ESELS Annual Conference

Call for submissions ESELS Ljubljana 2026 (18-19 June)

Welcome to the submission page of the ESELS Annual Conference, 18-19 June 2026 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Our conference is fully on-site (no hybrid option) and welcomes working papers, extended abstracts, poster presentations and reflective submissions on Empirical Legal Studies in Europe.

Presenters are provided with the opportunity for valuable feedback and scholars submitting a full paper can be nominated for our Early Career Recognition 2026 (optional).

The call for submissions opens on 15 December 2025 and closes on 15 February 2026, 23:59. Notifications of acceptance are communicated on 7 March 2026.

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Name conference presenter *

Please note that we expect all presenters to attend our conference in-person for the full two days (18-19 June 2026) of the conference. No hybrid option.

University *

Country *

Email *

Are you currently a PhD student? *

• Yes
• No

Pre-submission: describe the relevance of your submission for the law or legal order *

Please explain how your (expected) findings contribute to legal doctrine, legal practice, institutional design, the rule of law or the functioning of the legal system or legal order.

Pre-submission: describe the empirical data(set) on which your submission is based *

Please indicate which data “outside of law books” you use and why. For textual data: please explain why this data is to be seen as ’empirical’ (e.g. allowing you to discover large patterns about the law). For reflective submissions: please enter ‘no data’ here.

Is your work about a European country (or more European countries)? *

• Yes
• No

Please describe the relevance of your submission for a European audience *

Please clearly indicate the general (or comparative) insights it offers to a European audience or to European institutions/jurisdictions or how your research may have implications for a European country.

Type of submission *

• Working paper
• Extended abstract
• Poster presentation
• Reflection on Empirical Legal Studies

* Reflective submissions could also include (i.e.) teaching empirical methods to lawyers, the position of ELS in the law curriculum at universities, epistemological debates about law & empirics at large, or the historical origins of ELS.

Working title *

If you submission is part of a pre-arranged panel, please write the full title of your panel in brackets here after the working title.

Theoretical or legal background *

Research question or hypothesis *

Empirical method *

Empirical data *

Please refer in your description to: data sources (e.g. surveys, corpus of judicial decisions, verbatim transcripts, etc), key variables of interest, sample (or population) size, representativeness of your sample. For qualitative work: please discuss not only your sample size, but also explain the meaningfulness of your empirical data.

Results (preliminary) *

Please touch upon the (internal/external) validity and reliability of your results.

Discussion and (preliminary) conclusions *

Do you want a discussant to your paper presentation? *

• No
• Yes

Name discussant *

Please note that your discussant should also register and attend the conference (full two days).

Would you like to nominate your working paper for our Early Career Recognition?

• Yes
• No

Names / affiliation(s) of co-author(s)? (if applicable)

File Upload for Working Paper *

Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload

No formal word count limit. Papers currently under review also welcome.

Working title *

Theoretical or legal background *

Hypothesis or research question *

Empirical method *

Empirical data (to be) collected *

Please refer in your description to: data sources (e.g. surveys, corpus of judicial decisions, verbatim transcripts, etc), key variables of interest, sample (or population) size, representativeness of your sample. For qualitative work: please discuss not only your sample size, but also explain the meaningfulness of your empirical data.

Discussion relevance (expected) findings for ELS in Europe *

Please touch upon the (internal/external) validity and reliability of your (expected) results.

Name(s) / affiliation(s) of co-author(s)?

Title poster presentation *

Theoretical or legal background poster *

Hypothesis or research question poster *

Empirical method poster *

Empirical data (to be) collected *

Please refer in your description to: data sources (e.g. surveys, corpus of judicial decisions, verbatim transcripts, etc), key variables of interest, sample (or population) size, representativeness of your sample. For qualitative work: please discuss not only your sample size, but also explain the meaningfulness of your empirical data.

Discussion relevance (expected) findings poster for ELS in Europe *

Please also touch upon the (internal/external) validity and reliability of your (expected) results.

Name(s) / affiliation(s) of co-author(s) poster?

Would you like your poster to be nominated for our ESELS Poster Recognition? *

• Yes
• No

What is the type of your reflective submission? *

• Working paper
• Extended abstract
• Poster presentation (extended abstract to be presented as poster)

In case of an extended abstract or poster presentation: please submit a file with at minimum a title/literature/method/findings and conclusions (expected), max 300 words in total.

Title reflective submission *

Brief literature discussion *

Contributions (expected) to current debate on ELS in Europe? *

you of Working

Conclusions (expected) and relevance for ELS audience *

File Upload Reflective Working Paper on ELS *

Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload

Submit