Esther VAN ZIMMEREN is a research fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) at the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (Faculty of Law, University of Leuven, Belgium) (October 2006-present). Her research covers patent law, trademark law, competition law, international trade law and governance issues. Last year, she worked several months as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and the Institute of Intellectual Property (IIP) in Tokyo. Her PhD research project focuses on the interface between patent and competition law, in particular in the biomedical sector. In this framework she has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to books.

In 2004, she joined the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights as a research fellow in a research project called “Gene Patents and Public Health” supported by the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). Before, she worked for two years as a legal assistant for Judge A.W.H. Meij at the Court of first instance of the European Communities in Luxembourg in the area of European trademark and competition law. Esther studied European & International Law, with a strong emphasis on European competition law (Master in Laws, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands, 2001), Dutch Private Law (Master in Laws, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands, 2001) and did an LL.M. in EU Law and Intellectual Property Law (Master of Laws, University of Leuven, Belgium, 2002).