Prof. Eva Maria Belser has been awarded the Federalism Prize 2019. The constitutional lawyer and co-director of the Institute of Federalism at the University of Fribourg has been honoured for her commitment to federalism. The award was presented to her at the ch government seminar in Interlaken by State Councillor Pascal Broulis, President of the ch Foundation, and Government Councillor Heidi Z'graggen, Vice-President of the ch Foundation.

Prof. Eva Maria Belser will be honoured for her commitment to comparative federalism research and the promotion of federalism. In addition to her research and the management of the Institute, Belser is actively involved in international lectures, contributing to the understanding of federalism in Switzerland and worldwide.  

As Government Councillor Heidi Z'graggen said in her laudation, Eva Maria Belser knows how to convince people of the idea of federalism and thus becomes an ambassador for the Swiss political system and the federalist model of order in general. An example of this commitment is the International Summer University on Federalism, Decentralisation and Conflict Resolution, under her leadership. A three-month programme for visiting researchers at the Institute of Federalism, in which scientists from four continents have already participated, also contributes to an understanding of federalism.

Prof. Eva Maria Belser and her team conduct teaching and research in the field of Swiss and comparative constitutional law as well as international law. In addition to federalism, they are particularly interested in fundamental and human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the welfare state.