The Erasmus Centre of Empirical Legal Studies (ECELS) is the home of empirical legal research at Erasmus School of Law and provides support and opportunities for empirical legal studies. ECELS is embedded within the nation-wide sectoral plan for legal science and is working in close collaboration with the Netherlands Academy of Empirical Legal Studies.
Our vision
Legal research is increasingly dealing with questions that require empirical answers, such as how law works circumstances and what the effect of a policy, a legal rule or a social phenomenon is on individual, social or economic outcomes. Empirical legal studies comprise different methods, including qualitative methods (e.g., observations, interviews, and document analysis), as well as quantitative methods (e.g., experiments, analysis of existing data using different research designs, computational legal analysis, surveys). The goal of ECELS is to complement and build bridges between empirical legal studies and traditional legal research.
ECELS’ mission is to build a thriving empirical legal studies community at Erasmus School of Law by promoting and supporting empirical legal studies in education and in research, both at Erasmus School of Law and in the Netherlands. ECELS connects like-minded researchers to advance their knowledge and to foster cooperation and provides training and educational support for those embarking on empirical legal studies for the first, second or umpteenth time. ECELS furthermore aspires to stimulate and support interdisciplinary empirical legal studies collaborations.