President

Katalin Ligeti is President of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP) since June 2024. She is Full Professor of European and International Criminal Law at the University of Luxembourg, where she is serving as Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance since September 2017. She earned her Doctor of Law at the University of Hamburg in 2004, following her legal studies at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Additionally, she holds an LL.M. from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

Her research focuses on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, EU criminal law, comparative criminal procedure, economic and financial criminal law, and the use of information technology in criminal proceedings. She has authored three monographs, edited several volumes, and published more than 130 articles and book chapters in English, German, French, and Hungarian.

Professor Ligeti is a sought-after expert, frequently consulted by European and national policymakers, international courts, and expert committees. She has provided expert opinions to committees of the European Parliament, the OECD, the UK House of Lords, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the European Law Institute. In 2015, she was appointed for the first time as an expert to the European Commission on EU criminal law policy – a role she continues to hold, having been reconfirmed for a third term in 2024, with her mandate extending for another five years. From April 2017 to March 2018, she also served as Special Advisor to Věra Jourová, former European Commissioner for Justice, Consumer Protection, and Gender Equality. Since 2021, she has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for International and European Procedural Law.

Beyond her academic and policy contributions, Professor Ligeti is also a dedicated mentor. She played a leading role in establishing the University of Luxembourg’s first structured mentoring programme, ADVANCE, and continues to actively support the next generation of scholars. Many of her former PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers have become tenured professors at leading European universities, while others have built distinguished careers within European institutions and national judiciaries.

Professor Ligeti is also deeply engaged in international research collaboration. She serves on the Board of Directors of both the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights and the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation. In addition, she is co-coordinator of the European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN), reinforcing her role as a central figure in European and transnational criminal law scholarship.