the European Union in regime of competitive concurrence at the global level. The University of Valencia, through its Office of Policy for Excellence (OPEX) has honoured me, recognizing my Jean Monnet Chair as an institutional Chair of the University of Valencia, with the abbreviated name of Jean Monnet Chair "European values".

Both my academic training and my professional career are very much linked to the 'Adolfo Miaja de la Muela' Department of International Law at the Faculty of Law of this University.

The Spanish Ministry of Science and Education has recognized me five consecutive sections (six-year periods) of excellence in research (years: 1989-2018); six consecutive stretches (five-year periods) of excellence in teaching (years: 1987-2016); and ten consecutive three-year periods of seniority (years: 1987-2016).

My main lines of research include: the Legal Regime of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, International Law of the Sea, International Environmental Law, Procedures for the Settlement of International Disputes, International Protection of Cultural Heritage, European Union Law, International Criminal Law and International Law of Human Rights.

My participation in competitive Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+I) Projects financed with public funds has consisted in participating as a Researcher in six R+D+I Projects funded by the European Union (two times as the Main Researcher); in nine R+D+I Projects at state level (four times as the Main Researcher); and in eight R+D+I Projects at regional level (five times as the Main Researcher). I have obtained two Grants for special R+D+I Actions and three Complementary Grants for R+D+I Projects. I have also participated in two Teaching Innovation Projects.

I am the author of an important number of publications which, along with other aspects relevant for my professional curriculum vitae, you can consult at my Web page:

https://valentinbou.es

[Biography, english version]

María Jesús García  is a professor at the University of Valencia. After finishing her degree in Law, she was awarded a doctoral research scholarship by the Spanish Department of Education and she went on to receive her PhD in Law from the University of Valencia. Her area of expertise is Public Law and European Union Law.

She is the holder of  the Jean Monnet Chair "Services of General Economic Interest in the framework of social and territorial integration". She is also the leader of the Jean Monnet module "Citizens´ integration into European Union democracy". The European Commission awarded both of them in  2021.

She has worked for the European Union Executive Agency as an expert evaluating proposal under Horizon Europe work programmes.

María Jesús García was a fellow with the Ash Center's Government Innovation Program (Harvard University) in 2017.

She has been awarded four positive research assessments by the Commission for the Assessment of Research Activity and has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Open University School of Law (United Kingdom) since 2014.

María Jesús García is the author of six books: Citizens´ participation in European Unión Lawming in the frame of smart regulation, 2020,  Community Service as a Punishment Imposed by Public Bodies, 2014; The basics of Spanish Administrative Law, 2020 (published in English);The Legal Framework of Cultural Heritage Conservation, 2000; The Legal Framework of Urban Restoration, 1999; Environmental Protection of Public Waters, 2003. She has also published several papers in specialised journals dealing with a wide range of subjects. Her area of expertise is European Union Law. In this regard, she has published several papers dealing with this topic in different institutional  journals, such as  Smart regulation lawmaking and participatory democracy: consultation in the European Union, 2019 (Published in English); Scope and limits to the participation in public affairs by means of the European Citizenship Status, 2018; Citizen participation and european legal provisions: an untapped potential, 2020.

In 2023 her research dealing with  consumer´s right in the field of services of general economic interest has been awarded the Gabilex prize. In 2019 she was awarded the Blas Infante Prize by the Autonomous Government of Andalucia  for her reserch book  Citizens`participation in European Union Lawmaking  in the frame of smart regulacion.  Also in 2019 she was  the runner-up in the contest hold by C.E.F,for her reserch papel entitled  THE EUROPEAN ELECTORAL SYSTEM: WHEN THE TOTAL IS NOT EQUAL TO THE SUM OF ITS PARTS.  In 2010, her research work dealing with participatory democracy in local government was awarded the Local Government Studies prize by the Democracy and Local Government Association. She was also awarded the School of Law of Granada prize in 2012 for her research paper dealing with minors´ liability and the penalty of community service.

She has given talks in the aforementioned foreing universities dealing with European Union and other topics.

Miguel Gimeno Ribes (Valencia, 1988) studied Law (Hons), Business Administration (Hons), and Musicology. He also holds a Master of Science of Law (Hons), and a PhD in Law (Hons) from the University of Valencia. After a four-year period (2011-2015) as a Graduate Research Assistant while writing his doctoral dissertation, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance (Munich) as a Senior Research Fellow [Wissenschaftlicher Referent] (2015-2016) and worked in a research group on financial regulation [Otto-Hahn-Gruppe zur Finanzmarktregulierung], with which he continued to collaborate until 2020. Back in Spain, he has worked as an Assistant Professor (2016-2020), as a Tenured Assistant Professor (2020-2022), and as an Associate Professor [Profesor Titular] (since 2022) of Business Law at the University of Valencia.

