Students’ Scientific Society at the Vilnius University Faculty of Law is a joint project of two active students‘ organisations, ELSA Vilnius and Vilnius University Students‘ Representation at the Law Faculty, which which brings together students interested in legal science, researchers seeking to pass on their scientific experience and skills, and representatives of other professions.
Contacts
Milita Karaliūtė – coordinator of the Students’ Scientific Society at the Vilnius University Law Faculty smd@tf.vusa.lt
Stages of the Students’ Scientific Society at the Vilnius University Law Faculty
- Preparation and proposal of research paper topics (August – September).During this phase, lecturers of the VU Law Faculty, who are interested in being curators of the Students’ Scientific Society, have to propose a relevant topic, which will be included in the list of topics and published on the website, so that students (regardless of the form of their studies) could choose the topics in consultation with the curators. Students can also find curators on their own and propose topics.
- Selection of topics and final formation of teams ( September – October (date variable)).
- During this phase, a team of two law students or an interdisciplinary team and two curators must be formed, one of whom is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Vilnius (academic supervisor), the other can be not only a lawyer, but also a representative of any other profession other than law (practical supervisor). The latter can be proposed by both the academic mentor and the students. The main task of the curator in the process of writing the thesis is to comment on the relevance, feasibility and aspects of the thesis.
- The process of preparing scientific articles (October – February)
- During this stage, teams prepare their articles. The communication procedure is an internal agreement between the students and the curators (meetings, e-mails, etc.). Teams should send their research papers and other material (slides, videos, etc.) by e-mail to smd@tf.vusa.lt by the specified date. Also, during this period, seminars on article writing, public speaking, effective presentation, etc. will be organized.
- Selective conferences ( date variable)
- During this conference, all participating teams must present their research work. During the conference, a specially selected jury (each year’s composition varies) provides its comments on the scientific papers and selects the 6 best performing teams, which will advance to the final conference.
- Submission of scientific papers ( April – June)
- During this period, teams will submit their revised scientific articles based on the comments made for publication in the annual VU TF SMD publication by sending them by e-mail to smd@tf.vusa.lt
- Closing Conference (April – date variable)
- At the final conference, students compete for the title of the best paper and a one-time scholarship named after Prof. J. Žeruolis (the top 3 teams receive scholarships).
SSS winners an publications
- 2025
Winners:
1st place. Justina Galvičiūtė, Liepa Burneikaitė, Rusnė Gutauskaitė. “Presumed and informed consent in organ donation: could Lithuania follow the Spanish example?”;
2nd place. Guoda Baubaitė, Ignas Antanaitis, Rugilė Kriščiukaitytė. “Factors influencing judicial decision-making: the impact of psycho-emotional health on the decision-making process”;
3rd place. Miglė Bernatonytė, Vidas Krušinskas. “Towards a more humane Criminal Code – has Lithuanian criminal law managed to get rid of its repressiveness?”.
- 2024
Winners:
1st place. Kamilia Edita Fominova and Rolandas Bugys. “The work of artificial generative intelligence as an object of copyright protection”;
2nd place. Viktoria Sahaidak and Mariam Grigolishvili. “When deportation is a death sentence”;
3rd place. Vidas Krušinskas and Liutauras Valickas. “Does the sentencing process take sufficient account of the restrictions on a person’s rights and freedoms suffered during the criminal proceedings?”;
- 2023
Winners:
1st place. Adriana Jokšaitė and Kristina Jakovleva. “The (in)action of the United Nations Security Council in the context of Rusia’s aggression: is it naive to expect changes?”;
2nd place. Justina Zokaitė and Nortautas Zenevičius. “Impact of sanctions on commercial arbitration”;
3rd place. Vladislav Murachov and Anna Zolotar. “Why the International Criminal Court cannot afford justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and what is the way forward?”;
3rd place. Ugnė Jakaitytė and Dominyka Grybauskaitė. “ Therapeutic jurisprudence – the path to trust in the law. The case of mediation”.
Comission: Assoc. Prof. Dr Rimantas Simaitis, Assoc. Prof. Dr Andželika Vosyliūtė, Prof. Dr Jurgita Paužaitė-Kulvinskienė, Prof. Dr Asta Dambrauskaitė and Assoc. Prof. Dr Lina Zabulienė (VU Faculty of Medicine).
- 2022
Winners:
1st place. Kristina Lapienytė and Greta Latakaitė. “ Bionic man – subject of a criminal offence?”;
2nd place. Andra Mažrimaitė, Vilius Lapis and Ūla Rimkevičiūtė. “The distinctive nature of Covid – 19 vaccines: compensation for potential damages under the legal framework of Lithuanian state in the context of global example”;
3rd place. Klaudija Maliauskaitė and Monika Butaitė. “Is a quick process always the right process?”
3rd place. Luka Tamulionytė and Nedas Tamašauskas. “Blockchain technology in the organisation of general meetings of shareholders: legal and technological challenges”.
Comission: Assoc. Prof. Dr Rimantas Simaitis, Prof. Dr Aurelijus Gutauskas, Dr Laura Paškevičienė, Dr Jurga Arustienė (VU Life Sciences Center), Dr Agnė Jakavonytė-Akstinienė (VU Faculty of Medicine).
