Prof. J.E.J. (Corien) Prins - Chair, professor of Law and Information Technology at Tilburg Law School

Corien Prins studied both Law and Slavic Languages and Literature at Leiden University (1980–1986). In 1991, she united both disciplines in her doctoral research and a thesis entitled Computer Program Protection in the USSR: A New Era for Socialist Copyright Law. In this thesis, Prins investigated the Soviet Union’s embrace of Western copyright mechanisms to protect its software industry, in spite of its own ideology.

From 1986 to 1994, Prins was an assistant professor in Leiden. In 1992, she spent time at Hastings Law School, University of California as a visiting professor. In 1994, she was appointed professor of Law and Information Technology at Tilburg University. In that capacity, she founded the Tilburg Institute of Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), for which she served as president until 2008. One year later, she became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In addition, Prins has been a member of KNAW’s Social Sciences Council and a member (later chair) of the Supervisory Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is currently still a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and of the Advisory Board of the Goldschmeding Foundation, which strives for a sustainable and inclusive society. She is also a member of the Selection Advisory Committee for the Procurator General’s Office at the Supreme Court. From 2003 to July 2024, she served on the Editorial Board of the Netherlands Law Journal (NJB).

As Council member at the WRR from 2008 to 2013, she contributed to publications including the report iGovernment (2011) and the investigation Speelruimte voor een transparantere rechtspraak (Scope for a more transparent justice system, 2013). Following a spell as dean of Tilburg Law School in the interim, she rejoined the WRR in 2017 as its first female chair. This is her second and last term.

In 2023, she was awarded the Dutch Research Council (NWO)’s Stevin Prize, the highest academic honour in the Netherlands. Prins intends to use the prize money to promote the interaction between science and policy in the field of technological innovation. For example, the money will fund several six-month internships for post-doctoral researchers in the Analysis and Research Department (DOA) of the House of Representatives over a period of five years.

Request for an interview or speech?

Would you like to invite the WRR chair for an interview or as a speaker? Email your request with the relevant information to secretariaat@wrr.nl.

Additional positions/roles

Unpaid:

• Professor of Law and Information Technology, TILT, Tilburg University
• Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
• Member of the Selection Advisory Committee for the Procurator General’s Office at the Supreme Court
• Member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW)
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Goldschmeding Foundation
• Member of the Editorial Board of Computer Law & Security Report, Elsevier
• Member of the Editorial Board of Information and Communications Technology Law, Carfax Publishing, UK

WRR projects

Prins contributes to the following projects: 

• Policies for the future
• Artificial Intelligence
• Tilting world order
• Digital disruption
• Justice and transparency
• Policy, information and technology