Meet the Team
Professor Tetyana Antsupova
Lead researcher of the Project "The Dynamics of the Judiciary in Ukraine in the Context of the Rule of Law and the EU Accession Aspirations", former judge of the Supreme Court in Ukraine (Grand Chamber).
Professor Tetyana Antsupova is a Senior Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and awardee of the British Academy Global Professorships scheme. She is an experienced academic and legal professional with a strong European Human Rights Law background and 17 years of University teaching experience in Ukraine and Poland. She is recognised as the author of learning courses for LL.M. students on the Council of Europe Law. In 2022, Professor Tetyana Antsupova was on a national shortlist of candidates for the position of judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Ukraine (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Communication | Doc. 15485 | 21 March 2022). As a Judge of the Supreme Court in Ukraine for over 5 years (2017-2023), she contributed as a coauthor to the judge training programs on legal writing. Her expertise spans Judiciary reforms in Ukraine, focusing on promoting the judiciary's independence. Professor Tetyana Antsupova is committed to upholding justice, safeguarding human rights, and contributing to meaningful improvements in the European legal domain.
Dr. Jan van Zyl Smit
A comparative constitutional lawyer by background, Jan's work focuses mainly on the judiciary and judicial reform. He has been instrumental in developing international standards on judicial appointments, playing a leading role in drafting the Cape Town Principles on judicial appointment commissions, and contributed to the development of the Commonwealth Secretariat Model Law on Judicial Service Commissions (2018) and the OSCE's Warsaw Recommendations on Judicial Independence and Accountability (2023). He is the author of The Appointment, Tenure and Removal of Judges under Commonwealth Principles (2015), which has been cited by courts and law reform bodies in more than a dozen jurisdictions, and co-edited Securing Judicial Independence: The Role of Commissions in Selecting Judges in the Commonwealth (2017).
Dr. Sergii Koziakov
Dr. Sergii Koziakov has been an Associate Professor at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Institute of International Relations) since 1988, where he teaches about the Legal Regulation of foreign economic activity, Comparative Competition Law, and Private Legal Practice. He has also been a Partner in the Advocate Firm "Sergii Koziakov and Partners" since 1994. From 2014 to 2019, he was Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. As Chairman, he introduced substantial innovative procedures to prevent corruption in the judiciary, such as evaluating judges. He also tendered the first open competition in Ukraine's history to the new Supreme Court and the High Anti-Corruption Court. In 2022, he received the Cara Scholarship for Academics at Risk and is a Visiting Senior Fellow with the London School of Economics and Political Science. Currently, he is engaged in the research problems of comparative analysis of judicial reform in Europe and other regions of the world and the regulation of artificial intelligence.
Dr. Julinda Beqiraj
Dr. Julinda Beqiraj is the Maurice Wohl Senior Fellow in European Law. She leads and develops the research and events program in European law and publishes high-quality research for the Institute in this area; proactively pursues Institute-wide research projects in European law areas, (such as human rights trade and the environment), drawing on expertise from across the Institute, as appropriate; and contributes to the Bingham Centre's work on Access to Justice, with a particular focus on efficiency and quality of justice systems in Europe. She is also involved, on occasion, as an expert consultant in Council of Europe and EU-funded projects.
Maria Tymofienko
Maria Tymofiienko is an international lawyer and Head of Projects, Ukraine International Law Response at the British Institute for International and Comparative Law (BIICL). Originally from Kyiv, Maria moved to the UK in 2012 to continue her academic research at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL.) At QMUL and later at BIICL Maria managed major international assistance projects in support of Ukraine's law and judiciary reform agenda. Maria has worked closely with civil society and parliamentary groups organising numerous delegations of Ukrainian officials and opinion leaders to the UK as well as visits by UK MPs to Ukraine to help build and strengthen UK-Ukraine relations.
