Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Kieninger

Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Kieninger studied law at the University of Passau and King's College, London (1983-1989). After the Second State Exam (1992), she worked as a research assistant at the University of Augsburg (1992-1995) and at the Free University of Berlin (1995-1997).

In 1995, she completed her PhD on ‘Mobiliarsicherheiten im Europäischen Binnenmarkt’ (Movable Property Securities in the European Single Market) under the supervision of the late Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. mult. Jürgen Basedow. From 1997 to 1998, she was a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, and from 1999 to 2001 a postdoctoral fellow of the German Research Foundation. In 2001, she completed her post-doctoral thesis (Habilitationsschrift) on ‘Legislative Competition in Private law and the European single market’ and obtained a venia legendi for civil law, commercial and corporate law, comparative law and private international law from the University of Hamburg. Since December 2001, she is a full Professor of German and European Private Law and Private International Law in the University of Würzburg.

From 2014 to 2016 she was Dean of the Faculty of Law at JMU Würzburg. From 2011 to 2015, she was a member of the University Council of the University of Passau and from 2021 to 2026 she served as member of the committee for the award of Humboldt Research Prizes. Since 2023, she is a member of the advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg.

Eva-Maria Kieninger is a member of the German Council on Private International Law (since 2003), the Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé (since 2009), the European Law Institute, the Council of the German Society of International Law (since 2013) and the Executive Board of the Society of Comparative Law (since 2023), among others. From 2017 to 2023, she was Vice-President of the German Society of International Law. She is a co-founder and was a member of the Scientific Council of the European Association of Private International Law.

Ms Kieninger is an Ordinary Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Academia Europaea. On 1 February 2026, she became a member of the German Council of Science and Humanities.

Eva-Maria Kieninger is co-editor of the Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (ZEuP), the Zeitschrift für die gesamte Privatrechtswissenschaft (ZfPW) and the European Property Law Journal (EPLJ).

Main areas of research:

• International private law with a focus on commercial law
• Secured transactions and international law
• European private law
• Sustainability and private law
• Human Rights due diligence in supply chains
• Climate change litigation