Activities

a) Our own publication series: the PIRR

The series Perspectives on Innovation, Risk and Responsibility - PIRR, which is published by the CIRR from 2023 onwards, is issued by the Schulthess publishing house.

b) DACH-conference series

Since 2024, the CIRR, together with Prof. Dr. Michael Gruber from the University of Salzburg and Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand from the University of Mannheim, has held an annual special conference dedicated to the legal comparison of an insurance-specific topic from the perspective of the legal systems of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. (Invited) participants are the leading representatives of this area of law from academia, the judiciary, legal counselling and the insurance industry from each of the three countries. The results of the conference will be published in a special issue of the leading German journal, VersR, and thus made available to the specialised public. The CIRR has been a co-organiser of this conference series since its inception and is organising the annual conference in Zurich in 2025.

c) New internet portal: ipr-izvr.plus

With the ipr-izvr.plus portal, which is currently being developed, the CIRR aims to take the idea of specialised information via traditional print media a step further and promote the fusion of knowledge from the digital world with that from the offline world. In this context, an innovative portal has been developed as a further development of the text edition on IPR/ICLR, which has been successful for several editions, which not only updates and expands the book content, but is also intended to become a central point of contact for international private and civil procedure law in Switzerland. In addition to attractively prepared book content, law-seekers will not only find easy-to-use deep links as a helpful guide through the jungle of international law sources, but also current judgement reviews, a monitoring of the current revision situation of the IPRG, further information on the conflict of laws implications of Brexit and much more.

d) New internet portal: vvg.digital

Under vvg.digital, the CIRR, in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Archives, has launched an Internet portal under which all materials on the Swiss Insurance Contract Act (ICA) are presented in a graphically appealing form and in full text, as well as being systematically searchable. This is intended to make a valuable contribution to the interpretation of legal texts in practice, but also to the better scientific examination of this area of law, which is indispensable for the work of the CIRR.

e) UFSP "Human Reproduction Reloaded"

The head of the CIRR, Prof. Loacker, is also co-head of the research area "Normativity of Human Reproduction"  within the university research focus "Human Reproduction Reloaded". In this context, one of the questions being investigated is to what extent the unbroken technical innovation thrust in the field of reproductive medicine requires a legal foundation and accompaniment. The answer to this question can often not only be found from the perspective of a single national law. Rather, it requires comparative law and - if one only thinks of the frequent cases of surrogate motherhood with references to several states - clarification of the most diverse preliminary questions - for example, with regard to the applicable law.

f) Further academic activities

Firstly, contributions to books and journals arepublishedon a regular basis in all subject areas of the CIRR. In addition, we are involved in university teaching as well as in postgraduate training and at relevant professional conferences and events.

g) Development of specialised knowledge management systems

The necessary access to expertise is provided by a well-sorted and up-to-date chair library as well as by access to the world's most important databases and specialist journals in all the subject areas examined by the CIRR. In addition, we continuously document, systematise and digitise the latest relevant publications and official decisions in our internal IT systems. In this way, an ever broader knowlegde base is created for our own present and future research activities. This applies in particular to comparative law.

h) Newsletter and overview of current legal developments

The CIRR offers a monthly newsletter for those interested in the subject, which evaluates the most interesting publications in the German-speaking world from the subject areas examined by the CIRR. Furthermore, current developments, namely in the area of case law and legislation, are followed in a short and precise form via the website and aims to be understandable also for persons without legal background.