Prof. Mirjan Damaška has established a scholarship fund for participants of IUC courses and conferences named Marija and Mirjan Damaška Scholarship Fund.

Scholarships will be used to help participants in IUC human rights and mass atrocities prevention courses. Beneficiaries can be from non-EU countries in South East Europe, and exceptionally from other countries if they are affected by conflict or instability, and if the courses relate to ways to overcome them.

Scholarships are proposed by the directors of IUC relevant courses, taking into account the qualities and needs of candidates, and the final decision on granting is made by the committee: President of the IUC Association, IUC Director General, IUC Deputy Director General, and IUC Executive Secretary. For the selection of courses and candidates according to the mentioned criteria, the committee can also use the professional help of one of the IUC course directors from the relevant field, and if necessary, co-opt him into the committee.

The number and amount of scholarships will depend on the available funds and the costs necessary for the participation of individual candidates, which are decided by the committee taking into account the long-term sustainability of the fund.

Please find here the application form which should, along with other requested documents be sent to Ms. Nada Bruer Ljubišić at nada.bruer@iuc.hr.

List of eligible courses for the year 2024

• EU Substantive Criminal Law and Protection of Victims (11 - 15 March)
• Divided Societies (6 - 12 May)
• Atrocity Crime Prevention and Human Rights (13 -17 May)
• Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice (13 - 25 May)
• Regional Cooperation and Security in SE Europe (17 - 21 June)
• Accountability for Large Scale Atrocities: Legal and Non-legal mechanisms (1 - 6 July)
• Diversity of Human Rights (25 - 31 August)

Mirjan and his late spouse Marija Damaška (died in 2013) decided to devote their fortune to philanthropic purposes. After Marija’s death, Mirjan established the foundation “Marija and Mirjan Damaška” at the Zagreb Law School in 2014, aimed at strengthening the international cooperation of his alma mater.

With the establishment of the “Marija and Mirjan Damaška scholarship fund” in 2022, professor Damaška is extending his philanthropic support to enable the participation of students from the Western Balkans, as well as other countries affected by atrocity crimes threats, in postgraduate courses dealing with law and atrocity crimes threats at the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik.

Mirjan Damaška is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at the Yale Law School. He teaches and writes in the fields of comparative and foreign law, procedural law, evidence, international criminal law, and continental legal history.

He is the author of numerous books, among which The Faces of Justice and Evidence Law Adrift were translated into several languages and considered to be some of the most influential works on comparative law and evidence in the last decades. He has also published more than 100 articles in professional journals of numerous countries. 

He received his LL.B. at the University of Zagreb in his native Croatia. He then studied at the Academy of International Law at The Hague, and at the Comparative Law Faculty in Luxembourg. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). Following his time spent practicing in the courts of former Yugoslavia, he began his teaching career at the University of Zagreb Law School, rising quickly to the rank of a tenured professor, and briefly serving as Acting Dean. In 1971, he left his native Croatia, and accepted a tenured position at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. To accompany him, his spouse Marija had to quit her successful career of a judge. Since 1976, he has been on the faculty of the Yale Law School. 

Damaška is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society of Comparative Law. From 1978-79, he was a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also holder of several honorary degrees. 

He was a keynote speaker and general reporter at several international congresses and fora. Five symposia were organized about his work: in Bielefeld (Germany) in 1987; Siena (Italy) in 1988; San Francisco in 1998; Zagreb (Croatia) in 2006; and in New Haven in 2008. From 1990 to 1995, he served on the Advisory Board of the Central and East European Legal Initiative of the ABA. Since 1995, he has periodically advised the Croatian government in its relations with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 

In 2005, he was appointed Amicus Curiae of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the matter of transferring cases to domestic courts. In 2009, he was presented the lifetime achievement award by the American Society of Comparative Law. In 2014, he was awarded the Life Achievement award by Jadranko Crnic Foundation, Croatia. In 2010 he was appointed as agent of the Republic of Croatia before the International Court of Justice. 

Two books of essays have been published in his honor: Jackson, Langer, & Tillers (eds.), "Crime, Procedure, and Evidence: Essays in honor of Mirjan Damaška (Oxford 2008), and Ackerman, Ambos, Sikiric (eds.), "Visions of Justice, Liber Amicorum Mirjan Damaška" (Berlin 2016).