Julian Scheu is a Privatdozent at the University of Cologne in Public Law, International Law and European Law, and a lecturer at the Europa-Institut of Saarland University. 

His research examines the evolving structures of international economic law and international dispute settlement, particularly in light of European Union law and human rights protection. He also works in comparative constitutional and administrative law.

From 2018 to 2025, he was Junior Professor of Public Law, International Law and International Investment Law at the University of Cologne and Executive Director of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC). 

He studied law in Cologne and at the Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne), where he obtained the LL.M./Maîtrise en droit in 2009. He completed both German State Examinations in Cologne (2013, 2017).

His doctoral thesis on the “Systematic Integration of Human Rights in Investment Arbitration” was published under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schöbener in the Studies in International Investment Law series. 

During his doctorate, he worked as a research associate at the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) and held visiting researcher positions at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) in London and at the École de Droit de la Sorbonne in Paris.

His Habilitation thesis, “Autonomous Multifunctionality of Rights of Action,” analyses the legal nature of individual rights of action and demonstrates their potential as instruments of contemporary legal governance.

Dr Scheu combines academic research with extensive practical experience in public international law. As counsel, he represented the German Federal Government before the Federal Constitutional Court. He also regularly acts as an adviser and expert in international commercial and investment arbitration (including ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, DIS, SIAC and ad hoc proceedings). In projects supporting the development of the rule of law in international contexts, he has worked for organisations including the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).

He works in German, English and French.

At the IILCC, Dr Scheu teaches the course on Investment Arbitration (Investment Law II). 

Monographs:

Autonome Multifunktionalität von Klagerechten – Zum Potential der privaten Rechtsdurchsetzung als Instrument öffentlich-rechtlicher Steuerung, approx. 550 pages (also: Habilitation, Universität zu Köln, 2025, publication in preparation)

Systematische Berücksichtigung von Menschenrechten in Investititonsschiedsverfahren, 363 p., Nomos 2017, ISBN 978-3-8487-3952-3 (also: Dissertation, Universität zu Köln, 2017)

Articles in Journals:

Climate Change, Human Rights, and Private Capital: The Obligation of States to Close the Climate Investment Gap, Austrian Review of International and European Law Online 2024, (with Eva-Maria Wettstein) 

Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement – Current State of Play at UNCITRAL, 25.1 Zeitschrift für Europarechtliche Studien (ZEuS) 2022, 15-74 (with Marc Bungenberg et al.)

Jurisdiction of Arbitral Tribunals to Settle Intra-EU Investment Treaty Disputes, 36.1 ICSID Review - Foreign Investment Law Journal 2021, 171-188 (with Petyo Nikolov)

The Setting Aside and Enforcement of Intra-EU Investment Arbitration Awards After Achmea, 36.2 Arbitration International 2020, 253–274 (with Petyo Nikolov)

The Incompatibility of Intra-EU Investment Treaty Arbitration With European Union Law – Assessing the Scope of the ECJ’S Achema Judgement, 62 German Yearbook of International Law 2019, 475-504 (with Petyo Nikolov)

The Protection of Satellite Telecommunications Activities Under Bilateral Investment Treaties, 19 The Journal of World Investment & Trade 2018, 1024-1058 (with Stephan Hobe, Rada Popova and Hussaine El Bajjati)

Trust Building, Balancing and Sanctioning - Three Pillars of a Systemic Approach to Human Rights in International Investment Law and Arbitration, 48.2 The Georgetown Journal of International Law 2017, 449-504

Consistency and Correctness in Arbitral Decision-Making – Is the UNCITRAL Reform Process Paving the Way for an Appellate Mechanism in ISDS?, Jean-Monnet Paper Serie des Europa-Instituts der Universität des Saarlandes 1/2023 (with Afolabi Adekemi)

Contributions to books and collected editions:

Menschenrechte und globaler Kapitalfluss – Zur Rolle des Menschenrechtsschutzes im internationalen Investitionsrecht, in: Nußberger (Hrsg.), Menschenrechte als Alpha und Omega des Rechts?, Mohr Siebeck 2023, 169-185

Effektiver Rechtsschutz und Eigentumsgarantie im System der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention: Zum Verhältnis und Zusammenspiel von Art. 6 Abs. 1, Art. 13 und Art. 1 ZP-1 EMRK, in: Donath et al. (eds.), Der Schutz des Individuums durch das Recht – Festschrift für Rainer Hofmann zum 70. Geburtstag, Springer 2023, 791-803

The Idea of a Multilateral Investment Court in the Rise, Crisis, and Reform of International Investment Law, in: Scheu (ed.), Creation and Implementation of a Multilateral Investment Court, Nomos/Hart 2022, 27-49

§ 14 - Liberalisierung von Investitionen, in: Kübek/Tams/Terhechte (eds.), Handbuch zum Handels- und Kooperationsvertrag EU/VK, Nomos/Facultas 2022, 297-319

Separate Opinions in Investment Arbitration, in: Ruiz Fabri (ed.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law, Oxford University Press 2021

Enforcement of Investment Treaty Arbitration Awards in Germany, in: Fouret (ed.), Enforcement of Investment Treaty Arbitration Awards, Globe Law and Business Publishing 2021, 385-400 (with Andreas Kulick)

Article 8.31 (Applicable law and interpretation), in: Bungenberg/Reinisch (eds.), CETA Investment Law - Article-by-Article Commentary, Nomos/Hart/Beck 2021, 695-728

Article 8.24 (Proceedings under another international agreement), in: Bungenberg/Reinisch (eds.), CETA Investment Law - Article-by-Article Commentary, Nomos/Hart 2021, 546-557 (with Stephan Hobe)

Articles 66 (Settlement of disputes), 67 (Signature, ratification, acceptance, approval and accession), 68 (Entry into force), 69 (Amendment), 70 (Denunciation), 71 (Depositary and languages), in: Kubiciel/Landwehr/Rose (eds.), The United Nations Convention Against Corruption: A Commentary, Oxford University Press 2019, 647-676 (with Christian Tams)

Edited volumes:

Studien zum Internationalen Investitionsrecht / Studies in International Investment Law, series of publications, Nomos, (with Marc Bungenberg, Jörn Griebel, Stephan Hobe, August Reinisch, Andreas R. Ziegler)

Creation and Implementation of a Multilateral Investment Court, 331 p., Nomos/Hart 2022, ISBN 978-3-8487-8386-1

Investment Protection, Human Rights, and International Arbitration in Extraordinary Times, 435 p., Nomos Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8487-7405-0, 2022 (with Rainer Hofmann, Stephan Schill and Christian J. Tams)

Evolution, Evaluation and Future Developments in International Investment Law – Proceedings of the 10 Year Anniversary Conference of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne, 189 p., Nomos/Hart 2021, ISBN 978-3-8487-7755-6 (with Stephan Hobe)