Frederik Swennen (Prof. dr.), Editor-in-chief

Frederik Swennen is professor and head of Personal Status and Family Law at the University of Antwerp (www.uantwerpen.be/persoonenvermogen), and an attorney at the Brussels Bar (www.greenille.eu). He is interested in the areas of Personal Status and Family Law, including international and comparative Family Law and family proceedings. His research topics and projects primarily concern family governance and atypical families.

Email address: Frederik.swennen@ua.ac.be

Evelien Verhagen (mr.), Managing Editor

Evelien Verhagen studied Dutch Law (2004-2008) and notarial Law (2008-2010) at the Radboud University Nijmegen. On the 9^th September 2008, she graduated in Dutch law with cum laude with the thesis topic 'Current developments in the conception of the cooling off period and the requirement that an agreement must be in writing according to article 7:2 of the Dutch Civil Code'. During and after her studies, she worked as a legal clerk in the Court of Arnhem and the Court of 's-Hertogenbosch.

She is now a PhD student at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, where she is writing her dissertation on the topic: 'Reasonableness and fairness in the law of persons and Family Law; magic potion of flexibility or poisonous uncertainty?'

Email address: E.M.J.M.C.Verhagen@uu.nl

Jacqueline Gray (LL.M.), English Language Editor

Jacqueline Gray studied law at the University of Glasgow (2006-2010) and European law at the Leiden University (2010-2011). Following this, she undertook a four-month internship at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law and five-month traineeship at the European Parliament in Brussels.

She is now a PhD student at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, where she is writing her dissertation on party autonomy in the European private international law relating to family matters and succession.

Email address: J.T.Gray@uu.nl

Charlotte Mol (LL.B.), English Language Editor

Charlotte Mol completed the European Law School bachelor cum laude at the University of Maastricht (2011-2014). She is currently completing the Legal Research Master at Utrecht University, where her research focuses on Family Law and Private International Law. She is a student-assistant at the Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law and has assisted the Commission on European Family Law with the editing of the comparative study on informal relationships.

Email address:

Katharina Boele-Woelki (Prof. dr.), member of the Editorial Board

Katharina Boele-Woelki (1956) is Professor of Private International Law, Comparative Law and Family Law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape in South-Africa. Since 2001, she has been the chair of the Commission on European Family Law (CEFL), which was established upon her initiative.  She is president of the Dutch Association of Family Law, member of the board of the Dutch Association of Comparative Law, and member of several editorial boards of Dutch, European and South African law journals. She is also a member of various associations, such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerrechtand the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Familienrecht. Since 2003, she has been an editor of the European Family Law Series. In 2007, she established the Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law (UCERF). She is also a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. She has organised prestigious international conferences, delivered numerous guest lectures at various universities around the world and has acted as a reporter, speaker, expert and panel member in many international conferences. In 2011, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala. In 2012, she received the Anneliese Maier Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Germany) for her work in the field of international and European Family Law. In 2013, she was elected as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung.

Email address: k.boele@uu.nl

Masha Atokolskaia (Prof. dr.), editor

Masha Antokolskaia is professor of Private Law (in particular, Personal Status and Family Law) at the VU University Amsterdam. She is a member of the Commission on European Family Law (CEFL) and a board member of the International Society of Family Law. She is author of a diverse range of monographs and articles written in Dutch, English and Russian. Her main research areas are: European comparative Family Law and Dutch Family Law, with particular regard to the law relating to relationships, parentage and divorce. See here  for more information.

Email address: m.v.antokolskaia@vu.nl

Charlotte Declerck (Prof. dr.), editor

Since September 2010, Charlotte Declerck has been a Lecturer in Family and Succession Law at the University of Hasselt. Between 2009 and 2010, she was a Deputy Lecturer in Family Mediation Law at the Catholic University of Leuven. Before this, from 2003 to 2010, she was an assistant at the Institute for Family Property Law of the Catholic University of Leuven. She is the author of several books and articles on Personal Status, Family and Family Property Law, as well as Intellectual Property Law. She has been a member of the Brussels Bar since 2010.

Email address: Charlotte.declerck@uhasselt.be

Wendy Schrama, editor

Wendy Schrama is hoogleraar familierecht en rechtsvergelijking aan de Universiteit Utrecht & onderzoeksleider van het Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law (UCERF). Ze werkt tevens als rechter-plaatsvervanger bij de Rechtbank Noord-Holland. Eerder werkte ze als bijzonder hoogleraar personen-, familie- en jeugdrecht aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en als senior onderzoeker bij het WODC (Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie). Ook was ze als universitair hoofddocent aan de VU Amsterdam en de Universiteit Utrecht verbonden. Aan de Universiteit Antwerpen had ze een gastleerstoel. Schrama heeft een bijzondere interesse in het nationale, internationale en rechtsvergelijkende familierecht. Ook empirisch onderzoek naar families heeft haar warme belangstelling. Haar specifieke expertise betreft de rechtspositie van ongehuwde samenlevers.

E-mailadres: w.m.schrama@uu.nl

Leon Verstappen (Prof. dr.), editor

Leon Verstappen is a full professor of civil and notary law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, Academic Director of the Groningen Centre for Law and Governance, and board member of the Netherlands Institute for Law and Governance. Alongside his main job, he is a legal advisor to Hekkelman Lawyers & Notaries in Arnhem and Nijmegen, deputy-judge at the Court of Appeal, member of the board of governors of both the Foundation for Professional Training of Notaries and the Foundation Grotius Academy, and member of the Supervisory Board of the Foundation for the Advancement of Notary Science.
In addition to being joint editor-in-chief of a number of periodicals and series concerning civil (notarial) law (WPNR, Journal Family & Law, Practical Manuals for the Notaries, Formats for Law Practice), he is also editor of a series of books published by the Netherlands Institute for Law and Governance.
His teaching and research mainly focuses on inheritance law, matrimonial property law and property law, as well as notarial aspects of company law and notary law itself. In the international context, he focuses on land tenure and land governance in his capacity as member of the Steering Committee of the Land Portal (see www.landportal.info), board member of the International Alliance on Land Tenure and Administration (see www.ialtanetwork.org), and member of the European Law Institute.

Email address: l.c.a.verstappen@rug.nl

Gerd Verschelden (Prof. dr.), editor

Gerd Verschelden is a member of the Department of Civil Law at Ghent University. As senior lecturer, he is in charge of a number of courses, ranging from an Introduction to Private Law and Family Law (obligatory bachelor courses) to the advanced study of Family Law and the specific study of Litigation in Family Matters and Family Mediation (master courses). He has a specific interest in the law of parentage and empirical research related to Family Law.

Email address: gerd.verschelden@ugent.be