Dr Merve Erdem Burger
postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Neuchâtel
Merve Erdem Burger is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where she is conducting a Swiss National Science Foundation-funded research project on the implementation of international space law by states in order to draw lessons for emerging space countries. She also teaches International Space Law at the Master of Law program of Faculty of Law, University of Neuchâtel.
Prior to her position in Switzerland, she had a long academic experience as a Research Assistant and Research Associate at the Chair of International Law at Ankara University Faculty of Law in Türkiye. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD in public law, with a focus on international law. During her research, she also visited other academic institutions such as Leiden University, International Institute of Air and Space Law and Humboldt University, Faculty of Law, International and European Law Institute.
She has a long experience in space law since 2010, during which she participated in various national and international conferences, including the International Astronautical Congress, and gave presentations on systemic and progressive interpretation of the UN space treaties, enabling space law for human settlement in space, balance between freedom of exploration and freedom of use in space, sustainability of space activities through implementation of space law, lectured in summer schools and certificate programs on the history of space law and legal regime of space activities, and received international recognition through the Emerging Space Leader grant from the International Astronautical Federation in 2017.
In addition to her research, she is also involved in civil society activities to promote space law and academic research in general: she is a co-founder of the Swiss Space Law Forum, an interest group of the Swiss Society of International Law, a member of the International Institute of Space Law and the Space Exploration Society in Turkey, and a board member of the Global SNSF Fellows Network.