Professor Jens Scherpe, Caius Law Fellow and Professor of Comparative Law, has been appointed as Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, for an initial period of three years.

Established in 1960, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has a history of creative struggle against oppression, discrimination and disadvantage. Among academic institutions, it has been in the vanguard of South Africa's historic change, playing a distinctive academic role in helping to build an equitable and dynamic nation. UWC's key concerns with access, equity and quality in higher education arise from extensive practical engagement in helping the historically marginalised participate fully in the life of the nation.

Commenting on his recent appointment, Jens said, "I am honoured to have been appointed at UWC, an institution with such a proud history. I am looking forward to teaching at UWC and to collaborating with colleagues from UWC.”

While Jens’ first teaching stint at UWC had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 health crisis shortly after he had arrived in Cape Town, Jens will be teaching at UWC in the future and meeting the family law research students there. He also hopes to be able to raise the funds to enable some of these students to come to Cambridge for a research period.

Jens joined Caius in 2006 and currently is Director of Studies for Caius’ Part II and LLM students. He is also Director of the Cambridge Family Law Centre, Honorary Professor at the University of Aalborg and Cheng Yu Tung Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Hong Kong. His current major research interests are in Family Law, Comparative Law and especially Comparative Family Law. He has held visiting positions in Sydney, Auckland, London, Vienna, Leuven, Barcelona, Padua, Louvain-la-Neuve and Melbourne. His publications include major comparative studies on cohabitants, same-sex relationships, the legal status of transgender and transsexual persons, the legal status of intersex persons, matrimonial property and marital agreements and, most recently, surrogacy. He has also published a four-volume book set on ‘European Family Law’. In January 2020, Jens became the editor of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family (IJLPF), the world’s leading international family law journal, published by Oxford University Press.  In 2019, he was elected a member of the Council of the European Law Institute.