Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Latest news News News articles

Wierenga-Rengerink Dissertation Prize for Arpi Karapetian

01 July 2020
Arpi Karapetian
Arpi Karapetian

The Wierenga-Rengerink Dissertation Prize for the best PhD thesis of the year 2019 has been awarded to Dr Arpi Karapetian. Her 502-page thesis is entitled Bestuurdersaansprakelijkheid uit onrechtmatige daad: Civielrechtelijke en strafrechtelijke normen voor bestuurders van noodlijdende ondernemingen. [Directors’ liability based on tort law: civil law and criminal law norms for directors of ailing companies] During the summer ceremony, Karapetian will receive a prize of € 7,500 to spend on her continued academic development. The prize money was made available by UG alumni via the Ubbo Emmius Fund (UEF).

Merit

Integrated private law and criminal law research is hardly ever conducted in the Netherlands and Europe. The greatest merit of Karapetian’s work is that she has provided insight into the norms that apply to directors of partnerships dealing with creditors from the perspective of tort law, specifically focusing on the directors’ relationships with creditors of partnerships that are faced with financial problems. The research therefore provides great added value to law studies as well as to professional practice, where it can serve as a clear, useful guide.

Conflict of interests

Directors of companies that are facing financial difficulties have a lot of interests to take into account when taking decisions. The interests of creditors often conflict with societal interests, such as the preservation of companies and employment. Arpi Karapetian looks at various types of cases and categories of director behaviour, and discusses the penal provisions of swindle, habitual acquisition of property without intent to pay, fraudulent bankruptcy, embezzlement and withdrawal from pledge from a criminal law perspective. The focus is always first on the criminal law norm, after which the civil law framework is studied if this reaches beyond the criminal liability.

Wierenga-Rengerink Dissertation Prize

The Wierenga-Rengerink Dissertation Prize has been awarded every year since 2015 to the PhD student who wrote the best UG thesis in that year. The Deans of all faculties are invited on behalf of the Rector Magnificus to nominate PhD theses that have been awarded the cum laude distinction. The jury for the 2019 prize comprised current Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga and the former Rectors Bosscher, Sterken and Zwarts.

Last modified:02 July 2020 08.53 a.m.
Share this Facebook LinkedIn
View this page in: Nederlands

More news

  • 17 July 2025

    Veni-grants for eleven UG researchers

    The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant of up to €320,000 each to eleven researchers of the University of Groningen and the UMCG: Quentin Changeat, Wen Wu, Femke Cnossen, Stacey Copeland, Bart Danon, Gesa Kübek, Hannah Laurens, Adi...

  • 11 July 2025

    Alette Smeulers ontrafelt het kwaad: ‘Gewone mensen, extreme daden’

    Internationale misdrijven als genocide, oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid roepen al decennia vragen op: hoe kunnen mensen hiertoe in staat zijn? Wat bezielt hen? En hoe kunnen we dit begrijpen zonder te vervallen in simplificaties...

  • 09 July 2025

    Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid opent deuren tijdens Rondje Rechtsstaat

    Op zaterdagmiddag 13 september neemt de Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid deel aan Rondje Rechtsstaat, onderdeel van de landelijke Week van de Rechtsstaat. Tussen 13.00 en 16.00 uur is iedereen welkom in het Rölinggebouw om meer te ontdekken over de...