My research has developed across two connected programmes. The first, rooted in my doctoral work (2019–2023), built the analytical apparatus: argumentation theory, formal methods drawn from artificial intelligence and logic, and the philosophy of international law. The central question was how legal systems manage normative contradiction; the tools were computational models of legal reasoning applied to problems of fragmentation and consistency in the international legal order.
The second programme deploys that apparatus on the question that now drives my work: how international law responds when emerging technologies outpace the legal instruments designed to govern them. Funded by the Empirical Legal Studies (ELS) Academy and an EdLab Education Innovation Grant, this programme investigates how artificial intelligence is reshaping bioprospecting and environmental governance, and what this means for the legal architecture governing marine genetic resources under the BBNJ Agreement. The analytical foundations of the first programme (Hohfeldian analysis, formal argumentation, computational modelling) are the working tools of the second.
PhD programme · completed
The logic of international law
Maastricht University / University of São Paulo
2019–2023
2019–2023
Current research
Technology, environment, and law
Maastricht University · 2024–present
Funded by ELS Academy + EdLab
2026
Marine genetic resources, who owns and who owes what? A Hohfeldian mapping
Leiden Journal of International Law
ForthcomingMaps the legal positions (rights, duties, powers, immunities) arising under the BBNJ Agreement, CBD, and Nagoya Protocol regarding marine genetic resources, using a Hohfeldian analytical framework developed with computational methods.
doi.org/10.1017/S0922156526100703
doi.org/10.1017/S0922156526100703
Between technological innovation and the ocean commons: intellectual property and benefit-sharing under the BBNJ Agreement
Frontiers in Marine Science
PublishedExamines the tension between intellectual property regimes and the benefit-sharing framework under the BBNJ Agreement, arguing that patents over upstream technologies create structural access barriers that implementation choices must address.
doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1755275
doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1755275
A Hohfeldian knowledge base for LLM-assisted legal information retrieval in marine biodiversity law
JURIX / IOS Press, Legal Knowledge and Information Systems, Vol. 416, pp. 318–323
PublishedDevelops a Hohfeldian knowledge base for marine biodiversity treaties and tests its use in LLM-assisted legal information retrieval, combining formal legal analysis with computational methods.
doi.org/10.3233/FAIA251604
doi.org/10.3233/FAIA251604
Ordering the fragments: international law under planetary crisis
Springer Law & Philosophy Series — Monograph
ForthcomingA monograph examining how international law manages normative contradiction and fragmentation, framed through the lens of the triple planetary crisis. Based on the author’s doctoral research.
Navigating discretion in climate-ocean governance
Edward Elgar — Book chapter in U. Linderfalk (ed.)
ForthcomingAnalyses the role of judicial discretion in the ITLOS Advisory Opinion on climate change and ocean governance, proposing criteria for constraining discretionary reasoning in international adjudication.
dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5244753
dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5244753
2025
Causal loops, ontological crises, and customary international law
German Yearbook of International Law, 67, 1–30
PublishedExamines the circular dependency in the formation of customary international law, drawing on social ontology to explain how collective recognition resolves the paradox of opinio juris.
doi.org/10.3790/gyil.2025.405966
doi.org/10.3790/gyil.2025.405966
Tech won’t save us: climate crisis, techno-optimism, and international law
Law, Technology and Humans, 7(1), 22–46
PublishedExamines the assumption that technological innovation alone can address the climate crisis, arguing that international law’s reliance on techno-optimist narratives masks structural inadequacies in environmental governance.
doi.org/10.5204/lthj.3816
doi.org/10.5204/lthj.3816
Lex specialis as a reason-giving norm
International Community Law Review, 27(3), 218–253
PublishedReinterprets the lex specialis principle as a reason-giving norm rather than a rule of conflict resolution, arguing that it operates by balancing considerations of specificity against the protection of individual rights.
doi.org/10.1163/18719732-bja10138
doi.org/10.1163/18719732-bja10138
Narratives, frontier technologies, and the law (Parts I & II)
Law, Technology and Humans — Guest edited special issues
PublishedMaking (logical) sense of the interaction between humanitarian and human rights law
Hague Yearbook of International Law, 37, 151–186
PublishedUses formal argumentation theory to clarify how international humanitarian law and human rights law interact in situations of armed conflict, proposing a model that moves beyond the standard lex specialis approach.
doi.org/10.1163/9789004700178_008
doi.org/10.1163/9789004700178_008
The logic(s) of international law
Hague Yearbook — Guest edited special issue
PublishedSpecial issue examining what role logic plays in international legal reasoning, bringing together perspectives from legal theory, philosophy, and formal methods.
doi.org/10.1163/9789004700178_002
doi.org/10.1163/9789004700178_002
DOSI policy brief: implementing the BBNJ Agreement’s regime for marine genetic resources
Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative
PublishedCo-authored policy brief offering practical recommendations on implementing the BBNJ Agreement’s MGR regime, directed at the PrepCom process.
