Profile
PD Dr. iur. Charlotte Sieber-Gasser is Senior Researcher in International Law of the SNSF Sinergia Project «Making Trade Agreements Work in the Service of Society» at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration. As part of this project, Charlotte investigates the role of domestic measures in addressing negative externalities of trade liberalization, as well as instruments to render trade agreements more flexible to adapt to changing circumstances, more considerate for their own anticipated negative spillovers, and more accessible to SMEs, particularly in developing countries.
Charlotte Sieber-Gasser earned her PhD in international economic law from the World Trade Institute, University of Bern with summa cum laude in 2014, and her habilitation in constitutional law, EU law and public international law at the University of Bern in 2025. As a lecturer, she currently teaches international trade regulation at the University of Zurich (Mlaw and LLM), international environmental law at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. She is full professor of Public Economic Law, International Law and EU Law at Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, where she teaches, among others, EU and international law, as well as public economic law.
Prior to joining the Graduate Institute, Charlotte was Senior Academic Assistant and Lecturer at the University of Lucerne, and Lecturer at the Universities of Andrassy Budapest, Zurich and St. Gallen. Among others, she taught Swiss public law, EU law, and law of sustainable development, while conducting research for her second monograph on the implications of the internationalisation of law for state order. Linked with this research, Charlotte worked as a PostDoc Researcher at the DCU Brexit Institute, Dublin City University, in 2019.
Charlotte was a Doctoral and PostDoc Fellow of the SNSF NCCR International Trade Regulation at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern. Her award-winning PhD thesis examines the role of WTO/GATS flexibilities in the implementation of development-promoting South-South economic partnerships (published as: Developing Countries and Preferential Services Trade, Cambridge University Press, 2016). Charlotte studied law in Switzerland (Universities of Fribourg and Bern), and development studies in the UK (Global Development Institute, University of Manchester).
She is a co-founder of the Swiss Open Access law journal sui generis, the initiator and co-founder of the Swiss Network for Law & Sustainable Development, and the academic co-founder and head of the academic advisory board of the Swiss legal-tech startup Besso. She is a member of the foundation board of the Swiss foundation for consumer protection and appointed conciliator on behalf of Switzerland. Her research findings and work as a consultant contribute to sustainable development, transparency and inclusion in trade policy in Europe, in developing countries and at the WTO. Charlotte can be followed on Bluesky or on Linkedin, and her publications are, among others, available here.