Profile

Freya Baetens (Cand. Jur./ Lic.Jur. (Ghent); LL.M. (Columbia); Ph.D. (Cambridge)) is Professor of Public International Law (Oxford University), Research Director at the Oxford Human Rights Hub (Pembroke College), GIC+ Project Director (Regent’s Park College) and winner of the 2024 Francqui Chair. She is also affiliated with the LEVEL project (Oslo University) and holds the Chair of EU External Economic Law at the Europa Institute (Leiden University).

She has been a visiting professor at the KU Leuven (Belgium), Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (Luxembourg), Université Paris Nanterre (France), National University Singapore (Singapore), Sydney Law School (Australia), Xi'An Jiaotong Law School (China), FHR Lim A Po Institute (Suriname) and the World Trade Institute, Bern University (Switzerland).

As a Member of the Brussels Bar and Special Counsel at Fietta LLP, she regularly acts as counsel or expert in international and European disputes. She is listed on the EU Roster of Arbitrators and Trade & Sustainable Development (TSD) experts, the Panel of Arbitrators and Conciliators of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the South China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration), the Xi’An Arbitration Commission, and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC).

She is a general public international lawyer, with a particular interest in the law of treaties, responsibility of states and international organisations, privileges and immunities, law of the sea, human rights, WTO and investment law, energy law and sustainable development.