On 26 January, during the Winter Graduation Ceremony of the Vilnius University Law Faculty, the winners of the Kazimieras Motieka Foundation Prize for the best doctoral dissertation of the academic year, Dr. Justinas Bagdžius and Dr. Alaa Al Dakour Al Aridi, were announced and awarded. This prize (EUR 2,500 for each) was awarded in cooperation between the Foundation and the VU Law Faculty and aims to promote the development of legal education.
“This year, the Kazimieras Motieka Foundation has chosen to award two equally excellent PhD theses in law and to split the prize in half. We could not single out one winner, as both works are very strong in different areas of law,” said Dr. Rimantas Daujotas, a representative of the Foundation and a partner at Motieka & Audzevičius. – “Our aim in establishing this scholarship was to promote academic excellence, to support the advancement of legal science and to inspire future scholars to undertake significant research in the field of law.”
The winners of the Foundation’s prize have explored different themes in their research work. J. Bagdžius chose to study a problem related to the work of the judiciary and wrote his dissertation on “Exemption from criminal liability under surety”. A. Al Aridi’s thesis on “The Problem of Hybrid War in International Law“ explored the challenges and possible solutions to hybrid warfare in law.
The decision to pursue a PhD and to write a thesis is a long road ahead, and research work requires not only concentration and discipline, but also the support of close family and colleagues. The prize winners J. Bagdžius and A. Al Aridi have told about this stage of life and its experiences.
How did you decide to pursue a PhD in law and why did you choose the dissertation topic that you did?
Justinas. I chose my dissertation topic when I had to write my Master’s thesis. I came up with it myself because I saw that the institute had not been analysed at all. I worked in a law firm when I was studying law and I saw that it was not really studied anywhere in legal science literature. So the first step was to do a master’s thesis on the subject. Well, after I successfully defended my master’s thesis, I received encouragement from my colleagues and lecturers to further develop this topic through research.
Alaa. First of all, I already had my master’s degree in international law and international relations, and then I decided to do another master’s at Vilnius University in international law and European Union law. It was always a dream of mine to continue with my PhD in order to have more knowledge and do more research on some specific topics in international law.
My topic was “The problem of hybrid war in international law”, which was quite relevant at the time when I was doing my research. It’s still very relevant, especially with what’s going on in Ukraine and the Middle East.
And where do you currently work? Is it perhaps related to your dissertation topic?
Justinas. I work in the judicial system, at the National Courts Administration. I have always been interested in the work of the courts, and during my dissertation research I did a lot of analysis of the work of courts and judges, of the questions that the court has to answer when it comes to these particular issues, of the practice that has developed and how it fits in with the institution and with the results of the research that the application of the scientific method has given me.
Alaa. I currently work with a high-risk investigation unit (FIU) in private sector, and senior lecturer at the faculty of Law at Vilnius University teaching the subject of my dissertation. Previously I worked for the United Nations back home in Lebanon. That’s actually where I was more introduced to international law and the importance of it.
The decision to write a PhD dissertation is a pretty serious step, a commitment of a few years. Who supported you along the way? Was it your family or friends, or was it just the idea itself that motivated you?
Justinas. The most supportive were my parents, my family. I always felt the support of my friends who asked me: when are you going to write, how much have you written? My head of the PhD thesis, of course, was also supportive. I remember I was still in the first year of my PhD, and there were introductory lectures and a meeting with Dr. Dovilė Valančienė. I still remember her saying that, despite all that support, you always feel lonely stressed and depressed when you write your dissertation. That was really true, because when you have to write, when you have to gather the material, then you feel the support, but you are alone with the topic and the research that you are doing, and only your work can give you the result that you want.
Alaa. Of course, the decision shouldn’t come from just the person doing the dissertation, there should also be other people around to support them. Just the idea of leaving your country to do your dissertation, moving to another country, is a huge challenge, but nonetheless – as you know, whenever you decide to do something you have to work hard for it. Lithuania did give me this great opportunity, as well as my previous supervisors at Vilnius University, who continued supporting me throughout this journey. Also my family, of course. All in all, it comes down to a collaborative support system, and, of course, one should give a little bit of credit to themselves, because if you weren’t dedicated to reaching your goal – you wouldn’t be able to do it at the end of the day.
Question only for Alaa, how did you decide to study in Lithuania?
Alaa. It’s a nice story, I would say, and a bit of a coincidence. See, I hadn’t even heard of Lithuania before, but when I was doing my master’s degree in Lebanon and doing research about marine borders and the law of the sea, one of the cases was about Lithuania. That was the first time I’ve heard of it. And the opportunity arose because my home university in Lebanon had a program to do your master’s abroad, where I had two choices: I could do it at Bochum University in Germany or Vilnius University. Luckily, I chose Vilnius University, because it was very unique for me and a new country to experience life in. And since then I fell in love with the country, I did my studies here, and I’ve been working here for 4-5 years, so now I consider myself half Lithuanian already. I passed my language test and the Lithuanian Constitution test. I wouldn’t say I’m very confident with using the language at work, but I can totally manage in daily life.
Is it sometimes boring or hard to devote so much time and work to one specific topic? How do you deal with those moments and what helps you?
