Charlotte Sieber-Gasser

Charlotte specialised in legal issues of sustainable development and democracy in public international law, constitutional law, and European law and has over 15 years of teaching, research and consulting experience. She is a world leading expert in trade agreements, with a particular interest in their role in sustainable value creation and in multi-level governance of democracy. Charlotte is the senior researcher of the SNSF Sinergia research project "Making Trade Agreements Work in the Service of Society" at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, Geneva Graduate Institute. She also holds the chair for international economic law, public economic law and sustainable development at Zurich Law School/Kalaidos FH and teaches international economic law at the University of Zurich and international environmental law at ZHAW. Her research has been the impetus for legal revisions in Switzerland on various occasions and has inspired the founding of the legal-tech company Besso (democratization of trade preferences).

• Member of the board of trustees, Swiss foundation for consumer protection, since 2025
• Academic co-founder and chairwoman of the academic advisory board, legal-tech company Besso, since 2023
• Co-founder of the Swiss Expert Group Group in «Law and Sustainable Devlopment», since 2022
• Co-founder, board member and member of the editorial team of the first open access law journal of Switzerland, since 2014
• Legal expert, Expert Working Group for Policy Advice on Sustainable Development to Swiss Cantons and Federation, 2022-2023
• Anonymous Reviewer for various academic publishers and journals, since 2013
• Consultant, Sieber | Consulting and Legal Research, independent legal consulting for political interest groups and federal offices, since 2012

• Lecturer in International Environmental Law, CAS Umweltrecht, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW), since 2024
• Lecturer in International Trade Regulation, Institute for International Law and Comparative Constitutional Law, University of Zurich, since 2021
• Lecturer in Law of Sustainable Development and in Swiss Constitutional Law, Department for Public Law, University of Luzern, 2021-2023
• Lecturer in International Economic Law, Chair of European Public Law, Andrássy University Budapest, 2021-2022
• Lecturer in Law of Sustainable Development, Department for International Law, Geneva Graduate Institute, 2022
• Lecturer in Global Trade Policy, School of Economics and Politics, University of St. Gallen, 2016-2019
• Lecturer in International Economic Law and in EU-law, Institute of European and International Economic Law, University of Bern, 2014-2015

• Associate Fellow, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), since 2022
• Prof. Walther Hug-Prize (PhD Award) 2017, for exceptional quality in legal research

• Member of the research commission, Zurich Law School (Kalaidos FH), since 2023
• Member of the academic board, cahiers social sciences, biannual journal edited by the foundation of the universita popolare di torino, since 2023
• Elected representative of academic staff members, Senate, University of Luzern, 2018-2021