Funded by the DAAD, the Max Planck Society, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, he has carried out research stays at the Universities of Munich, Oxford, and Florence, as well as at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Hamburg). He has also participated in the postgraduate program at Harvard Law School as a Visting Researcher (VS/VR Program). His fields of research range from contract law to corporate governance, corporate finance, M&A, and financial regulation. His research methodology focuses on comparative law.

He has written three monographs on business acquisitions (La protección del comprador en la adquisición de empresa [The buyer’s protection in business acquisitions], Granada, Comares, 2013), leveraged buyouts (Endeudamiento empresarial y fusion de Sociedades. Contribución al estudio de la fusion apalancada [Corporate indebtedness and mergers. A contribution to the study of merger leveraged buyouts], Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2015), and director compensation (Régimen jurídico de los sistemas de retribución de los administradores sociales [Systems of director compensation], Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2021), as well as a number of contributions, including articles, book chapters, and book reviews, among which “Aproximación a la naturaleza jurídica del crowdfunding” [The legal nature of crowdfunding], Revista de Derecho Mercantil, no. 291, 2014, pp. 451–490; “La exclusión voluntaria de la cotización bursátil” [Voluntary delisting from stock exchanges], Revista de Derecho Bancario y Bursátil, no. 145, 2017, pp. 91–153; “Creditor Protection and Leveraged Buyouts in Europe: A Policy Approach”, in: Bruloot, D. (Ed.), Belgian and European Perspectives on Creditor Protection in Closed Companies, Cambridge, Intersentia, 2019, pp. 197–230; “Deber de lealtad y enriquecimiento injusto” [Duty of loyalty and disgorgement], Revista de Derecho Mercantil, no. 317, 2020, pp. 117–182; “La cogestión en sociedades y grupos transfronterizos” [Codetermination in cross-border companies and groups], Revista de Derecho de Sociedades, no. 60, 2020, pp. 225–272; “Estatuto jurídico del socio-mecenas” [Crowdinvestor’s legal regime], Revista de Derecho Bancario y Bursátil, no. 160, 2020, pp. 11–68; “La sumisión a arbitraje de las modificaciones estructurales” [Arbitration of company restructurings], Cuadernos de Derecho y Comercio, no. 74, 2020, pp. 45–88; “Consejeros de la minoría, conflicto permanente y pacto omnilateral”, [Minority directors, permanent conflict, and shareholders’ agreement] Revista de Derecho de Sociedades, no. 61, 2021, pp. 391–414; (together with Paula del Val Talens) “Setting the scene: Family Firms and Closed Companies in Spain”, in: Fleischer, H./Recalde, A./Spindler, G. (Eds.), Family Firms and Closed Companies in Germany and Spain, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2021, pp. 23–64; and “Uso y desuso de las sociedades de personas” [Use and disuse of partnerships], Anuario de Derecho Civil, vol. 75, no. 1, 2022, pp. 11–67. Besides, he has co-authored a comprehensive analysis of Spanish company law in the European context, namely (together with Johannes Liefke) “Spanien” [Spain], in: Jung, S./Krebs, P./Stiegler, S. (Eds.), Gesellschaftsrecht in Europa, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2019, pp. 1269–1402. On those topics, he has given a number of presentations at universities and other academic forums in Europe and in America.

He is currently the leading researcher of a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science on company law and climate change. In the past, he has been the leading researcher of two projects respectively funded by the BBVA Foundation (Shareholder activism) and by the Valencia Region (Shareholder Rights Directive II) and has been part of several research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and by the Max Planck Society.

He acts as a referee for a number of Spanish law journals.

He is an elected member of the Council of the European Law Institute (ELI).

[Biography, english version]

Luis Jimena Quesada (Massamagrell Valencia, 1968) is Full Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Valencia and awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the National University of La Plata (Argentina). He has been officially recognised 5 five-year periods (of teaching), 5 six-year periods (of research) and 9 three-year periods (of service)

In addition, in the academic field, Luis Jimena was the First European Doctor of Law (PhD in Law) in the University of Valencia. He is the current Secretary General (since January 2016 till December 2019) of the International Institute of Human Rights (Strasbourg, France) founded by the Nobel Peace Prize René Cassin, where he has also been Professor and Director of Studies since 1993. In Spain, he has been Member and President (2014 and 2015) of the Spanish Committee (Law Section) of Independent Experts for the Assessment of the University Activity Research (ANECA – The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain, concerning the Spanish Higher Education System). Author of more than three-hundred publications in the field of Constitutional Law and European Human Rights Law, among them 17 books*.

Concerning his legal experience, he has been Member and President of the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe (2009-2014) as well as Substitute Judge at the High Court of Justice (Supreme Court of the Valencia Region –Administrative Chamber) since judicial year 1997/1998 till judicial year 2017/2018, where I has been the “Judge Rapporteur” of hundreds of judgments (see, e.g., the database CENDOJ of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary -Consejo General del Poder Judicial-). Furthermore, he is currently “Ad Hoc” Judge at the European Court of Human Rights as well as independent person (alternate) representing the Council of Europe before the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2015-2020).

NOTICIA CURRICULAR