Once again, Völkerrechtsblog is looking for new volunteer members to join the Editorial Team!
Völkerrechtsblog is an academic blog on all matters of public international law and international legal thought. It was established in 2014 by early-career German-speaking international law scholars with the idea to use the possibilities and spaces of the internet to foster scholarly discussion and exchange about international law. The blog remains partially rooted in German academia: it is incorporated as a registered association under German law, it is funded in part by the German Research Foundation in cooperation with two German university chairs (at IFHV in Bochum and at the University of Erfurt), it continues to publish some content in German, and around two thirds of the current Editorial Team are German-speaking.
Nevertheless, one of Völkerrechtsblog’s core aims is to contribute to opening up and diversifying the discourse in international legal scholarship. We believe we can progress towards this goal by diversifying the perspectives of members of our Editorial Team. Therefore (without setting a formal quota) we particularly encourage people from traditionally marginalized or underrepresented communities to join us. Put differently, we are particularly interested in welcoming new Editors that are not from a predominantly German-speaking area and/or that identify as People of Color and/or that are from the Global South. We also wish to provide a platform for people with a background/interest particularly in critical scholarship, and generally to be a community for early-career researchers open to taking new approaches that might not be welcome elsewhere.
Editors’ core responsibilities are:
- preparing blog post submissions for publication by searching for and contacting reviewers, communicating with authors, and working with them as they address the reviewer feedback, as well as editing posts that have successfully undergone the review process;
- staying up to date on current developments in international law and international legal thought and proactively inviting experts to provide their thoughts on these developments in the form of a blog post.
In addition, every team member is free to shape the work of the blog by organizing symposia, reviews/reflectiÖns, interviews, or even introducing new formats and cooperations, etc. The ideal new team member:
- has an interest in and at least some knowledge of international law (from a legal and/or other disciplinary background, e.g. sociology, international relations, history)
- can demonstrate that interest by, e.g., having authored relevant publications including blog posts, being involved with other relevant journals or blogs, having completed postgraduate studies such as an LL.M. in a relevant subject and/or being in the course of (including early stages) a PhD in a relevant subject (other forms of demonstration welcome);
- has at least two to three hours a week to spare, which they can consistently devote to the blog;
- enjoys editing and is invested in being an active member of Völkerrechtsblog as a community of early-career international lawyers and of the international law community more broadly;
- already has an idea of which existing projects they are particularly interested in or which new projects they would like to organize.
Alternatively or additionally to applications as (regular) Editors, we are also welcoming applications for two distinct roles:
Podcast Editor to join the German-language Völkerrechtspodcast. Applicants to the Podcast team should:
- be enthusiastic about communicating international law to audiences with varying levels of prior knowledge;
- be able to express themselves well in spoken German;
- be willing to support the team for at least one year (starting at the end of 2025).
Previous experience with audio formats is an advantage.
Social Media Editor to support Völkerrechtsblog’s outreach and visibility. Applicants for the Social Media Editor’s role should:
- have an interest in and at least some knowledge of international law;
- enjoy communicating academic content through digital platforms;
- be able to reliably commit 15-30 minutes per day;
Previous experience in content creation, communications, or social media strategy (especially in academic/legal contexts) is an advantage.
Please send us your expressions of interest by Friday 31 October 2025.
If you are applying as a (regular) Editor and/or Social Media Editor, please send your expression of interest to call-for-editors@voelkerrechtsblog.org.
If you are—additionally or alternatively—interested in joining the Völkerrechtspodcast as a Podcast Editor, please—also or instead—send your expression of interest to podcast@voelkerrechtsblog.org.
In all cases, please indicate ‘Expression of Interest – [Editor/Social Media Editor/Podcast Editor]‘ in the email’s subject line.
New team members will be selected and onboarded in the month of November and then be formally admitted at our Editorial Team meeting in early December. Please note that a prerequisite for formal admission to the Editorial Team is membership in the Völkerrechtsblog e.V. (registered association), which entails nominal membership dues of EUR 12,- per year (starting from 2026). Please let us know in your expression of interest if this is an issue for you.