people
team
Mira Burri
Principal Investigator
Mira Burri is Professor of International Economic and Internet Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne. Mira teaches International Law of Contemporary Media, Digital Copyright, Internet Law and International Intellectual Property Law in Lucerne, as well as offers seminars on digital trade and cyberlaw at the IMD Lausanne, the World Trade Institute and the University of Göttingen.
Mira has been active as a researcher and lecturer in the area of digital trade and data governance for a more than a decade. Relevant publications in the field include The Classification of Services in the Digital Economy (Springer 2012; with Weber); Public Service Broadcasting 3.0 (Routledge 2015), as well as the edited volumes Big Data and Global Trade Law (Cambridge University Press 2021) and Trade Governance in the Digital Age (Cambridge University Press 2012). Other outlets that have showcased Mira’s research include the Journal of International Economic Law, the Georgetown Journal of International Law, the Case Western Journal of International Law, the UC Davies Law Review, the Common Market Law Review, the Journal of Information Policy, and the Internet Policy Review.
Mira is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Cultural Property and the Arts and International Affairs. She has consulted amongst others the European Parliament, UNESCO, the Canadian government, the EFTA and the World Economic Forum on digital innovation and cultural policy issues.
María Vásquez Callo-Müller
Post-doctoral Fellow
María is an experienced researcher and consultant on digital trade issues. Before joining the Trade Law 4.0 project, María was a doctoral fellow at the World Trade Institute (WTI), University of Bern. She has also been a visiting doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. María regularly acts as a consultant to international organizations, such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Policy Support Unit and has also consulted the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) on digital trade policies.
María holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center and a Master of Advanced Studies in International Law and Economics (MILE) from the WTI. She received her Attorney-at-Law degree from Pontifical Catholic University of Peru Law School and, during her undergraduate studies, was a visiting student at the school of international relations at Peking University.
María’s research agenda lies at the intersection of the regulation of digital technologies and trade, particularly in the areas of intellectual property rights, data governance, and cybersecurity.
Kholofelo Kugler
Doctoral Fellow
Kholofelo has over ten years’ legal experience, specializing in international trade law and dispute settlement. She previously worked at the Advisory Centre on WTO Law in Geneva, where she advised developing and least developed countries on WTO legal matters, represented them in WTO disputes, and provided capacity building in WTO law. Kholofelo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Politics from the University of South Africa; an LL.B degree from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa); and a Master’s degree in International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern. She is an admitted attorney in her native South Africa.
affiliated fellows
Rodrigo Polanco
Dr Rodrigo Polanco is a senior lecturer, researcher and academic coordinator of Master Programmes at the World Trade Institute (WTI), University of Bern, and a Legal Adviser for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Chile and a lecturer at the University of Lucerne.
Rodrigo has published extensively in leading international academic outlets on investment, trade, tax and environmental law. He is co-founder of the Electronic Database of Investment Treaties (EDIT) as well as co-founder and member of the board of Fiscalía del Medio Ambiente (FIMA), a Chilean non-profit environmental organisation, serving on the editorial committee of their environmental law journal (Justicia Ambiental).
Cristina Teleki
The current research of Dr Cristina Teleki focuses on competition law and the regulation of digital platforms. She has previously worked at the European Court of Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Her research interests therefore branch out into questions of humanitarian law and the future of war.
Zaira Zihlmann
Zaira Zihlmann is a doctoral candidate and research assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne. Her research interests focus on the regulation of new technologies, particularly in the areas of data protection law, genetic engineering law, and intellectual property law.
Anja Mesmer
After completing her bilingual (English-German) matura in the canton of Basel-Stadt, Anja Mesmer began her bachelor’s degree in law at the University of St. Gallen. During her bachelor’s studies, Anja Mesmer worked as an auxiliary assistant for the Coaching Programme at the University of St. Gallen. For her master’s degree, Anja Mesmer attended the University of Lucerne’s Faculty of Law, where in the summer of 2022, she completed her master with the profile “Law, Technology and Sustainability” (summa cum laude). From March to July 2022, Anja worked as a research assistant for the chair of Prof. Dr. iur. Mira Burri. Since August 2022, Anja is a doctoral fellow with the same chair and works on a dissertation project in the area of international economic and human rights law.
advisory board
Urs Gasser
TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology
Emily Jones
University of Oxford
William Drake
University of Zurich
Kristina Irion
University of Amsterdam
Bryan Mercurio
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Neha Mishra
Australian National University