Vanessa Hellmann is a Senior Research Fellow at the Chair of Public Law (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Gertrude  Lübbe-Wolff,  former Justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court) at the University of Bielefeld (Germany), taking a special interest in (comparative) Constitutional Law. Following her studies in Law at the University of Bielefeld (1997-2003) and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1999- 2000), sponsored by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation), she worked as a Research Fellow at the Chair of Public Law at the University of Bielefeld (2003-2014), first in a project on the European Constitution/Lisbon Treaty and afterwards on her first Doctorate in Law/Ph.D. Project on (thesis) “A Legal Doctrine of Constitutional Rights” (soon to become a Habilitation in Law Project at the University of Bielefeld). From 2007-2009 she completed her Legal Clerkship (Referendariat) with Assignments to the Ministry of Justice NRW, law firm Hengeler Müller and the German Federal  Constitutional  Court.  From  2010-2014  she  worked  as  a  Research  Assistant (Law Clerk) at the German Federal Constitutional Court for Justice Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff, and Justice Prof. Dr. Doris König. Currently she is working on her Second Doctorate in Law/Ph.D. Project at the University of Bielefeld on (thesis) “A new proceeding before the Federal Constitutional Court: Complaints by groups of individuals concerning their non-recognition as a political party for the elections of the Bundestag and the German Members of the European Parliament”.