Elena Prats

Elena Prats is a qualified lawyer, holding a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Uppsala University and a Ph.D. in Law (Cum Laude) from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Her scholarly pursuits encompass legal theory, animal law, bioethics, and citizenship policies.

Prats has extensive international academic experience: up to today she has been studying, researching, or teaching at universities in nine different countries: Spain (University of Barcelona; Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB); UPF; Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC); Universidad Nacional Educación a Distancia (UNED); Universidad de la Laguna; Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC)), Germany (Universität Bremen; Max Planck Institute, visiting Scholar 2019), U.K. (Glasgow University), Japan (桃山学院大学; 早稲田大学;日本大学; 上智大学), Finland (Åbo Akademi University, visiting Scholar 2019 and 2022), United States (Lewis & Clark Law School, online), Italy (Tarello Institute at the University of Genoa, visiting Scholar 2019), Poland (University of Silesia, visiting Scholar 2021) and Sweden (Uppsala University).

EDUCATION

• PhD in Philosophy (Uppsala University) (2023)
• PhD in Law (Pompeu Fabra University) (2023)
• LL.M. in Animal Law. Lewis&Clark Law School (2022)
• Lawyers Bar Exam (Spain) July 2020
• LL.M. in Law (90 ECTS). UNED (2020)
• Master's degree (60 ECTS) in Bioethics & Biolaw. Universidad de la Laguna & ULPGC (2019)
• Bachelor's degree (240 ECTS) in Law. UOC (2018)
• Master's degree (90 ECTS) in Internationalization. University of Barcelona (2012)
• Bachelor's degree in Asian Studies. UAB & UPF (2012)
• Bachelor's degree (240 ECTS) in Philosophy. University of Barcelona (2010)

UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Uppsala University (Sweden) Department of Philosophy (Courses taught: Philosophy of Law: 2017,2018,2019; Migration Ethics 2018,2019; Bioethics&Biolaw: 2018,2019; Ethics -seminar leader: 2020,2021).
• Sophia University (上智大学) (Tokyo, Japan) (2014).
• University of Japan (日本大学) (Mishima, Japan). College of International Relations (2013-2014).
• Waseda University (早稲田大学) (Tokyo, Japan). School of International Liberal Studies (SILS) (2012-2014) and School of Letters, Arts and Sciences (2013-2014).

PROJECTS

• Contributivism an interdisciplinary project funded by the Swedish Research Council, 2019–2023
• CIVIS SUM a project funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation within the program Wallenberg Academy Fellows, 2015–2020<

ARTICLES/PAPERS & BOOKS

• Prats, E. (2024, forthcoming) Discretion and Arbitrariness in Law: A Fundamental Distinction Regarding Migrant Exclusion (in the book The Policy Cycle of Migrant Exclusion, eds. Gschwind, Prats, and Jeglinska, Springer, IMISCOE Series).
• Prats, E. (2023) The Value of Values: A Critical Assessment of Citizenship by Investment Programs in the European Union, doctoral dissertation defended on December 1st, 2023. Available here
• Prats, E. (2021c) Las formas de lo arbitrario: Los altos y bajos de Towards a Theory of Arbitrary Law-making in Migration Policy de Patricia Mindus, in CEFD (Cuadernos Electrónicos de Filosofía del Derecho), n. 45, pp.178-194.
• Prats, E. (2021b) Are Citizenship-by-Investment Programs Legitimate? Suggesting Some Assessment Methods, a chapter of the book 'Money Matters in Migration', Cambridge University Press, ed. de Lange, T., Schrauwen, A, and Maas, W.
• Prats, E. (2021a) Cuestiones de Estatus: Una mirada a «Hacia una teoría funcionalista de la ciudadanía» de Patricia Mindus, book review published at Latin American Human Rights Studies (LAHRS), v. 1, n. 1. Available here
• Mindus, P. and Prats, E. (2020c) Women in Philosophy: Voices from Scandinavia - An Introduction, in Women in Philosophy: Voices from Scandinavia (Mindus&Prats eds.), Special Issue for Theoria, Vol. 86, n.6. (Q1). DOI: 10.1111/theo.12290.
• Prats, E. (2020b) El delito de Maltrato Animal en España: Pasado, Presente y Futuro, in Revista Jurídica de Catalunya n.4-2020, pp. 965-1000. Pre-printed version available here
• Prats, E. (2020a) La Urgencia de la Bioética: a favor de la constitución de un foro para el consenso moral global, ed. Editorial Académica Española. ISBN: 978-620-0-39404-0. Book sold here:
• Mindus, P., and Prats. E. (2019b) Quality of Legislation Meets Migration Policy- An Introduction, in Quality of Legislation Meets Migrations Policy (Mindus&Prats eds.), Special Issue for The Theory and Practice of Legislation (Q3) (Vol. 7, issue 2). DOI: 10.1080/20508840.2020.1729554.
• Prats, E. (2019) Citizenship by Investment Programmes: Express Naturalisation for Bulky Wallets. An Arbitrary de jure Stratification? in Revista de Derecho Político (Q2) (UNED), n. 106, September-December 2019, pp. 347-377.
• Mindus, P. and Prats, E. (2018) La cittadinanza «a pagamento» nell'Unione europea, in Quaderni costituzionali, Rivista italiana di diritto costituzionale (Q3) 1/2018, pp. 246-252, doi: 10.1439/89202.
• Prats, E. (Master thesis, 2012) Relaciones comerciales UE - Japón: sobre las posibilidades de celebración de un nuevo TLC a partir del modelo UE - Corea del Sur, doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19712.43522

SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS, CONFERENCES, and CONGRESSES

• Prats, E. (2023a) The Value of Values: Assessing Citizenship by Investment Programs in the EU. Final Seminar at Uppsala University (online), 15 February 2023.
• Prats, E. (2022d) The Value of Values: A Framework for Analysis. Dissertation chapter presented at the Higher Seminar in Philosophy of Law of the Department of Philosophy, Uppsala University (online), 15 December 2022.
• Prats, E. and Gschwind, L. The Policy Cycle of Migrant Exclusion: A Multidisciplinary Approach, (forthcoming) book presented at 19th IMISCOE Annual Conference (Oslo Met, Norway), 30 June 2022.
• Prats, E. (2022c) Arbitrariness and Coherence: Two Relevant Legal Concepts for Animal Law. Paper presented at the Conference Theory of Animal Law, University of Helsinki (Finland) 18 June 2022.
• Prats, E. (2022b) On the Legal Notion of Arbitrariness. Paper presented at The Swedish Congress of Philosophy 2022 (Filosofidagarna) at Lund University (Sweden), 11 June 2022.
• Prats, E. (2022a) The Value of Values: Assessing Citizenship by Investment Programs in the EU, presentation at the Higher Seminar in Philosophy of Law at Uppsala University (online), 2 June 2022.
• Prats, E. (2021e) Arbitrariness at the Time of the Covid Pandemic, paper presented at the International Society of Public Law ICON.S Mundo Conference (online), 9 July 2021.
• Prats, E. (2021d) Are Citizenship-by-Investment Programs Legitimate? Suggesting some Assessment Methods, presentation of the contribution for the book Money Matters in Migration at the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) Annual Conference (online), 8 June 2021.
• Prats, E. (2021c) Are Citizenship-by-Investment programs in the EU arbitrary? Dissertation chapter presented at the Workshop on Contributivism organized by the project Contributivism: On Practices, Debates and Attitudes About Grounding Democratic Inclusion on Economic Contributions (online), 13 April 2021.
• Prats, E. (2021b) The Value of Values: Assessing the Legitimacy of Citizenship by Investment Programs in the EU. Paper presented at the Higher Seminar in Practical Philosophy (online) at the Uppsala University, 9 April 2021.
• Prats, E. (2021a) Discretion, Arbitrariness and the Rule of Law. Paper presented at the Higher Seminar in Legal Philosophy (online) at the Uppsala University, 31 March 2021.
• Prats, E. (2020b) The value of values: the Introduction of Arbitrariness by Citizenship by Investment Programmes as an Erosion Factor of the Rule of Law in the EU. Paper presented at the IVR Workshop Japan (online), 21 November 2020.
• Prats, E. (2020a) Citizenship qua legal status. Paper presented at the Higher Seminar in Legal Philosophy (online) at the Uppsala University, 10 September 2020.
• Prats, E. (2019h) The value of values: the introduction of arbitrariness by citizenship by investment programs as an erosion factor of the Rule of Law in the EU. Paper presented at the 2019 GLOBALCIT Annual Conference organized by the European University Institute, 21-22 November 2019, Florence, Italy.
• Prats, E. (2019g) Citizenship by investment programs: an open door for arbitrariness in citizenship policies? Paper presented at the PhD Workshop on International Migration and Human Rights organized by Uppsala FORUM on Democracy, Peace, and Justice, 14-15 November 2019, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2019f) Granting Citizenship on Arbitrary Grounds: The Case of Citizenship by Investment Programmes. Paper presented at the Conference Organizing Migration and Integration in Contemporary Societies (OMICS) at the University of Gothenburg, 6-8 November 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2019e) Trading Places: Assessing the Legitimacy of Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes in the EU. Mid-term seminar at the Philosophy Department, Uppsala University. Opponent: professor Gerard René de Groot, 1st October 2019, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2019d) Trading Places: Assessing the Legitimacy of Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes in the EU. Project presentation at the Higher Seminar in Philosophy of Law at the Philosophy Department, Uppsala University, 12 September 2019, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2019c) Trading Places: Assessing the Legitimacy of Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes in the EU. Project presentation at the Work in Progress Seminar of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, 14 August 2019, Göttingen, Germany.
• Prats, E. (2019b) Selling Votes in the European Union? Presenting Citizenship by Investment Programs and their Relation to Democracy. Paper presented at the XXIX IVR World Congress, 7-12 July 2019, Lucerne, Switzerland.
• Prats, E. (2019a) Trading Places: Assessing the Legitimacy of Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes in the EU. 1st year Project Defence at the Law Faculty of the UPF, 19 June 2019, Barcelona, Spain.
• Participant in the Forum ACCESS Sweden-Chile (cluster of societal challenges: contemporary migrations), 26-30/11/2018 in Santiago de Chile, Chile.
• Prats, E. (2018f) Citizenship-by-Investment programs: Express Naturalization for Bulky Wallets: an Arbitrary de jure stratification? Paper presented at the 19th Nordic Migration Research Conference, 15-17 August 2018, Norrköping, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2018e) Citizenship-by-investment programs: phenomenon and methods of assessment. Paper presented at The 1st Japan International Conference of the IVR Japan, 6-8 July 2018, Kyoto, Japan.
• Prats, E. (2018d) Does Discretion in Citizenship by Investment Programs Affect the Quality of Legislation? Paper presented at the ICON-S Conference, 25-27 June 2018, Hong Kong.
• Prats, E. (2018c) Assessing Citizenship-by-investment programs. Paper presented at the Conference Migration as a Global Challenge, 21-23 June 2018, Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Germany.
• Prats, E. (2018b) Is money a legitimate criterion for granting citizenship? Suggesting a theory to assess ius pecunia. Paper presented at the research seminar 'Show me the Money! Money Matters in Migration Policy and Practice', 15-16 June 2018, Amsterdam Research Institute for Legal Studies, The Netherlands.
• Prats, E. (2018a), Mercados sin límites: el caso de los checkbook citizens. Paper presented at the Semillero de Investigación del Grupo en Estudios Internacionales of the University Tecnológico de Antioquia, 5 April 2018, Medellin, Colombia.
• Prats, E. (2017d) Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes: What Can Legal Philosophy Say about? Project presentation at the Higher Seminar in Philosophy of Law of the Uppsala University, 5 October 2017, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2017c), What can philosophy say about ius pecunia? Paper presented at the Conference Filosofidagarna, 26 August 2017, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Prats, E. (2017b), Conceptual misunderstandings on ius pecunia. Paper presented at the Academic Workshop of the Investment Migration Council, 5 June 2017, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Prats, E. (2017a), Selling of citizenship in Europe? Paper presented at the Svenska IVR-konferensen, 8-9 May 2017, Karlstad, Sweden.

