Gurvan Branellec earns his Habilitation to Supervise Research (HDR)

On Monday 22 June 2026, Gurvan Branellec, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Université Catholique de Lille (Issy-les-Moulineaux campus), successfully defended his Habilitation to Supervise Research (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches – HDR) in Management Sciences at the Université de Bourgogne, before a panel of six academics from universities across France. This marks a significant milestone in a research career distinguished by its interdisciplinary approach. On this occasion, Gurvan Branellec agreed to answer a few questions about his work.

What exactly is the HDR?

The HDR is the highest academic qualification awarded in France. It certifies that an academic is not only capable of producing high-quality research, but also of supervising doctoral candidates and leading long-term research programmes. For me, obtaining this qualification means I will now be able to supervise PhD research at the intersection of Law and Management Sciences, as well as serve on doctoral examination panels.

What is your research about?

The title of my HDR dissertation is Hybrid Co-Regulation of Risk and Performance: Law, Strategy and Organisational Mechanisms in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

I appreciate that this may sound rather technical at first glance, so I usually summarise the central question I have been exploring over the past twenty years like this: how do organisations actually respond to the rules and standards that govern them?

Today, organisations operate within an increasingly complex framework of legal requirements, professional standards, ethical codes, transparency obligations and ESG certification schemes. My research shows that neither Law nor Management alone is sufficient to explain how these systems function (or sometimes fail to function) in practice. What really matters is the interaction between the two, through practical organisational mechanisms such as internal procedures, performance indicators, compliance systems and training programmes. These mechanisms have a dual nature: when well designed, they help organisations manage risk effectively; when poorly implemented or misunderstood, they can produce outcomes that are the exact opposite of those intended. My work seeks to understand and model this tension. The research draws on a range of practical case studies reflecting the challenges organisations face today, including compliance, FinTech regulation, corporate social responsibility, personal data protection and crowdfunding. These are issues that affect SMEs and multinational companies alike, as well as banks, financial institutions and start-ups.

Your work sits at the crossroads of two disciplines?

Yes. What makes my academic journey somewhat unusual is that I originally trained as a lawyer and hold a PhD in Private Law and Criminal Law, while I have now completed an HDR in Management Sciences. In my view, these two disciplines do not engage with one another nearly enough at an institutional level, even though the questions I explore lie precisely at their intersection. Where a lawyer sees a legal rule, a management specialist sees a strategic tool. Bringing these two perspectives together allows me to offer a more complete understanding of how organisations actually regulate and manage risk. Several programmes offered by the Faculty of Law of the Université Catholique de Lille already reflect this interdisciplinary approach, including the Business Law & Management pathway and the International Law & Finance pathway, both delivered in partnership with EDHEC.

What does this achievement mean for you?

In many ways, it opens up exciting new opportunities. From an academic perspective, I will now be able to supervise doctoral research combining Law and Management Sciences, which is perhaps what matters most to me. Supporting and mentoring the next generation of researchers is a responsibility that I am delighted to take on. Institutionally, this qualification also strengthens the academic standing of the Master’s programme in Business Law and Corporate Risk Management (DAMARE), which I lead, as well as the work of the Chair in Business Ethics, Compliance and ESG, which I co-direct. Both provide a natural meeting point between Law and Management in support of organisations and their wider responsibilities. Looking ahead, this milestone encourages me to pursue new avenues of research, particularly in the regulation of algorithms, artificial intelligence and emerging forms of compliance. In many respects, the research programme is only just beginning!