Responsibilities
Vice-Director
As Vice-Director, she participates in the operational management of the Institute, ensuring the effective functioning of its activities within the strategic framework defined by the Institute’s Council.
As such, she contributes to the coherent and coordinated implementation of the Institute’s activities and to strengthening its positioning and impact vis-à-vis public authorities, academic partners and the wider public.
Co-Head of the Legal Division
As Co-Head of the Legal Division, she leads the conceptual development and helps guaranteethe academic quality of the Institute’s research and expert work.
She ensures that the Institute’s comparative studies and expert opinions are grounded in rigorous research and reflect the social, economic and institutional contexts in which the law operates, as well as the societal impact of legal rules.
She oversees the implementation of the Institute’s thematic orientations in its research and expert work.
Professional background
A long-time scholar of international trade and investment law, Krista has an extensive academic background in the field. She is a member of the teaching faculties of the University of Basel Law Department and the World Trade Institute in Bern and is one of Switzerland’s appointments to ICSID’s list of conciliators.
Her research centres on the intersection of international economic law and general international law, focusing on areas where international trade and investment impact societies and individuals. With a clearly policy-oriented approach, her work examines how legal rules operate within their social, economic and institutional contexts and how they shape and affect societies. Much of her broad international network has been formed through her work on the legal dimensions of sustainable development, in particular governance, poverty reduction and resource allocation. This perspective has also led her to investigate the regulation of unlawful behavior in trade and investment, the digital divide, and the theoretical framework for legal questions surrounding obesity.
She is the author of a textbook on international investment law and the lead editor of the Encyclopedia of International Economic Law. [ https://www.elgaronline.com/display/book/9781800882324/9781800882324.xml]
Krista is a native of the United States but has lived in Switzerland for over 30 years. She received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Chicago, her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law School, and her doctorate and Habilitation from the University of Bern.
Areas of Interest
- How international investment law’s evolution is affecting governance
- How rule of law can be promoted through international economic law
- How law can address the securitization of international economic relations