The Law sectorplan was established in 2018 by the ten law faculties with the aim of strengthening strategic cooperation between the law faculties and establishing a link between education, research, and social objectives. In addition, the sectorplan was intended to give a powerful boost to legal research in the Netherlands and contribute to strengthening the connection between higher education and research.
Key ambitions:
- Conducting internationally leading research.
- Setting up coherent research groups of substantial size.
- Collaborating across faculty and university boundaries.
- Leading the way in social debate.
- Contributing to networks, consortia, and knowledge expansion at both the national and international levels.
- Incorporating all priorities into the educational curriculum.
Contents of the sectorplan
The Law sectorplan is divided into priorities within which the various faculties collaborate:
Digital legal studies
Digitization is radically changing the world. Digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and big data — often deployed and driven by businesses and governments — are having a major impact on our society, our economy, our healthcare, our legal system, and our individual lives. With a multidisciplinary collective of more than 50 scientists — from legal and data scientists to philosophers and political scientists — the Digital Legal Studies priority area aims to play a leading role in the development and application of knowledge needed to address the legal, ethical, and social challenges of our time.
Empirical legal studies
Empirical research into the impact of law on society provides fundamental knowledge about the behavioral assumptions that underlie the various rules of law. New research groups have been set up across the various faculties, bringing together lawyers and social scientists to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis.
Conflict resolution institutions
The Conflict resolution institutions priority area contributes to a fundamental rethinking of the problem-preventing and problem-solving capacity of constitutional institutions. On the one hand, the public demands effective and rapid solutions to major and new social problems. On the other hand, there is a perception that government institutions have lost touch with the world in which they operate. This priority therefore focuses on increasing the effectiveness of institutions and legal instruments. The aim is to maintain authority and legitimacy in our increasingly fragmented society.
Transformative effect of globalization on law
This priority area involves research into the impact of global challenges such as climate change on law. Legal science sees it as one of its important tasks to make a leading international contribution to knowledge about how the law can shape and steer processes of globalization, so that the interests of individuals, groups, and societies are better protected. Optimizing opportunities and responding to threats of globalization were the reasons for focusing strongly on this topic.
Reassessment of public interests in private relationships
Public, supra-individual interests are increasingly affecting private relationships. In recent decades, the government has, as it were, ‘outsourced’ many tasks – and with them public interests – to citizens, relying on the regulatory effect of the market.
This overarching theme at the interface of legitimacy and legal effectiveness requires, among other things, research into the current mix of private, social and public interests and actors in relevant policy areas, the internal consistency of legal regulations, the costs and effects of regulations both in material terms and in terms of the intangible goals (values) achieved, the influence of Europeanization and globalization, the impact of the depoliticization of government policy-making, and public-private partnerships.
Increasing and strengthening the influx of young researchers
The job market for lawyers and criminologists is good, and an academic career is not always the most obvious choice. For the faculties, there are few PhD graduates available in all kinds of areas, and often also in the core areas of Dutch law. The job market outside the university is attractive and often offers better working conditions. In order to be able to appoint more PhD candidates, all faculties are raising research funds in external competitions, are strongly committed to recognition and appreciation, and are investigating opportunities to increase the number of law students who complete a research master’s or pre-PhD program.
Diversity and inclusion
To be and remain a good employer, an inclusive working environment is essential. Regardless of background in any respect, the Law sector wants to encourage people to consider law faculties more seriously as a career option. Once they have joined, it is important that they feel appreciated and welcome and are able to find their way easily. Striving for a more inclusive working environment will contribute positively to this.
The midterm evaluation of the sectorplan was positive. The universities have succeeded in achieving concrete results. This is highlighted in detail in the midterm evaluation from 2022.
In 2024, the final evaluation of the sectorplan for Law and the PDI-SSH also took place. On August 21, 2025, Minister of Education, Culture, and Science Eppo Bruins decided to structurally embed the funds allocated to the sectorplan for Law and the Domain Plan for Digital SSH.
Results of the Law sectorplan
The implementation of the Law sectorplan led to impactful and concrete results. The faculties viewed the sectorplan as a unique responsibility and opportunity. Although the first phase did not go as planned due to the coronavirus pandemic, the sector has become much more organized; the faculties are continuing this learning process. Cooperation has also been taken to a fundamentally different and higher level in areas other than those presented in the self-evaluations.
The chosen research themes have led to a series of high-quality and coherent research results, some of which have already found their way into education. The coordination and focus that have emerged from the collaboration on the sectorplan have clearly added significant value here. Among other things, this has led to large-scale research proposals that would not otherwise have been possible.
In addition to substantive choices, methodological innovation has also been pursued. This has been achieved, among other things, by promoting Empirical Legal Studies (ELS) as a result of the growing awareness of the importance of empirical substantiation of legal analyses. Not only does legal practice benefit from measuring and testing the effects of policy and legislation, but there is also a growing need in the judiciary for empirical insights that can serve to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the judicial organization. Whereas initially five law faculties committed to ELS, the RDR is currently discussing how the ELS Academy can be supported across the board. The aim is to provide future lawyers with better methodological training and to explain legal research methods more clearly.