• 2025: ZHAW, International Environmental Law, CAS Umweltrecht (ger), Spring; Kalaidos FH Law School, Public Economic Law, Master (FH) (ger), Autumn; Kalaidos FH Law School, EU and Public International Law, Bachelor (FH) (ger), Autumn; University of Zurich, International Trade Regulation, Master (en), Autumn
• 2024: ZHAW, International Environmental Law, CAS Umweltrecht (ger), Spring; Zurich Law School, Public Economic Law, Master (FH) (ger), Autumn; University of Zurich, International Trade Regulation, Master (en), Autumn
• 2023: University of Luzern, Law of Sustainable Development, Master (en), with K. Mathis, Spring; Zurich Law School, Public Economic Law, Master (FH) (ger), Autumn; University of Zurich, International Trade Regulation, Master (en), Autumn
• 2022: University of Luzern, Law of Sustainable Development, Master (en), with K. Mathis, Spring; Geneva Graduate Institute, Law of Sustainable Development, Master (en), with M. Sanchez, Spring; University of Zurich, International Trade Regulation, Master (en), Autumn
• 2021: University of Luzern, Law of Sustainable Development, Master (en), with K. Mathis, Spring; University of Zurich, International Trade Regulation, Master (en), Autumn; Andrássy University Budapest, International Economic Law, Master (ger), Autumn
• 2020: University of Luzern, Law of Sustainable Development, Master (en), with K. Mathis, Spring; University of Luzern, Seminar in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Autumn; University of Luzern, Tutorial in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Spring/Autumn
• 2019: University of Luzern, Seminar in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Autumn; University of Luzern, Tutorial in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Spring/Autumn
• 2018: University of Luzern, Seminar in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Autumn; University of Luzern, Tutorial in Public Law, Bachelor (ger), Spring/Autumn; University of Luzern, Introduction to Swiss Constitutional Law, Master (en), Autumn; University of St. Gallen, Structural Changes in International Politics: Trump, Brexit and Digital Innovation, Master (en), with P. Gottwald, Spring
• 2017: University of Luzern, Introduction to Swiss Constitutional Law, Master (en), Autumn; University of St. Gallen, TTIP, TPP, CETA: Is there a Future for Interregional Trade Agreements?, Master (en), with P. Gottwald, Spring
• 2016: University of Luzern, Introduction to Swiss Constitutional Law, Master (en), Autumn; University of St. Gallen, A new Era? Interregional versus Multilateral Trade & Investment Liberalization, Master (en), with P. Gottwald, Spring
• 2015: University of Bern, Tutorial in EU Law, Bachelor (ger), Spring; University of Bern, International Economic Law, Master (en), Autumn

• Implementing the school’s research profile in sustainability regulation, supervision of one assistant as Principal Investigator for the research project «sustainable development in Swiss law», Zurich Law School (Kalaidos FH), since 2023
• Teamleader, SNSF Sinergia Research Project «Making Trade Agreements Work in the Service of Society», management responsibilities for the supervision of one doctoral fellow and for the coordination of research collaboration within the interdisciplinary core team, Geneva Graduate Institute, since 2022
• Supervision of 34 Master theses in International Economic Law, EU Law, Swiss-EU Bilateral Relations, Competition Law, Law of Sustainable Development and Constitutional Law, University of Zurich, Geneva Graduate Institute, Andrássy University Budapest, University of Luzern, University of St. Gallen, World Trade Institute, and University of Bern, since 2014

• 2024: Senior Expert, Ex-Ante Sustainability Impact Assessment EFTA-Mercosur FTA, CHF 80’000
• 2023: Principal Investigator (PI), Research Partnership «Sustainability standards and Switzerland-Brazil trade relations: Risks and opportunities», CHF 20’000; Principal Investigator (PI), Research project «Sustainable Development in Swiss Law», CHF 14’000; Legal opinion, popular initiative on relations between Switzerland and the European Union, CHF 6’600
• 2022: Legal opinion, expert group for sustainability policies in Switzerland, research on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, CHF 4’000

• 2024: Symposium “Sustainable Development: Law and Practice”, Co-Organiser, 11/15/24, Zurich-Oerlikon; International Workshop “The Law and Politics of Sustainability Standards in Trade Relations between Latin America and Europe”, Co-Organiser, 08/16/24, Sao Paulo; International Workshop “Present Challenges and Future Design of International Trade Policy”, Co-Organiser, 06/06/24, Geneva
• 2023: SVIR/ILA Workshop “Sustainable Development in Swiss Law: Legal Principle or Legal Norm?”, Organiser, 09/29/23, Basel; Panel “Saving International Trade Agreements: The Potential of «Package Treaties»”, Organiser, 07/12/23 - 07/14/23, Bogota; International Workshop “Addressing Free Trade’s Negative Spillovers: The Potential of «Package Treaties»”, Co-Organiser, 06/16/23, Geneva
• 2022: SVIR/ILA Workshop “Sustainability and the Law”, Co-Organiser, 09/23/22, Bern
• 2021: Online Conference and Book Launch “Democracy and Globalisation – Lessons for a Post-Covid-19 World”, Organiser, 06/23/21