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

Job description
The Department Law, Society & Crime provides a home to researchers in Criminology, Criminal Law, Sociology of Law and Health Law. Research in the Department focuses on four distinct, albeit interrelated research lines:

1. The study of phenomena related to unsafety, insecurity, and marginalization, and the social responses to these phenomena, both from a legal normative perspective and an empirical perspective;
2. The analysis of fundamental assumptions underlying rules and regulations and studying the implementation of regulation, its effectiveness and its legitimacy, and the unintended consequences of the way in which the law is implemented;
3. The study of actors and professions within the (criminal) justice system, including judicial decision-making and the way in which legal professionals operate;
4. Fundamental legal reflection on the role of legal sanctions, (reforms in) criminal proceedings, and the study of transitions between legal domains including questions about competences between various jurisdictions and authorities.

Thematically, this includes (but is not limited to) research on various forms of crime and harm (environmental crime, juvenile crime, organised and subversive crime, corporate and white-collar crime, fraud, radicalism), medical-ethical issues, migration, diversity, multiculturalism, and processes of inclusion/exclusion, research on the role of legal sanctions, research on different modes of governance and its intended and unintended consequences, and digitalization and the use of big data.

Research in the department is characterized by the multidisciplinary background of its staff (criminal law, criminology, sociology, anthropology, public administration, psychology), often adopts an empirical perspective and applies multiple empirical research methods (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research). Moreover, given the multidisciplinary background of its staff, the Department is particularly well equipped to study international comparative socioeconomic and legal issues that have global causes and are often dealt with nationally or locally.

The Department is responsible for a considerable part of the bachelor and master curricula of Erasmus School of Law. Specifically, the department provides bachelor education in Criminology, Criminal Law, Law and Sociology, and health law. Furthermore, the Department Law, Society & Crime is responsible for 4 Master programmes, including in Criminology, an International Master in Advanced Research in Criminology, Criminal Law, and a Double Degree programme preparing for legal practice. Most of the bachelor teaching is in Dutch, teaching in the masters is also in English.

PhD position on migration

Key words: border criminology, migration industry/controls, everyday experiences in the immigration system, street-level bureaucrats in the migration field, social/spatial justice in the migration domain, social harms/zemiology.

Description: Migration - one of the most debated societal issues in contemporary globalized world - is central in this PhD project. Within this broader topic, applicants are invited to formulate a concrete idea for a multidisciplinary, preferably qualitative research project. This idea could center around – but is not limited to – topics such as:

• Border criminology, that is the academic discipline which, inter alia, addresses topics such as (unauthorized) migration, globalization, bordering processes, controls and citizenship.
• The migration industry including all state and non-state actors that have - or about to - obtain a role in this industry as well as the experiences of migrants navigating through this industry.
• Migration controls and its implementation in everyday immigration practices, including the role of AI and the digitalization, responsibilization processes, humanitarianism aspects, and the discretionary decision-making processes by street-level bureaucrats. Applicants may also focus on specific control measures such as immigration detention, crimmigration prisons, the immigration police, or many others.
• Migration processes and trajectories in different localities including the use of intermediatory agents, ICT and others.
• Migration in a social just world including the legitimacy, social justness and spatial justice of migration, the morality of immigration systems, social harms, injustices and/or legal violence in the migration domain, or societal responses to migration.
• The role of race and intersectionality in immigration legislation, policies and everyday practice.
• Other migration-related research ideas that fit in the research program of Erasmus School of Law.

Supervision: Daily supervisor - dr. Mieke Kox, first supervisor from the Law, Society and Crime department to be decided (depending on the topic).

We are looking for candidates who:

• hold a master’s degree in Law, Criminology or other discipline relevant for this PhD position;
• can demonstrate scientific research skills;
• can demonstrate experience with empirical research methods
• 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, Society & Crime; 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 research methods, criminology, criminal law, empirical legal studies, and possible thesis supervision. Teaching tasks will be mostly in Dutch; 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 1 October 2024 and you will be based at Erasmus School of Law, Department Law, Society & Crime in Rotterdam. In accordance with the conditions applied at Erasmus University Rotterdam as indicated in the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO NU) of the Dutch universities. The salary is based on the P-scale, with a minimum of € 2.770 and a maximum of € 3.539 gross per month, on a fulltime basis. Every PhD candidate starts in step 0 of the P-scale.

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

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40-hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!
• Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME, QuEUR, or Young Erasmus Academy.
• Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget, foreign exchange opportunities with most costs paid by EUR, and free access to our university library.
• Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.
• Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare.

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 5000 students. Erasmus School of Law offers bachelor programmes in Law, Tax Law and Criminology. Next to that, Erasmus School of Law offers a wide variety of master programmes and several postgraduate tracks.

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.