Prof. dr. Raf Van Ransbeeck (Ph.D.) started his career as a lawyer (advocate) at the bar of Dendermonde (Sint-Niklaas) in 1994, after which he was active in the academical world. In 2006, he was appointed as a judge at the Commercial Tribunal in Brussels (Juge au Tribunal de commerce de Bruxelles) and was promoted in 2012 to judge at the Court of Appeal of Brussels (Conseiller à la cour d’appel de Bruxelles). He also has some additional commitments as a magistrate, such as member of the Management board of Belgian section of the International Union of Magistrates and member of the Civil European Judicial Network (EJN) in Belgium. Prof. dr. Van Ransbeeck is also organizer of various seminars and conferences as well as editor of various academic articles and books. In November 2015, Prof. dr. Van Ransbeeck was appointed as the director of the Belgian Judicial Training Institute (IGO-IFJ, www.igo-ifj.be) for a term of six years, which he combines with a 10% part-time job as professor (assistant professor) at a Belgian university. His appointment as the director of IGO-IFJ has been renewed for six years in November 2021. In his capacity as director, he is member of the Steering Committee of the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) and convener of its Exchange working group. Furthermore, IGO-IFJ is a member of the Euro-Arab Judicial Training Network (EAJTN) and Prof. dr. Van Ransbeeck has chaired and vice-chaired the Network on behalf of IGO-IFJ since 2019 for a 2-term year which has been extended with one year. In 2021, he was appointed, in his personal capacity, as one of the 25 members of the Expert Group on European Judicial Training within the European Commission for a renewable term of 4 years. Since November 2022, Prof. dr. Van Ransbeeck serves as IOJT Deputy Secretary-General.

I am a French judge and a national expert seconded to the Civil Justice Unit in DG JUST, at the European Commission. I am the General Secretary of the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters. I have worked on the digitalisation of cross-border maintenance recovery at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), and on judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters at the French Ministry of Justice.

Born in Brussels on 25.05.64 Notary appointed in Brussels in 2002 President of the Chamber of Notaries of Brussels in 2020 Vice President of the Chamber of Notaries of Brussels in 2021 Responsible for training at the CNUE for more than 5 years Director of the Real Estate Company of Brussels Notaries Responsible for the advisory committee for the candidates-Notaries for Brussels