The JUST-IN (Justice-in-Context) project is a research initiative funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme and will run for 36 months. The project addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing Europe today: safeguarding judicial independence and the rule of law by examining how these principles operate in the everyday practices of national judicial systems. The project brings together an international consortium of universities, research institutes, and civil society organisations from across Europe.
JUST-IN develops an innovative bottom-up approach to better understand how judicial independence functions in practice. Through socio-legal research, case-law analysis and participatory processes, the project will establish Citizens’ Observatories of Judicial Independence, gathering perspectives and data from judges, lawyers, public officials, civil society actors and court users. At the same time, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence tools will be used to analyse emerging challenges affecting courts and judicial governance.
The findings of the project will contribute to the creation of the Embedded Judicial Independence Tracker (EJIT), a digital platform that will provide reliable and up-to-date data on the state of judicial independence across Europe. By generating new knowledge and evidence, the project aims to strengthen EU rule-of-law monitoring, foster cooperation among judicial systems, and support policy development that protects democratic institutions and the independence of the judiciary.