Driven by its ambition to expand its position as a leading research institute in Europe, Erasmus School of Law is recruiting PhD researchers (5-years), with 20% teaching tasks.

Job description
Erasmus School of Law, Department Law & Markets, is looking for 5 PhD researchers.

The overarching mission of the Department of Law and Markets (L&M) is to develop and deliver cutting-edge, high-quality research and teaching on legal institutions shaping markets and their implications for sustainability and socio-economic justice. The research group specifically studies legal and societal problems generated in the complex dynamics of international, European and domestic laws regulating trade, industry, investment, money, and more generally markets. The focus is on how to make the law in any form socially, environmentally and financially sustainable, how to deal with technological innovation on an inclusive basis and how to combine private and public interests responsibly. Researchers have different profiles, including public law, international and EU law, legal theory, and commercial law, and the Department is keen on multidisciplinary research.

The Department is responsible for a considerable part of the bachelor and master curricula of Erasmus School of Law. Specifically, L&M provides bachelor teaching in, constitutional and administrative law, international and European Union law, jurisprudence, legal philosophy and commercial law. Furthermore, L&M is responsible for 6 Master programmes including in public law, international and European Union law and commercial law. Most of the bachelor teaching is in Dutch, while most of the master teaching is in English

Project 1: PhD position in Public law, Tech and Sustainability

The present position is open to theoretical and empirical (or a combination thereof) projects that focus on the interaction between technology and sustainability from a public law perspective. While there is already considerable attention on how to address technology challenges and how to pursue sustainability objectives, the interaction between these two topics has thus far aroused less interest. Hence, this PhD research seeks to initiate a dialogue on the matter and its specific content is in principle open to a vast array of topics. The following ones are just but a few examples: Risk and innovation within environmental law; the carbon impact of data-driven technologies; the interaction between the right to development and the right to a healthy environment; the complementing need for different branches of law (e.g., human rights, international law, municipal law, private law) to address sustainability and technology challenges; Waste regulation and technology. Submitted proposals can relate to one of the abovementioned areas, but can also relate to other areas provided that they clearly identify the sustainability-technology-public law nexus.

Proposed supervisory team: Dr. Alberto Quintavalla and Prof. Leonie Reins

Project 2: PhD position in Empirical Legal Research on European Union (EU) law

The present position is open to projects that employ empirical methods to address legal questions in the area of EU law, more specifically, on the role of Member States, national authorities and other actors in the implementation and enforcement of this supranational legal order. While the EU is ‘a new autonomous legal order’, existing independently from the legal orders of the Member States, it still relies heavily on Member States’ authorities and other national actors for implementation and enforcement.

Questions regarding the operation and effectiveness of such a complex decentralized model of governance cannot be answered by doctrinal legal research only. They additionally call for employment of different research methods: either qualitative (e.g., observations, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis) or quantitative (e.g., surveys, experiments, analysis of existing data, computational legal analysis, including big data, machine learning and AI).

The focus of the research project is deliberately defined broadly, allowing prospective candidates to choose a topic within different legal and policy areas in the EU, which can be studied from an empirical perspective. Research proposals may cover questions such as: How and to what extent is EU law respected and enforced at the national level? What is the role of national courts and other national authorities in this process? How do different private and public actors mobilize EU law to achieve their goals? How is EU law deployed in practice as an instrument to address contemporary challenges, either at the national or European level?

Proposed supervisory team: Dr. Monika Glavina and Prof. Fabian Amtenbrink

Project 3: PhD position in modern market challenges for European Union (EU) Law

The PhD candidate will conduct research in EU law, with a focus on legal and societal challenges that affect the EU market, consumers, and citizens. More specifically, we are interested on research projects focusing on one (or more) of the multiple legal challenges related to the following developments. First, we observe the emergence of digital markets, often shaped by Big Tech companies. The impacts of these new types of markets and market actors typically go beyond the economic realm, affecting fundamental rights such as privacy, or disturb the democratic system (e.g., creation of eco chambers or filter bubbles, etc.). In order to regulate digital platforms and ecosystems, the EU is confronted with a series of challenges that require the contribution and coordination of different legal fields, and the balancing of different public and private interests. Against this background, a number of questions could be posed: how could EU competition law and/or other areas of EU law be reimagined to confront the effects of the power of Big Tech companies? What types of new tools, theories of harm, etc. may be need for EU law to meaningful engage with the novel challenges of digital markets and the power of Big Tech? Second, in the last years, there have been multiple debates on whether and how should EU law regulating markets (e.g. competition law) tackle issues such as inequality, sustainability, privacy, etcetera. We are interested in projects exploring and unpacking contemporary challenges deriving from the nexus between EU market regulation and other public interest regulation.

Submitted proposals should elaborate on one of the abovementioned developments and are free to choose a particular problem area and/or theoretical approach.

Proposed supervisory team: Dr. Maria Campo Comba and Prof. Rene Repasi

Project 4: PhD position in Legal Theory

The Ph.D. project needs to address the theme of global challenges to the concept of the rule of law. The starting point is the recent emergence of phenomena challenging the established constitutional-liberal, positivist and state-centric vision of law. In this context, at least two trends can be distinguished. The first is the European crisis of the rule of law and the accompanying global phenomenon of constitutional populism, particularly in the context of illiberal use of legal institutions, that call for rethinking the relationship between law and politics. The second is the increased use of law and legal mobilization to pursue global social change and promote public values by non-state actors. This could include examining the interaction between civic actors and transnational corporations or the legal mobilization of global justice movements.

Submitted proposals should relate to at least one of the abovementioned areas.