Read the brief
Read the brief
The Berghain problem: how international law gatekeeps Indigenous Peoples
Stanford Codex Blog
PublishedArgues that international environmental law treats Indigenous knowledge as a commodity while excluding Indigenous Peoples from governance processes.
Read
Read
A digital infrastructure for ocean biodiversity
Cambridge International Law Journal Blog
PublishedProposes a redesign of the BBNJ clearing-house mechanism as a digital infrastructure for tracking marine biodiversity data.
Read
Read
From Mare Liberum to Make America Great Again
Völkerrechtsblog
PublishedTraces historical parallels between early modern freedom of the seas arguments and contemporary justifications for deep-seabed mining.
Read
Read
The US-China mirror: TikTok, national security, and techno-nationalism
Opinio Juris — Featured article
PublishedAnalyses the TikTok ban debate as a case study in techno-nationalism, revealing mirrored regulatory strategies between the United States and China.
Read
Read
Legal Rule Tagger
Software — EdLab Education Innovation Grant
Live toolA digital platform where students collaboratively tag elements of legal rules and visualise legal positions. Used in first-year law courses at Maastricht; version 2.0 integrating large language models is in development.
Try it
Try it
2024
Addressing the chronological paradox of customary international law
Cambridge University Press — Book chapter
PublishedExamines how the chronological paradox in the formation of customary law can be resolved through the concept of good faith as a bridging principle between recognition and obligation.
doi.org/10.1017/9781009541312.002
doi.org/10.1017/9781009541312.002
Can large language models apply the law?
AI & Society, 40(5), 3605–3614
PublishedTests whether large language models can perform legal reasoning tasks, finding that while LLMs can identify rules and subsume facts, they struggle with the justificatory dimension of legal argumentation.
doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02105-9
doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02105-9
The stories we tell ourselves about law and technology
Maastricht University Faculty of Law Blog
PublishedReflects on how dominant narratives about technology shape legal scholarship and regulation.
Read
Read
Ulf Linderfalk on discretion in international law
Globalization and Law Podcast
PublishedPodcast on judicial discretion, its theoretical foundations, and its implications for international adjudication.
Listen
Listen
2023
Two kinds of systemic consistency in international law
European Journal of Legal Studies, 15(1), 65–83
New Voices Prize · EUIDistinguishes between structural and justificatory consistency in international law, arguing that confusing them produces misleading conclusions about fragmentation. Awarded the New Voices Prize at the European University Institute.
doi.org/10.2924/EJLS.2023.013
doi.org/10.2924/EJLS.2023.013
Peaceful purposes reservations in the Law of the Sea Convention
University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, 44, 417
PublishedAnalyses the legal status of military activities in the exclusive economic zone under UNCLOS, focusing on the peaceful purposes reservation and its interpretation.
scholarship.law.upenn.edu
scholarship.law.upenn.edu
Consciousness and liability of non-human intelligence
Recht-D, 14(3), 382–401
PublishedExplores the philosophical foundations of attributing legal liability to non-human intelligence, drawing on debates about consciousness, intentionality, and the conditions under which artificial agents might bear legal responsibility.
doi.org/10.4013/rechtd.2022.143.06
doi.org/10.4013/rechtd.2022.143.06
From fragmented legal order to globalised legal system
Athena, 3, 90
PublishedProposes a framework of general principles for maintaining normative consistency across the fragmented landscape of international law.
doi.org/10.6092/issn.2724-6299/17223
doi.org/10.6092/issn.2724-6299/17223
Large language models and EU data protection
DigiCon Symposium
PublishedMaps the principal tensions between large language model architectures and the EU data protection framework.
Read
Read
Contiguous Zone Report
Prepared for the Brazilian Delegation, United Nations Ocean Conference 2022, Lisbon
PublishedTechnical report on contiguous zone provisions prepared for the Brazilian government delegation at the United Nations Ocean Conference.
Joining the conversation: teaching research methods for international law
Völkerrechtsblog
PublishedReflects on pedagogical approaches to teaching research methods and legal writing in international law.
Read
Read
Logic of international law
Law and Globalisation Blog
PublishedIntroduces the research agenda on the role of logic in international legal reasoning.
Read
Read
2020
International law post-pandemic
Thomson Reuters — Book chapter
PublishedAnalyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international legal institutions and norms, assessing which structural changes are likely to persist.
SSRN
SSRN
Henrique Marcos 