Biennial Conference
The Biennial Conference is the leading interdisciplinary conference on regulation and regulatory governance held in Europe, attracting researchers from all over the globe working in a wide range of disciplines including political science, law, accounting, business, sociology, economics, international relations, anthropology, public administration, and other related disciplines.
It provides an opportunity to present research in progress and to get feedback and meet both old and new friends within the field and to learn more about the cutting edge of regulatory governance research. The conference provides an opportunity to advance the activities of the Standing Group, notably with the presentation of our two major awards, the Regulatory Studies Development Award for lifetime career achievement and the Giandomenico Majone Prize for the best early career paper at the conference, and the hosting the open business meeting of the Steering Committee of the Standing Group.
The Standing Group’s past conferences in Antwerp (2023), Exeter (online 2021), Lausanne (2018), Tilburg (2016), Barcelona (2014), Exeter (2012), Dublin (2010), Utrecht (2008), and Bath (2006) have helped establish a strong European network of researchers working in the many dimensions of regulatory governance.
Antwerp 2023
9th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Regulatory Governance in Times of Turbulence, Disruptive Technologies and Crises of Trust’
- Where: Antwerp, Belgium
- When: 12-14 July 2023
- Conference website: Available here.
The GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence at the University of Antwerp proudly hosted the 2023 Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance from 12 to 14 July 2023 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Conference highlights included the Standing Group Award for Regulatory Studies Development for lifetime career achievement, awarded to Professor David Vogel, University of California at Berkeley, the Giandomenico Majone Prize for the best conference paper by a junior member of the profession, awarded to Nir Kosti, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as keynote lectures, round tables, social activities and more.
The conference was a great success, attracting 196 participants who presented and discussed papers in 60 panels. In addition, 19 academics and practitioners were invited to give keynotes or speak at roundtables.
Exeter 2021 online
8th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Regulatory Governance: Who Carries the Conversation?’
- Where: Exeter, United Kingdom (virtually)
- When: 23-25 June 2021
- Conference website: Available here.
The 8th Biennial ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance took place virtually and tackled the present context where some well-established ‘certainties’ around democracy, rule of law, governance, public policy, compliance and accountability are no longer taken for granted.
We debated who carries the regulatory conversation in a context dominated by elected leaders that attack evidence-based policy, do not necessarily support the rule of law, deny the role of science in the design of risk and regulation, and set out to hollow out historical projects of regulatory integration such as the European Union. Thus, one question is who carries the regulatory conversation. But the next one is for what purposes and for what implications for governance. Here we come full circle to the original motivation for the existence of our Standing Group, which exists to think and debate risk, rules and regulations in terms of governance.
Key topics revolved around regulation in the age of populism, Europeanization in reverse gear, and political threats to regulatory architectures. But we did not want to encourage university colleagues and policy-makers to chase the topics as they show up in the news. There is a deeper, historically on-going conversation revolving around the topics of democratic and participatory governance, privacy and intellectual property, the evolution of risk and regulatory paradigms, genderizing regulatory studies, democratizing international regulatory architectures – and the reverberation of these topics in the digital era or artificial intelligence and robotics. The present of context of innovation and pluralism in methods means that we could address these questions with a variety of ontological and methodological perspectives – on this our conference was totally inclusive.
The Regulatory Studies award was presented to Professor John Braithwaite. Following the presentation of the award, Professor Braithwaite gave the Regulatory Studies Award Lecture “Beyond Realist International Relations Theory in Governance of Global Crises”.
The Giandomenico Majone Prize for the best paper at the conference was presented to Jose Maria Valenzuela, University of Oxford, for the Paper “System Operators and Regulatory Governance for the Rapid Decarbonisation of Electricity Systems: a State-Business Configuration Perspective”.
Lausanne 2018
7th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Regulation between Effectiveness and Legitimacy’
- Where: Lausanne, Switzerland
- When: 4-6 July 2018
- Conference programme: Available for download here.
The ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance Biennial Conference was held in Lausanne from 4 to 6 July 2018, and thanks to our colleagues in the University of Lausanne and Lausanne Tourism (led by Martino Maggetti and Yannis Papadopoulos) we had a wonderful event.
Aseem Prakash has been elected winner of the Standing Group Award for Regulatory Studies Development for recognizing contributions to the field of regulatory governance by senior scholars. He succeeds 2016 winner Julia Black.
The 2018 Majone Prize was awarded to Janina Grabs.
Tilburg 2016
6th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Between Collaboration and Contestation: Regulatory Governance in a Turbulent World’
- Where: Tilburg, Netherlands
- When: 6-8 July 2016
- Conference programme and paper abstracts: Available here.
The Conference, organised by Tilburg University and a local organising team led by Anne Meuwese, was a great success, with around 320 registered participants, four roundtables, 72 panels and 261 papers.
Julia Black has been elected winner of the Standing Group Award for Regulatory Studies Development for recognizing contributions to the field of regulatory governance by senior scholars. She succeeds 2014 winner David Levi-Faur.
The Giandomenico Majone Prize for the best conference paper by a junior member of the profession went to Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov.
Other conference highlights include a keynote lecture by specialist in US-China law and regulation Benjamin van Rooij and a welcome reception at the premises of the sole Trappist abbey in the Netherlands, La Trappe.
Barcelona 2014
5th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Regulatory Governance between Global and Local’
- Where: Barcelona, Spain
- When: 25-27 June 2014
Exeter 2012
4th Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘New Perspectives on Regulation, Governance and Learning’
- Where: Exeter, United Kingdom
- When: 27-29 June 2012
Dublin 2010
3rd Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Regulation in an Age of Crisis’
- Where: Dublin, Ireland
- When: 17-19 June 2010
- Keynote lecture by Michael Moran: Available here.
Utrecht 2008
2nd Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘(Re)Regulation in the Wake of Neoliberalism: Consequences of Three Decades of Privatization and Market Liberalization’
- Where: Utrecht, Netherlands
- When: 5-7 June 2008
- Conference book: Available for download here.
Bath 2006
1st Biennial Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance on ‘Frontiers of Regulation: Assessing Scholarly Debates and Policy Challenges’
- Where: Bath, United Kingdom
- When: 7-8 September 2006
- Conference book: Available for download here.
