N (Nadia) Bernaz, PhD

Nadia Bernaz is Associate Professor in the LAW group at Wageningen University and Director of the EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Corporate Sustainability and Human Rights Law. She was previously a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University (London, UK), and before that a lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland (Galway, Ireland). She holds a PhD in international law from Aix-Marseille University (France).

At the LAW group, Dr Bernaz leads the Business, Human rights and the Environment research line. Her interdisciplinary research agenda focuses on business accountability as part of the sustainability transformations puzzle. She explores how to hold business accountable for human rights and environmental impacts. through national, international and transnational public and private processes. 

Her book, Business and Human Rights - History Law and Policy, Bridging the Accountability Gap (Routledge, 2017) was rated as one of the best human rights books of all times and translated into Korean. The Korean Academy of Science has recognised it as one of the best books of the year in 2024. She has published in top law and business journals such as Human Rights Quarterly, the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON), Transnational Environmental Law, the Journal of Business Ethics, Business and Society and the Business and Human Rights Journal; and in multidisciplinary journals such as Nature Food.

She has a strong international experience and has taught students and delivered training to companies, governments, and civil society organizations around the world. 

She is on the steering committee of the Horizon Europe project Rebalance Democracy and Capitalism, the book review editor of the Business and Human Rights Journal, and she sits on the Supervisory Board of Solidaridad Europe.

• Business and human rights journal (15-5-2021/31-12-2099)
  
• Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (1-3-2019/31-12-2099)
  Every year I review some appeals from companies who are contesting their scores in the corporate human rights benchmark.
• Donations and Democracy (1-4-2024/31-12-2099)
  The non-profit organization Donations and Democracy aims to uncover the connection between foreign companies and U.S. Congress members who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It focuses on democracy, human rights and rule of law concerns.
• Raoul Wallenberg Institute (20-6-2024/1-11-2025)
  Support to Early Career Researchers for Fostering Sustainable Business Models in Ukraine” (hereafter BHR4Ukraine) is a project with a significant mentorship program component designed to increase the capacities of PhD students and early career researchers in Ukraine on business and human rights, focusing on the role of BHR in a sustainable and rights-based recovery of Ukraine as well as the EU accession. The project is a joint initiative between the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law based in Lund, Sweden, and Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (NLU) based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The project is financed by the Swedish Institute. ||20 early-career researchers have been selected for the participation in the mentorship program based on the following criteria: 1) research or teaching experience in the field of BHR, 2) motivation to participate in the mentorship program, and 3) specific interest within the BHR field. Formal requirements such as proficiency in English and early-career researcher status have been taken into consideration when selecting the mentees. |
• Solidaridad Europe (1-1-2025/31-12-2099)
  The European Continental Supervisory Board consists of 7 members and supervises Solidaridad Europe’s management and development, and evaluates the policies pursued by the Managing Director.
• Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (10-3-2025/10-3-2028)
  Steering Committee Member, Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research.