Fotis Vergis Recognised by ETUC/ETUI

Gonville and Caius College Lecturer and Fellow in Law Dr Fotis Vergis was been awarded the runner's-up position in the prestigious European Trade Confederation Brian Bercusson Award at the ETUC Congress is on 23-26 May for the submission of his PhD thesis written studying at the Faculty.

After having received a high-quality field of applications on various topics of European labour law (or related to it), the ETUC Selection Panel nominated by the Transnational Trade Union Rights (TTUR) network, attached to the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), undertook a three-stage in-depth review procedure whereby it evaluated and ranked the applications received according to in particular the following aspects/criteria:

• The outstanding character of the research project that has resulted in the PhD-dissertation (including its scientific and theoretical dimension);
• Its European dimension (EU/comparative) in respect of (individual or collective) labour law or closely related disciplines; and
• Its practical value advancing Social Europe.

Fotis' thesis 'Collective Labour Rights after the Treaty of Lisbon as an element of the substantive constitutionalisation of EU law', which focused on core collective labour law rights and concepts (association, collective bargaining and collective action) as integral parts of the EU constitutional order, was selected among the top three shortlisted candidates. The Selection Panel ranked his thesis as being of exceptionally high quality when evaluated in light of the relevant criteria, and at the Congress he was awarded the runner's-up prize.

Responding to the recognition, Fotis said:

"It was an honour just to be considered for an award that bears Brian Bercusson's name - much less to be recognised in any form. I truly owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisors, Catherine Barnard and Simon Deakin, for their tenacious guidance through the years, examiners Keith Ewing and Filip Dorssemont for their comments and encouragement, John Hendy for the push at critical junctures, and friends and colleagues at Cambridge for the support."

Many congratulations to Fotis for this achievement.