About the Integrative Research Institute Law & Society
The Integrative Research Institute Law & Society (LSI) Berlin is a place for interdisciplinary legal studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It was established in 2008 by Prof. Susanne Baer and awarded Integrative Research Institute at HU Berlin in 2019, funded by the German Excellence Initiative.
The LSI Berlin aims to complement doctrinal legal research by the systematic inclusion of social sciences, the humanities and natural sciences, critically reflecting the opaque separation of knowledge by different academic disciplines. By this interdisciplinary approach, functions and interdependencies of law are examined in an integrative and methodologically reflected way. In doing so, the LSI considers itself as part of the international law and society movement that emerged from legal realism.
As Integrative Research Institute, LSI supports trans-faculty cooperation and, thus, serves as a framework for innovative approaches of socio-legal research from different academic denominations. It cooperates closely with national and international partners such as the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
The Institute comprises different research areas with projects conducted both by the academic staff and associated researchers. Besides, LSI’s work is accompanied by a so-called project group and by visits of international guest speakers and researchers.