You are here: Institute People Senior Research Affiliates Ley, Isabelle
Isabelle Ley has been Professor of Public Law, International Law and European Law at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena since October 2025.
Following her studies in law and political science in Heidelberg, Paris (Sciences Po) and Hamburg, as well as a stay at the Hauser Global Law School, NYU, Isabelle Ley was awarded her doctorate in 2012 within the framework of the Research Training Group "Constitution Beyond the State" at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin with a thesis on "Opposition in International Law" supervised by Ulrich K. Preuß. The thesis was awarded the Faculty Prize of the Faculty of Law at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. After completing her Second State Examination at the Kammergericht Berlin (with placements at the Federal Foreign Office and the European Law Division of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs), she worked from 2013 to 2017 as a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law under Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Anne Peters. In the autumn of 2014, she conducted research as a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Governance in Princeton. Following periods of parental leave and roles as a desk officer at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (Foreign Trade Division) and as a judge at the Local Court (Amtsgericht) Mitte in Berlin, she completed her habilitation in Heidelberg in 2025 with a thesis on arms export control.
Isabelle Ley is married and the mother of Cornelius and Clara.
