Thilo Marauhn

Thilo Marauhn (born April 30, 1963, Lüdenscheid, West Germany) is a German expert on international law. He is currently a professor of public law, international law and European law at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany^[1]

Education and career

After his Abitur in 1982 and mandatory military service, Marauhn began his studies of law and international relations in October 1983 at the University of Mannheim’s School of Law (1983–1985), the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK (1985–1986), the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn's School of Law (1986–1987) and the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg's School of Law (1987–1990). He received his PhD from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg's School of Law in 1994, writing about “the judicial basis for Germany’s rejection of chemical weapons” for which he received highest honors. In 1995 he received a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree from the University of Wales. From 1990 until 2001 he worked as research assistant, scientific officer and, finally, scientific researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. In 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000, he was an assistant professor at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany. In 2000 he was promoted to professor at the university. His dissertation titled “reconstruction of social basic rights as a norm category“ received the Werner Pünder prize as the best dissertation at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in the field of “freedom and totalitarianism/constitutional law and history of political ideas since the 19th century.”

After his first position as a professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, he was offered a professorship in public law, international law and European law at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen’s School of Law in August 2001. Since 2001 he is also a visiting professor of constitutional theory at the University of Lucerne’s School of Law in Switzerland. In 2008 he was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin (USA). From 2006 until 2009 he was dean of the Justus Liebig University of Giessen’s School of Law.

Since 1995, Marauhn has been a member of the humanitarian international law committee of the German Red Cross, and since 2003 he has been a member of the scientific committee at the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Studies. Since 2005 he has been the academic head of the “International Summer University“ at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen, which focuses on economic and judicial questions on biotechnology in Europe. From 2007 until 2009 he was associate director of the Center of International Development and Environment Research at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen. Since 2009 he has been its managing director. Since 2009, Marauhn has been a member of the Justus Liebig University of Giessen’s senate.

From 2002 until 2009, Marauhn was a member of the scientific council to the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, whose chair he was from 2006 until 2009. From 2004 until 2006 he was a member of the scientific council to the German Foundation for Peace Research. Since 2008, he has been a member of the political council on the UN for the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

References