The project calls for philosophically and sociologically informed theoretical research on the transformation of the idea of the rule of law in connection with populism distress and/or the increasing complexity and multi-layering of contemporary legal systems and the growing importance of non-state market powers. We encourage interdisciplinary approaches that combine methods and concepts from jurisprudence, social theory of law, socio-legal studies, the law in context, ethnography of law, critical legal studies, law and political economy, constitutional theory.

Proposed supervisory team: Dr. Michal Stambulski and Prof. Sanne Taekema

Project 5: PhD position in legal and ethical aspects of Legal Tech

Technological developments such as the invention of printing and the first generation of digital search engines have always influenced law and the legal profession. Meanwhile, a new generation of technology is on the horizon, with potentially significant disruptive influence in law and the legal profession. These include content generation technology (CGT), legal big data, and various applications of block chain. In this research you contribute to development of a framework to assess the influence of new generation disruptive technologies on law and the legal profession. Possible research lines could be: the design of ethical and legal frameworks for responsible digitalisation of specific legal professions; an analysis and critical consideration of the desirability of disruptive technological developments in law and the legal profession; the development of a set of ethical and legal skills for the legal professional of the future; the historical context in which current technological developments within law can be placed; the opportunities and threats that disruptive technological developments in law offer for access to justice.

Applicants are encouraged to combine doctrinal study with theoretical legal/philosophical perspectives and/or qualitative socio-legal studies.

Proposed supervisory team: Dr. Cees Zweistra and Prof. Evert Stamhuis

We are looking for candidates who:

• hold a master’s degree in Law or other discipline relevant for this PhD position;
• can demonstrate scientific research skills;
• have excellent oral and written skills in English (requirements: see application format)
• candidates capable of teaching in Dutch are particularly encouraged to apply.

Teaching will be in the Department of Law and Markets; the particular teaching tasks will be decided on the basis of the expertise of the candidate as well as the needs of the Department, and may be in the areas of Dutch constitutional and administrative law, international and European law, jurisprudence and legal philosophy and commercial law.

Teaching tasks will be mostly in Dutch if the candidate is Dutch-speaking; teaching in English may also be part of the tasks.

Current master students are welcome to apply. However, appointment will only be possible if the master degree has been obtained before the start of the employment contract. You can apply without having proof of obtaining your master’s degree, however, bear in mind that proof of a master’s degree is a formal requirement for employment and has to be delivered at least 3 weeks before the start date of the contract.

An internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with good working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).

The position starts with a temporary employment contract for 18 months. This probationary period consists of an educational programme, offered by Erasmus Graduate School of Law, and individual research and entails an evaluation of the progress of the research after one year. In case of a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended. In the remaining 42-month period PhD researchers focus on their research and the completion of their thesis, next to the teaching tasks. In both phases structured guidance is provided by the thesis supervisors and a doctorate committee composed of senior researchers and one of the PhD coordinators of Erasmus Graduate School of Law. Every PhD candidate is supervised by two or three (co-) supervisors.

The start date of this position is between 1 October and 1 November 2023 and you will be based at the Campus Woudestein, Erasmus School of Law, Department Law & Markets in Rotterdam. The position is for 0,8 fte - 1 fte. The salary is dependent on your experience and knowledge and ranges from a minimum of € 2.541 to a maximum of € 3.247 gross per month on a fulltime basis, in accordance with PhD of the CAO-NU. In addition, we offer an 8% holiday allowance, an end-of-year payment of 8.3%, and a very generous paid leave scheme. Furthermore, EUR is affiliated with ABP for the pension provision, and we offer partially paid parental leave, fully paid extended birth leave for partners, a personal career budget, work-life balance coaches, discounted collective health insurance, and more. As an employee, you can also use EUR facilities such as the University library and receive a discount on subscriptions for the Erasmus sports center.

Erasmus University Rotterdam offers a Dual Career Programme (DCP) to assist the life partners of new academic staff (on payroll) in finding employment in The Netherlands. The programme is offered in close cooperation with the nearby universities of Delft and Leiden.

Erasmus University Rotterdam aspires to be an equitable and inclusive community. We nurture an open culture, where everyone is supported to fulfill their full potential. We see inclusivity of talent as the basis of our successes, and the diversity of perspectives and people as a highly valued outcome. EUR provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, functional impairment, citizenship, or any other aspect which makes them unique. We look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Faculty / Institute / Central service
Erasmus School of Law employs 500 members of staff and is attended by around 6000 students. Erasmus School of Law offer bachelor programmes in Law, Tax Law and Criminology, with a focus on active academic learning. The Bachelor's phase is characterised by problem-based learning (PBL). Students can subsequently choose from a wide variety of master programmes. Erasmus School of Law also collaborates in Double Degree programmes combining law and (business) economics or law and business administration and is one of the founders of the European Master in Law & Economics. Once students have completed their master’s degree, they may choose from several postgraduate tracks provided by Erasmus School of Law (in collaboration with Erasmus Academy and others).

At Erasmus School of Law, the fundamental premise of academic research is that law cannot be considered in complete isolation or as an end in itself. It is embedded in an economic and social context that shapes law. At the same time, law shapes society and defines economic relationships. In line with this vision, the mission of Erasmus School of Law is to carry out innovative research on the function of law in its economic and social context. The overarching theme of Erasmus School of Law is therefore 'Where law meets business': Erasmus School of Law is all about the interplay between law, practice and society. Both research and teaching at Erasmus School of Law have a strong social and business orientation. Erasmus School of Law is committed to promoting international and interdisciplinary research, as evidenced by its participation in various international research collaborations.