About Us

Future Law Lab (FLL) is a virtual research centre established at the Jagiellonian University within the Society of the Future Priority Research Area under the Excellence Initiative at the Jagiellonian University programme.

FLL conducts research (academic), educational, expert, and networking activities concerning theoretical and practical issues related to the interactions between law and empirical sciences, modern technologies, as well as contemporary social and civilisational phenomena. FLL’s activities aim to provide answers to the challenges posed by an increasingly dynamic world, both for legal sciences and for societies. FLL also endeavours to swiftly respond to key current problems where law can either facilitate or hinder solutions.

Academic activities within FLL focus particularly on the following questions:

  • Should developments in the scientific studies of the mind (cognitive science, experimental psychology, neuroscience…) influence the creation, interpretation and application of law? Can cognitive sciences enhance our understanding of the behaviours, mental processes, and decisions of legal actors?
  • What opportunities and challenges do advancements in information technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence and machine learning) and biotechnology (particularly genetics) present for legal systems? How can these developments be harnessed for societal benefit while ensuring they do not pose risks to justice, security, and freedom?

Among the research projects currently being conducted at FLL, we are addressing topics such as the authorship of the future (through legal, philosophical, and cognitive lenses); expert evidence (from an interdisciplinary perspective); legal imagination; natural history of law; emerging technologies in the healthcare system (in light of human rights) and in community policing; the rights of future generations (in the context of constitutional law); the role of coordination in the application of rules; challenges in the implementation of the Istanbul Convention (using Poland and Bosnia & Herzegovina as case studies); and the impact of AI development on the work of expert witnesses.