UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Dr. Ivo Gruev

Dr Ivo Gruev is a comparative constitutional scholar exploring the role of constitutional histories, texts, and courts within societies and political regimes undergoing transitions from or into authoritarian rule. His doctoral research focused on the interplay between access to constitutional justice and the right-protecting role of "Kelsenian" courts, with a specific emphasis on the constitutional courts of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Germany. Currently, his postdoctoral work is concerned with the changing relationship between governments, courts, and equality rights in backsliding democracies and illiberal contexts. He is particularly interested in the relationship between law and gender, as well as the connections between religion and constitutional identities and interpretation.

In 2023, he received a CIVICA Research grant to investigate religion-based challenges to fundamental rights in Central and Eastern European constitutional courts and the impact of these contestations on judicial interpretation. In 2022-2023, he was also awarded a re:constitution Fellowship to study the constitutional backlash against “gender ideology” in the context of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention.

Prior to joining the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, Dr Gruev was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Fundamental Rights of the Hertie School in Berlin. He has also held visiting fellowships at the University of New South Wales, hosted by Prof. Rosalind Dixon, and the European University Institute, and has taught at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po.

Dr Gruev holds a doctorate (DPhil) and a Magister Juris (MJur) from the University of Oxford, as well as a law degree (1. Staatsexamen) from the Humboldt University in Berlin. Being interested in the intersection between research and public policy, he has also worked for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the German Parliament, the International Criminal Court, and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.