Justinas. I don’t know whether to answer here, because readers will think I wasn’t a serious student, because I usually worked to deadlines. Those 6 years don’t mean that you sit down all the time and write your dissertation. Maybe somebody is doing that, doing research. Having a deadline was an extra motivator for me to finish the work. And it’s no secret that it’s a huge motivator when you pay for your own education, especially when your parents pay. After all, you don’t have the luxury of doing nothing with your research during the year of study and waiting for that year to pass.
Alaa. Indeed, there are moments like this. And the main challenge for me was that I was not only studying and writing but also working the whole time. After work, I had to spend all of my time on research, and many days I had to work up to 16 hours between my job and my studies. There were many days, when I felt like I was way behind on my work and should’ve focused more, feeling like I didn’t want to continue. These are all challenges that most people face, not only with work or studies but with life in general. But the main thing is to keep yourself motivated, to know exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing and what the outcome of your research should be. And I’m very lucky to be working on it because hybrid war is not only relevant to Lithuania but to the whole world right now. That was what made me push forward to finish the work, come up with unique proposals, and finally to finish my PhD.
What were the moments, when you truly felt like you had succeeded? When you were able to say “Yes! I made a breakthrough”?
Justinas. You always try to do the best you can, and you still think that it could be done bettter. The first really nice moment was when I got feedback from the supervisor and the reviewer – they were interested and liked it. Maybe you are more critical of your own work, and someone else who reads it from the outside has a completely different view.
As far as the thesis is concerned, I was surprised by the reviews, because you are preparing for the defence and looking forward to it. You know that there are really solid people on the defence committee, they read the thesis and have to give feedback. After receiving all the reviews, I realised that there are no obstacles for me, I don’t see any critical errors or comments saying that I didn’t analyse it properly, that the conclusions are insufficient and not based on the research. The feedback was very good, because all the panellists were very sincere and said that it was really interesting to read the work. So it was really enjoyable to me.
Alaa. There were plenty of such moments. I remember when I had an internship in Germany, where I was also doing research, I came up with some new theories. The best feeling is when you find new gaps in the law, that hadn’t been discovered before. Some people think I’m exaggerating when I say this, but I was truly jumping up and down from happiness when I was able to explain those gaps and find ways, that they could be fixed. Sometimes you even come up with ideas while you’re sleeping and then you wake up talking about them.
But still, one of the very best moments was when I received a copy of my work before the defense of my dissertation. Seeing it on paper well-structured and printed, looking how it should look – not just a collection of ideas in your head – is when you truly realize what you’ve created. And of course, it’s an amazing feeling when you get 5 out of 5 points from the defense of your dissertation and receive good words from your supervisors and professionals in the field.
And what is the daily routine of writing a dissertation? Do you get up early and work methodically or something else? Are there any rules for discipline, daily routines?
Justinas. I’ve tried different methods and there were times when I panicked… The dissertation came first in to my head – I talk, I tell my supervisor, I tell my fellow PhD students. I say – if I was given an oral defence, I could defend it now, but I have to put it all in a text. It’s hard to sit down and write a good smooth text. You’re always trying to be disciplined, and in the end, nothing works as well as a looming deadline and the end of it.
I had taken almost 5 months off work to write my dissertation, but I couldn’t do it. I felt a bit disappointed that I had failed, I thought I would sort it out and close the matter, but unfortunately I did not. I tried again after a year. Then I said to myself – this year will be my. Then it was 2022, from the 1st of January I went back to my parents, closed myself off from the outside world and just sat and wrote.
Alaa. I don’t think that there’s a specific schedule that you can have, it’s all up to your ability to organize your time and the situation you’re in. Sometimes I would be able to write 10-15 pages in the evening, sometimes I wouldn’t write anything at all. That always depends on the chapter you’re working on and what you’ve written in your dissertation so far. Sometimes you may get a new idea or go through some kind of new experience, which seems even more relevant than what you’ve written before, so you end up changing it. These are the things that impact your thesis writing process the most.
Finally – what exactly can your dissertation contribute to the legal science, and what important conclusions have you reached?
Justinas. I believe that my thesis is the most useful for those who apply the law, i.e. judges. I have noticed that there is a formal mechanism for the application of suretyship, whereby suretyship is applied if all the conditions are formally met and a reasoned application is made, which, as a rule, is usually made by lawyers – nicely and impeccably enough.
Although the number of surety cases is relatively small, up to 2 000 a year, I still think that there are too many. The automaticity has become very pronounced since the criminalisation of drunk-driving, now almost a fifth of drunk drivers are released on bail.
When the court decides to release an offender on bail, it expresses confidence. At the same time, however, it confiscates the car in order to prevent the possibility of committing further offences and also orders a contribution to the victims’ fund. This means that the court is taking two different decisions in a single act of law. If there is a decision to trust and a decision not to trust, then there is a final decision not to trust. Like mathematics – plus minus equals minus. It is one of the conclusions.
Alaa. The topic itself did highlight the main gaps that were identified in the law, specifically in international humanitarian law and international law on use force when dealing with cyber operations and hybrid actors. While writing it I came up with new solutions on how to counter such gaps and fill in certain problems in international law. In my PhD dissertation, there are many proposals including but not limited to the topic of civilian direct participation hostilities especially in cyberspace, which is quite relevant and challenging nowadays, legal grey zones and many others. Actually, it‘s not only relevant now, but it‘s also going to remain this way for the foreseeable future due to these new technologies that are being developed and evolving.
VU Law Faculty wishes good luck for Justinas and Alaa!