Silja Vöneky

Silja Vöneky is Professor of Public International Law, Comparative Law and Ethics of Law, University of Freiburg and an associated member of the Institute of Political Sciences and Philosophy of Law, (Institut für Staatswissenschaft und Rechtsphilosophie) University of Freiburg. She was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School in 2015–2016. Currently she serves as a member of the German Federal Foreign Office's Public International Law Advisory Board, the Ethics Council of the Max-Planck-Society, and an arbitrator of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

Her areas of research include the international governance of scientific and technological innovations, the interdependence of ethics and law, as well as International Environmental Law, Humanitarian Law, International Security Law, and Human Rights Law.

Vöneky previously served as the Director of a Heidelberg Max Planck Research Group focusing on the interdependence of ethics and law (Max Planck Research Group “Democratic Legitimacy of Ethical Decisions”). She was appointed by the Federal Government as a member of the German Ethics Council and led the Council's Working Group on Biosecurity. Since 2001, Vöneky has been a legal advisor to several German federal ministries and agencies.

Born in Germany, Vöneky studied Law and Philosophy of Law at the Universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Heidelberg, and Edinburgh (UK) and holds law degrees from the University of Heidelberg.