ASCOLA, the Academic Society for Competition Law, was founded in Munich, at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, in 2003. Professor Josef Drexl, director of the Max Planck Institute, became ASCOLA’s first chair. Ascola was established as a non-profit association under German law (“eingetragener Verein”). On this page you find information about the founding members of ASCOLA, the conferences, the executives of ASCOLA and of members who were honoured with an Award for their Distinguished Service to ASCOLA or with a Best Junior Paper Award.
Founding members of ASCOLA
- Jürgen Basedow (Hamburg),
- Peter Behrens (Hamburg),
- Ulf Bernitz (Stockholm),
- Beatriz Conde Gallego (Munich),
- Josef Drexl (Munich),
- Stefan Enchelmaier (Munich),
- Andreas Heinemann (Lausanne),
- Clifford A. Jones (Gainesville),
- Tsvetana Kamenova (Sofia),
- Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker (Hamburg),
- Joël Monéger (Paris),
- Karl-Nikolaus Peifer (Bochum),
- Junko Shibata (Kagawa),
- Luboš Tichy (Prague),
- Hanns Ullrich (Florence),
- Gabriela von Wallenberg (Regensburg) and
- Wang Xiaoye (Bejing).
ASCOLA Conferences
In the following years after founding the association, ASCOLA organised conferences and workshops in different places around the world. Some of the conference papers were presented as books in the ASCOLA series with publisher Edward Elgar.
Here is a list of conferences:
| No. | Year | Place | Local Organisers |
| 1 | 2004 | Florence, Italy | Hanns Ullrich |
| 2 | 2006 | Paris, France | Laurence Idot, Joël Monéger |
| 3 | 2008 | Zurich, Switzerland | Roger Zäch, Andreas Heinemann, Andreas Kellerhals |
| 4 | 2009 | Washington D.C., USA | Warren S. Grimes, Clifford A. Jones, Rudolph J.R. Peritz, Edward T. Swaine |
| 5 | 2010 | Bonn, Germany | Daniel Zimmer |
| 6 | 2011 | London, UK | Richard Whish, Chris Townley |
| 8 | 2013 | Lecce, Italy | Fabiana di Porto |
| 9 | 2014 | Warsaw, Poland | Tadeusz Skoczny |
| 10 | 2015 | Tokyo, Japan | Iwakazu Takahashi |
| 11 | 2016 | Leiden, The Netherlands | Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel |
| 12 | 2017 | Stockholm, Sweden | Bjorn Lundqvist |
| 13 | 2018 | New York, USA | Harry First |
| 14 | 2019 | Aix-en-Provence, France | David Bosco |
| 15 | 2020 | Virtual Conference* | Michal Gal, Peter Picht, Rupprecht Podszun |
| 16 | 2021 | Virtual Conference | Michal Gal, Peter Picht, Rupprecht Podszun |
| 17 | 2022 | Porto, Portugal | Sofia Pais |
| 18 | 2023 | Athens, Greece | Alexandra Mikroulea, Manos Mastromanolis, Ioannis Lianos |
Here is a list of conferences:
| No. | Year | Place | Local Organisers |
| 1 | 2004 | Florence, Italy | Hanns Ullrich |
| 2 | 2006 | Paris, France | Laurence Idot, Joël Monéger |
| 3 | 2008 | Zurich, Switzerland | Roger Zäch, Andreas Heinemann, Andreas Kellerhals |
| 4 | 2009 | Washington D.C., USA | Warren S. Grimes, Clifford A. Jones, Rudolph J.R. Peritz, Edward T. Swaine |
| 5 | 2010 | Bonn, Germany | Daniel Zimmer |
| 6 | 2011 | London, UK | Richard Whish, Chris Townley |
| 8 | 2013 | Lecce, Italy | Fabiana di Porto |
| 9 | 2014 | Warsaw, Poland | Tadeusz Skoczny |
| 10 | 2015 | Tokyo, Japan | Iwakazu Takahashi |
| 11 | 2016 | Leiden, The Netherlands | Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel |
| 12 | 2017 | Stockholm, Sweden | Bjorn Lundqvist |
| 13 | 2018 | New York, USA | Harry First |
| 14 | 2019 | Aix-en-Provence, France | David Bosco |
| 15 | 2020 | Virtual Conference* | Michal Gal, Peter Picht, Rupprecht Podszun |
| 16 | 2021 | Virtual Conference | Michal Gal, Peter Picht, Rupprecht Podszun |
| 17 | 2022 | Porto, Portugal | Sofia Pais |
| 18 | 2023 | Athens, Greece | Alexandra Mikroulea, Manos Mastromanolis, Ioannis Lianos | 2024 | Würzburg, Germany | Florian Bien, Björn-Christian Becker |
* You can find various videos from the 2020 Conference on YouTube.
Impressions from past ASCOLA conferences
You can find more photos in the photos section!
Members of the Executive Board of ASCOLA
The day-to-day business of the Academic Society for Competition Law is run by an Executive Board of three, the President, the Vice-President and the Treasurer. Of course, they are supported by the Board of ASCOLA. The board is elected by the members.
Presidents of Ascola
- Josef Drexl (2003-2013)
- Paul Nihoul (2013-2016)
- Michal Gal (2016-2023)
- Rupprecht Podszun (since 2023)
Vice Presidents of Ascola
- Joël Monéger (2003-2015)
- Daniel Zimmer (2015-2016)
- Heike Schweitzer (2016-2019)
- Rupprecht Podszun (2019-2023)
- Thomas Cheng, Magali Eben, Giorgio Monti, Wendy Ng and Peter Picht (since 2023)
Treasurers of Ascola
- Beatriz Conde (2003-2011)
- Rupprecht Podszun (2011-2017)
- Axel Walz (2017-2019)
- Peter Picht (since 2019, since 2023: Vice President for Finance)
Award for Distinguished Services to ASCOLA
Outstanding members of ASCOLA who served the community particularly well may be honoured with an award that recognises their special contribution. The Award for Distinguished Services to ASCOLA, established in 2013, was presented to the following persons:
- Eleanor Fox (2015)
- Hanns Ullrich (2016)
- Joël Monéger (2017)
- Tadeusz Skoczny (2019)
ASCOLA Best Junior Paper Award
Members presenting papers at ASCOLA conferences may win the Best Junior Paper Award if they are under the age of 35. This award, established in 2013, was won by the following scholars:
- Konstantina Bania (2017)
- John Newman (2018)
- Viktoria Robertson (2019)
- Andrew McLean (2020)
- Xingyu Yan (2021)
- Francesco Ducci (2022)
- Elias Deutscher & Stavros Makris (2023)