Mission & governance

Our values
The Asser community is a public-spirited community that is committed to excellence, integrity, inclusivity, and public values when conducting fundamental and applied research, offering education and training, and informing legal practice, policy development, and public debate.

Our vision
We envision a world in which local, national and transnational public interests are protected and promoted by international and European public and private law. This is supported by critical reflection conducive to perspectives for action to confront our global challenges.

Our mission
The Asser Institute aims to contribute to the development of international and European public and private law by independently conducting fundamental, policy-oriented and applied legal research as well as by initiating and facilitating academic and expert meetings, (professional) education, and public events that aim to disseminate knowledge of international and European public and private law. For the coming years, we are further guided in this mission by our strategic research agenda 2022-2026, entitled: ‘Rethinking public interests in international and European law’.

Governance 
The T.M.C. Asser Instituut is a foundation affiliated with the University of Amsterdam (UvA). It is an inter-university institute with a modern governance structure and a close working relationship with the Amsterdam Law School (UvA). 

Executive board
The T.M.C. Asser Instituut has a two-tier board governance model with an executive and a supervisory board. The executive board consists of:

Supervisory board
The supervisory board of five people, appointed by the UvA, includes representatives from the University of Amsterdam, the international community in The Hague and the Dutch Law Schools, with the deans of the Dutch stakeholder universities nominating the latter. Current members of the supervisory board are: 

Remuneration of board members
None of the supervisory board members receives any remuneration or compensation for their board-membership, nor for attending board meetings. The executive board members and the Asser Institute staff members are employed by the University of Amsterdam and seconded to the Asser Institute. The Collective Employment Agreement (CAO) governs their remuneration for the Dutch Universities (VSNU).