EDITING WORK

• Co-editor of the forthcoming book, Gschwind, L., Prats, E. and Jeglinska, A. (eds.) The Policy Cycle of Migrant Exclusion: A Multidisciplinary Approach, to be published by Springer (IMISCOE Series) in 2024.
• Co-editor of the Special issue Women in Philosophy: Voices from Scandinavia at the journal Theoria (Q1) (2020, Vol. 86, n. 6)
• Co-editor of the Special issue Quality of Legislation Meets Migrations Policy at the journal The Theory and Practice of Legislation (Q2; Routledge, Taylor & Francis group) (2019, Vol. 7, issue 2).
• Language reviewer of the book by Mindus, P. (2019) Hacia una teoría funcionalista de la ciudadanía, ed. Marcial Pons. ISBN: 978-84-9123-619-1

EVENTS ORGANIZED

• Co-organizer of the PhD Conference: Rights for non-humans: AI, Robots, Cyborgs, Animals and Nature, 9-10 June 2022, Uppsala University (online&IRL).
• Co-organizer of the PhD Conference: Climate Change as a Challenge for Democracy, Peace and Justice, 12-13 November 2020, Uppsala University (online).

POSITIONS OF TRUST

Prats has occupied several positions of trust at Uppsala University, including representative at the Department Board, at the HDR, Doctoral Board (DN), recruitment group (Hist-Fil), and Uppsala Forum, among others. In spring 2021, Prats was elected the representative of Uppsala University at the international and inter-university project ENLIGHT and the Vice-Chair of the Doctoral Board.

OTHERS

For a few months in 2021, Prats was on leave (pregnancy-related complications). In 2022, 2023, and 2024 Prats is working part-time (maternity leave).