Niels Kirst

Dr. Niels Kirst is an Assistant Professor of European Law at Dublin City University (DCU), affiliated with the School of Law and Government under the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. He specializes in teaching EU Institutional Law and EU Law & Brexit at the master’s level. His research focuses on European law, rule of law dynamics, EU-US comparative law, law & technology intersections, trade law, and geopolitical strategy.

Dr. Kirst holds two master’s degrees in European and International Law from the Universities of Paris II and Toulouse I, alongside a Bachelor’s in Philosophy & Economics from Heidelberg University. His professional experience includes roles at the German Parliament, research at the European Court of Justice, and internships at the German Foreign Office.

He has received prestigious fellowships, including the YERUN Visiting Fellowship at Essex Law School (2021) and KAS Visiting Fellowship at Cardozo Law School (2022). In 2023, he defended his PhD dissertation analyzing the EU’s rule of law crisis in a transatlantic context.

His academic work emphasizes judicial responses to democratic backsliding, treaty operationalization, and transatlantic constitutional challenges. He has contributed to debates on rule of law conditionality, EU legal frameworks, and emergency governance through numerous publications.