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Melanie Regine Hack
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Melanie Regine Hack

Position

Associate Professor

Affiliation

E-mail
melanie.hack@uib.no
Phone number
+47 55589679
Visitor address
Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1
5010 Bergen
Postal address
P.O. Box 7806
NO-5020 Bergen
Norway

Melanie Regine Hack

Position

Associate Professor

Affiliation

Research groups

Research

My research is located at the intersection of labour and social security law with a view of the Europeanisation and internationalization of both areas of law. A strong methodological feature of my research is therefore focusing on legal comparative analysis. The overarching guiding research question for all projects I have been part of has been to identify what answers the current law can give us to tackle societal changes like demographic change, digitalization, and migration and how the law may be reformed to address these challenges. A further key dominator of my research has been the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the labour market by strengthening the non-discrimination law regime to achieve substantive equality in working life.

Since August 2023 I am leading  a research project on work-life balance: LaW-BALANCE | University of Bergen (uib.no) Life and Work in Balance: Legal responses to working life in times of change and crisis

 

Taking a closer look on how EU law has an impact on national law has been an integral part from the beginning of my research career and since May 2023 I can explore this relation with regard to Norwegian law and the EU  & EEA dimension even further as part of the Managment team of Centre on the Europeanization of Norwegian Law (CENTENOL), where I will lead a work package with a special focus on labour law.

Knowledge exchange with international researchers as well as relevant stakeholders has always been important to me. I have been a visiting scholar at leading research institutions in the USA (George Washington University, Washington DC.), UK (UCL, London) and Germany (Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy (MPISOC), Munich) and held several talks at international conferences. During my professional career, I also gained in-depth experience in project- and science management: As a senior researcher at MPISOC I have inter alia been an elected member of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society and finally during my position as private secretary of Vice-President of the TU Berlin and by later leading the division of Diversity, Inclusion and Internationalization within Strategic Controlling at TU Berlin.

see for further information my Orcid-Profile: Melanie Regine Hack (0000-0002-4470-7206) (orcid.org

Teaching

teaching in Norwegian:

Arbeidsrett fordypning, JUS251-2-B, since autumn 2021

Trygderett; trygdemedisin for primærkontakter, MANT306A, UiB Vår 2022, vår 2024

Storgruppeleder, Norske og internasjonale rettslege institusjonar (NIRI), Jus 121, vår 2022

 

teaching in English:

from autumn 2022 together with Ingrid Halvorsen Barlund course supervisor, EU and EEA Commercial Law, JUS 287-2-A 

Publications
Lecture
Academic lecture
Popular scientific lecture
Article in business/trade/industry journal
Popular scientific article
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Academic article
Feature article
Book Translation
Academic monograph
Abstract

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

newest publications:

LISA WADDINGTON & MELANIE HACK,  ‘Work-Life Balance’ (last updated May 2024) in S Garben and L Gormley (eds), Oxford Encyclopedia of EU Law (Oxford University Press 2022–) <https://opil.ouplaw.com/>

 

MELANIE HACK, Working-life out-of-balance? Legal responses in the EU and Norway to parenthood and caregiving in times of crisis, publisert i  diritto lavori mercati, DLM.int n.1 – 2023, nedlastbar under: https://www.ddllmm.eu/dlm-int-n-1-2023/

 

MELANIE HACK, No Need for a Lighthouse When You Have Northern Lights? A Critical Assessment of the Norwegian Legal Framework on Paid Annual Leave and Its Conformity with EU and EEA Law. In: Jorens, Y. (eds) The Lighthouse Function of Social Law. LFSL 2023. Springer, Cham, s. 449-465, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32822-0_22

Projects

Currently, I am involved in 3 projects financed by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR):

1. I am part of the Management team of the newly established Centre on the Europeanization of Norwegian Law CENTENOL | University of Bergen (uib.no), which is led by Professor Christian Franklin. Within the Center, I lead a work package on labour law, where the focus is on analyzing the recent revival of the EU's social acquis and its role for EU/EEA labour law in a cross-border dimension. CENTENOL is financed by NFR with 21 million NOK.

Centenol is a national and international cooperative venture, based around a research hub located at the University of Bergen’s Faculty of Law. The Center is led by Professor Christian Franklin. More information is to be found at CENTENOL | University of Bergen (uib.no)

2. Since August 2023, I have led the project LaW-BALANCE Life and work in balance: Legal responses to a changing working life and in times of crisis. LaW-BALANCE is a four-year research project on the legal framework for a working life in transition, with a focus on the concept of 'work-life-balance'. The project team includes Associate Professor Tine Eidsvaag from the Faculty of Law at UiB and Professor Lisa Waddington from Maastricht University. The project is supported by the Research Council of Norway with NOK 9.9 million.

3. From October 2023 I will participate in a work package in the project Revising Work Time Flexibility Policies to Promote Work Inclusion (REFLEX). The project, which is coordinated by OlsoMet, has been awarded NOK 12 million by the Norwegian Research Council through the Welfare, Culture and Society program and is led by Tanja Haraldsdottir Nordberg - OsloMet.