Prof. Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou has been researching, transmitting knowledge and running externally funded projects in the broad field of European Law, Governance and Rights at several universities throughout Europe, including Cyprus and the UK for over 20 years. She is currently Professor of European Law and Reform, Head of the School of Law and University Chair for Research and Innovation at the University of Central Lancashire in Cyprus (UCLan Cyprus). She received from the European Parliament the European Citizen 2020 Prize on behalf of ICLAIM, for its Social Mediation in Practice project, also presented at the UN level.
From February 2022, she is the Director of the newly established EU funded Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence CRoLEV on the Rule of Law and European Values at UCLan Cyprus, measuring/monitoring/reporting on judicial independence/other democratic indicators in several European states https://crolev.eu/ (2022-25).
In 2022, she was selected by the European Commission as an Arbitrator and Trade & Sustainable Development Expert for bilateral disputes between the EU and third countries in the fields of trade, investment and sustainable development (pool of candidates).
She specialises in ‘Fundamental Rights in Context’ at the national/European/international level. She analyses/applies/reforms European/international law principles/values/instruments on fundamental human rights in troubled societies at national/supranational level (emergency/crisis/reform of legal systems). She is a Rule of Law expert on the sustainability of rights & systemic challenges to Justice (e.g. independence, transparency, digitalisation) in Europe. She also promotes actively social justice and advocates active citizenship via ICLAIM, used for projects having an impact on wider society. She supervises research in fields related to the EU, its Member States and Europe more widely in troubled times, Rule of Law principles and values, social justice, fundamental rights in times of crisis, effective judicial protection, privacy, AI technologies and other current issues in European law and governance.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she initiated the Rule of Law Monitoring Mechanism https://ruleoflawmonitoringmechanism.eu/ and from September 2022, will lead the ICLAIM team in a new EU funded Horizon Europe project coordinated by UCLan Cyprus on Research Ethics and Integrity, PREPARED, that will look at natural disasters and pandemic with prominent partners (WHO, UNESCO), but also local partners such as ICLAIM. She is the EU funded Jean Monnet Module Leader and Academic Coordinator of EU-POP (2019-22), in the field of the Rule of Law and populism in the EU (https://eupopulism.eu/). She was also the EU funded Jean Monnet Module Leader and Academic Coordinator of FEcoGov (2014-17), in the field of the EU financial crisis, securing the European Commission’s label ‘success story’ and ‘good practice’ upon completion of the project (https://www.uclancyprus.ac.cy/research/jean-monnet-module/).
For the past 25 years, she has acted as legal expert in Cyprus and/or abroad in her respective fields of expertise including for the Law Office of the Republic of Cyprus on EU law matters (2018-19; 2020). She belongs to boards and/or networks of academic/professional experts at the national/EU level, is a Research Fellow at prestigious institutions throughout Europe, regularly consults in Cyprus, the UK and at the EU level, is UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lead at UCLan Cyprus, and is an Expert of the European Commission and its Agencies.