Conveniently following this year’s Max Planck Law Annual Conference in Berlin, the 9th Annual Max Planck Law PhD Workshop took place on 22 October 2025. Organized by André Bartsch and Maria Diory F. Rabajante—both of the Max Planck Institute for Crime, Security and Law and operating within the framework of the Max Planck Law PhD Workshop Group Initiative—the event brought together six doctoral researchers from across the network. Reflecting on the timing, Diory observed that holding the workshop immediately after the Annual Conference meant that participants were already ‘in the conferencing vibe’, making for especially dynamic discussions.
The organizers, who also chaired this year’s sessions, described the workshop as a valuable space for PhD researchers to present and discuss their work in a relaxed, collegial setting. André explained that ‘it’s a valuable opportunity to get feedback from different perspectives on your projects that you wouldn’t get at your Institute at home’. Both organizers had themselves been participants the previous year and sought to continue the informal but intellectually stimulating atmosphere that characterizes the event.
Each researcher was given an hour to present and discuss their work, a format that, according to Diory, ‘shows how they are growing as researchers, not just through their PhD projects but also through their independent side projects’. André added that he particularly valued ‘seeing the different methodologies that people are using—some attend court hearings or conduct interviews, which is quite different from what we usually do in Freiburg’.
Both organizers emphasized the workshop’s distinctive advantages: it enables early-stage researchers to refine and conceptualize their projects while offering an open and supportive environment free from the formality of traditional academic conferences. Diory noted that participants ‘appreciated the comments from their colleagues, especially when it came to narrowing down broad research topics’. The atmosphere, they agreed, was ‘collaborative, lively, and friendly’.
Feedback from attendees was highly positive, with some participants even sharing their experiences on social media. André remarked that the workshop benefits greatly from the participation of researchers across as many Max Planck Law Institutes as possible, enhancing the diversity of perspectives.
Lisa Simonis of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology , one of this year’s participants, has now taken on the responsibility of organizing next year’s workshop, continuing the established tradition of a member of the most recent cohort volunteering for this role.