Zaker Ahmad

Dr. iur. Senior Research Fellow

ahmad@mpil.de

Main Fields of Research:

Academic Career:

Since July 2025: Coordinator, Max Planck Law Fellow Group "Fairness and International Law"; Concurrently: Guest Researcher, Walther-Schücking Institute for International Law, Kiel University.

July 2022 – June 2025: Georg Forster Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of International Economic and Environmental Law, University of Göttingen.

October 2015 – December 2018: Doctoral Researcher, World Trade Institute, University of Bern. SNF Project: Towards a Principle of Common Concern in Global Law. Dissertation: WTO Law and Trade Policy Reform for Low-Carbon Technology Diffusion.

January 2013 – June 2025: Associate Professor (2021-2025), Assistant Professor (2014-2021) and Lecturer (2013-2014), Department of Law, University of Chittagong (Bangladesh).

Recent Publications

• The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and WTO law: Room for (mis)interpretation? In: Journal of World Trade 59:4, 669-700 (2025). doi: doi.org/10.54648/trad2025034 (with Brigitta Brand-Imeli).
  
• Trade-Related Measures to Spread Low-Carbon Technologies: A Common Concern Based Approach. In: The Prospects of Common Concern of Humankind in International Law, Z Ahmad T Cottier (ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2021, 95-152. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108878739.00...
  
• Sovereignty Strikes Back: Continued Relevance of Common Concern of Humankind in Times of Polycrisis. In: International Economic Law as Symphony: Thomas Cottier and the Harmonies of Trade, R Polanco^and P. Sauvé K Nadakavukaren-Schefer (ed.). Hart, Oxford 2025, 223-244 (with Iryna Bogdanova). DOI: 10.5040/9781509980758
  
• Worlds Apart: The Fairness Dimension of Securitisation Narratives in the Climate Change and Foreign Investment Context. In: European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2024, C Binder^M Bungenberg^M Krajewski^G Rühl^C J Tams^J P Terhechte^and A R. Ziegler J Bäumler (ed.). Springer, Switzerland 2024, 555-574.
  
• Leveraging the Belt and Road Initiative for Green Investments: The Case of Bangladesh. In: Law and Development Review 17:1, 1-45 (2023). doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2022-0098 (with Sanjana Hoque).
  
• Market-Based Climate Mitigation, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and International Trade Law: New Rules, Existing Practices, and Continued Concerns. In: Trade, Law & Development 14:2, 1-36 (2022) (with Ilaria Espa). Heinonline
  
• The European Commission’s Glass Fibre Fabrics (GFF) Investigation and the Boundary Between Investment and Trade. In: Asian Journal of International Law 14:1, 72-93 (2023). doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2044251323000346.
  

Further Publications

Reports

Maurer, A., Ahmad, Z., Hagemejer, J., Shortening and simplifying EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations with a view to practices favourable for SMEs, Study requested by the INTA Committee, EXPO/2023/OP/0001/INTA/LOT6/1/C/2, European Parliament (2025).

Ahmad, Z., Stoll, P-T., EU’s trade and digital economy –Challenges and opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Workshop requested by the INTA committee, EP/EXPO/2023/OP/0001/INTA/LOT6/1/C/4-1, European Parliament (2025).

Rudloff, B., Stoll, P-T., Mensah, K., Ahmad, Z., Sultan, S., A comprehensive analysis of the updated trade part of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement, Study requested by the INTA committee, EP/EXPO/2023/OP/0001/INTA/LOT6/1/C/3-2, European Parliament (2025).

Presentations

Teaching