Two successful PhD defences!

"June 2023 has been a most fruitful month. Two of my PhD students successfully defended their thesis. Frank Sina, who now serves a Principal State Attorney in his native Tanzania, defended on 11 June 2023 at Maastricht University his thesis on The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and its Implementation in the United States of America, the European Union, Tanzania, India and Colombia. Prof. Arie Trouwborst from Tilburg University was his co-supervisor. Frank defended his thesis online from Vienna where he was, as a member of the Tanzanian delegation, participating in a UN Working Session on the Implementation of UN Convention Against Corruption.

On 26 June 2023, Umid Yakubkhodjaev, who is now the Dean of the Faculty of International Law at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) in Uzbekistan, defended at the WTI his thesis on "The WTO’s Legal Architecture and its Asymmetries". My WTI colleague, Prof. Michael Hahn, served as Umid’s co-supervisor. Umid defended his thesis in Bern after having attended the WTO Chairs Programme Conference in Geneva as the WTO Chair of Uzbekistan. The picture shows me in traditional Uzbek formal dress, which I was happy to wear after the successful defence.

I congratulate both doctors wholeheartedly on this major achievement and wish them all the best in their future professional career."

Prof Peter Van den Bossche
WTI Director of Studies