Research news

3E Researchers win 2nd place in the G-2 Hackathon on the WTO

From April 9-11, the CTEI, the Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown Law, and the Geneva Trade Platform hosted a hackathon challenge, titled ‘How to Make the WTO Fit for Future Trade’. The challenge called students from around the globe to submit proposals for innovative solutions to address the most pressing substantive issues faced by the WTO. A team of three PhD researchers from our Centre for Environment, Economy and Energy (3E) competed in this hackathon challenge: Simon Happersberger, Selcukhan Ünekbas, and Eleanor Mateo chose as their theme a proposal on a Fossil Fuel Subsidies reform. The proposal highlighted the urgency of the climate change challenge and how the WTO can have an instrumental role to abate this crisis. The Brussels School of Governance team’s proposal was selected as one of the three finalists from the  31 teams with 106 participants. The two other finalists were from UPenn Law and the Geneva Graduate Institute, with the latter winning the contest. The challenge culminated with defending their proposal before a 9-member jury, comprised of highly esteemed trade and legal experts on WTO Law.  

The team’s presentation and oral defense can be watched here (5:30-20:30).