Faculty Profile

Maartje DE VISSER is a Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law and College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University. Her research is in the field of comparative constitutional law writ large, with a special focus on constitutional engagement by courts and non-judicial actors. She also has an abiding interest in comparative methodology, including the role of language, questions of constitutional design in small states and the role of international advice vis-a-vis national constitutional law. Maartje has published widely on these topics, with her work appearing in leading peer-reviewed journals including the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Global Constitutionalism, the American Journal of Comparative Law, and the Asian Journal of Law and Society. She has co-edited seven books and contributed chapters to more than 30 edited volumes. Maartje is the recipient of six Lee Kong Chian Fellowships for research excellence, and a member of the editorial board of the Hart Studies in Constitutional Theory Series, the Hart Constitutional Systems of the World Series, Comparative Constitutional Studies, Constitutional Studies as well as the European Yearbook of Constitutional Law.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. (cum laude), Tilburg University, 2009
• M.Jur. (with distinction), Oxford University, 2004
• LL.M. (cum laude), Maastricht University, 2003

Academic Positions Held

Current Appointment:

• Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, Jan 2024-
• Associate Dean (Research), Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, Jul 2025-

Other Positions

• Associate Professor of Law, School of Law, Singapore Management University, Jan 2016-Dec 2023
• Associate Dean (Postgraduate Teaching & Curriculum), School of Law, Singapore Management University, Jul 2017-Jun 2020
• Director, J.D. Programme, Singapore Management University, Jul 2017-Jun 2020
• Assistant Professor of Law, School of Law, Singapore Management University, July 2013-Dec 2015
• Assistant Professor of Law, Maastricht University, 2010-2013
• Assistant Professor of Law, Tilburg University, 2008-2010
• Visiting Scholar, National University of Singapore, 2006
• Doctoral Researcher, Tilburg University, 2004-2008 

Course Taught in SMU

• Comparative Legal Systems
• Constitutions, Cultures and Context
• Creating Integrative Solutions through Projects
• Conceptualising Integrative Solutions through Research Design

Research Areas / Areas of Specialisation

• Constitutional engagement by courts and non-judicial actors
• Constitutional literacy
• Comparative constitutional methodology and epistemology

Current Projects

• Cultivating constitutional literacy
• Relationship between monarchy and democracy
• Epistemological challenges in comparative constitutional law

Selected Publications

• Academia.edu author page: https://smu-sg.academia.edu/MaartjedeVisser
• SSRN author page: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=706999
• The Language of Comparative Constitutional Law – Questioning Hegemonies (Hart, 2025) (co-edited with Erika Arban and Jeong-In Yun
• “Unpacking constitutional literacy” (2024) 13 Global Constitutionalism 29-52 (with Brian Christopher Jones)
• “What would a pluralist institutional approach to constitutional interpretation look like? Some methodological implications” (2022) 20 International Journal of Constitutional Law 1884-1913 (with Jaclyn Neo) 
  Awarded the best paper prize by the International Journal of Constitutional Law (2023)
• “Monarchical constitutional guardianship and legal métissage in Asia” (2022) 9 Asian Journal of Law and Society 1-18 (with Andrew Harding)
• “Promoting constitutional literacy: what role for courts?” (2022) 23 German Law Journal 1121-1138