Job description
The selected candidate will contribute to the NWO-MVI project ‘The Role and Responsibilities of Public Actors in Distributed Networks. Transparency, Trust and Legitimacy by Design’ (official title) – ‘Blockchain in the Network Society: in search of transparency, trust and legitimacy’ (popular title).

General NWO-MVI project

The project of 4,5 years received funding (750.000 EUR) as part of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Innoveren (MVI) programme “Responsible Innovation. Designing for public values in a digital world”, a cooperation between NWO, the municipality of The Hague and the Dutch ministries of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Foreign Affairs,  Defense, and Security and Justice. Moreover, the project is co-financed by the active cooperation of seven private partners and five public partners. The establishment of this triple-helix consortium provides unique opportunities for the research to have societal impact and valorization deliverables. For more information on the project, consortium and valorization panel, see: https://www.nwo-mvi.nl/nl/project/blockchain-network-society-search-transparency-trust-and-legitimacy .

The project is led by Dr. Jurgen Goossens (Public Law and Governance Department). Dr. Esther Keymolen (Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society) is co-leader of the project, and Dr. Damian Tamburri (Jheronimus Academy of Data Science) complements the initial project team.

The project focuses on complexity due to hyper-connectivity of public and private actors when exercising public tasks using distributed ledger technologies, such as blockchain. In order to solve pressing societal issues, public actors increasingly exercise public authority through network governance together with private actors, resulting in complex public-private relationships. Additionally, the increasing interest of public actors in blockchain technologies to mediate public-private relationships, enlarges this complexity, bringing forth three fundamental problems:

• Public values of the rule of law such as foreseeability, transparency and reason-giving do not necessarily align with values in network governance such as efficiency and scalability, resulting in value conflicts.
• Due to unclear rules and value conflicts citizens might experience vulnerability and uncertainty, negatively impacting the trust relationship with their government.
• The increased use of private actors and distributed technologies to exercise public authority may cause uncertainty for citizens in terms of legal protection.

The project aim is to answer the following questions:

1. which value conflicts arise when public authority is exercised through distributed technologies;
2. what are the rule of law conditions necessary to steer the role and responsibilities of public actors using distributed technologies?

The project takes an interdisciplinary design approach and analyses two case studies (granting government subsidies via blockchain-based smart contracts and the CJIB Financial Emergency Brake blockchain pilot based on zero-knowledge proof technology and self-sovereign identity to help people in debt pay their fines by signaling inability to pay in a timely fashion).Combining expertise from philosophy, law, and computer science, this project rethinks and operationalizes the rule of law values to achieve ‘transparency, trust and legitimacy by design.’ The research results will empower partners and stakeholders to develop, implement, and use blockchain applications in a legally and socially acceptable way.

PhD project
The PhD candidate based at Tilburg University will actively contribute to the NWO-MVI project planned scientific and valorization deliverables. As part of the legal sub-project, the main activity will be the writing of a PhD thesis under the supervision of promotors prof. dr. J.C.A. (Jurgen) de Poorter and dr. J. (Jurgen) Goossens, and co-promotor dr. E. (Esther) Keymolen. identifying and analyzing the role and legal responsibilities of actors exercising public authority through distributed technology (blockchain) and rule-based algorithms (smart contracts) in light of the rule of law principles, principles of good administration, legal rules and case law.
In close collaboration with the Philosophy of Technology – Science and Technology Studies (for which a post-doc will be hired and semi-structured interviews for both case studies will be conducted) and technical orientated sub-projects, the PhD research is dedicated to address the urgent need to produce legal knowledge for public actors how to ensure trust and transparency in order to legitimately exercise public authority when using distributed technologies and algorithms facilitating automated processes and decision-making.
Therefore, based on the interviews of the philosophical/STS sub-project the PhD researcher will examine how the principles of good administration, among others the principles of reason-giving and due diligence, should be operationalized and customized in case of blockchain-based automated decision-making, particularly in the context of the two case studies. Moreover, the suggestion of the Advisory Division of the Council of State to develop a new principle of good administration will be explored, and the PhD researcher will analyze how privacy by design can be guaranteed. The important question will be addressed which (legal and governance) guarantees are necessary in order to establish transparency, trust and legitimacy by design, and to enable the judge to offer effective legal protection when governments use blockchain and smart contracts. Therefore, it will be explored whether additional legal guarantees should be established, such as a specific legal framework, the introduction of a supervisory authority or impact assessment (cfr. the Canadian mandatory algorithmic impact assessment).
  
Research (0.8 fte):

• Actively contribute to the operationalization of the NWO-MVI project ‘The Role and Responsibilities of Public Actors in Distributed Networks Transparency, Trust and Legitimacy by Design’, participate in and organize events and activities, present and discuss scientific and valorization output;
• Pursue academically path-breaking research leading to an excellent PhD dissertation and articles in academic journals;
• Participate in the Tilburg Graduate Law School courses and activities; be an active member of the department by participating in and organizing events and activities, presenting and discussing research output within the department, and representing the department outside Tilburg University.

Teaching (0.2 fte):

• Teach courses in the undergraduate and/or LLM programs the Department of Public Law & Governance is involved;
• Cooperate with other colleagues in developing new or modifying existing courses;
• (Co-)supervising master thesis students.

Requirements

Tilburg University believes that academic excellence is achieved through the combination of outstanding research and education in which social impact is made by sharing knowledge. In doing so, we recognize that excellence is not only achieved through individual performance, but mostly through team effort in which each team member acts as a leader connecting people.

Applicants must:

• Have completed a Master in Law at the time of application (or will complete by the end of August), with very good academic results at Master level;
• Show a (research) interest in and willingness to develop knowledge of constitutional and administrative law, as well as distributed ledger technology (blockchain) and rule-based algorithms (smart contracts);
• Have good planning and organizing skills because they are necessary to complete your PhD research within four years and to contribute to the NWO-MVI project planned scientific and valorization deliverables.
• Be able and willing to work in an interdisciplinary research team and triple helix consortium, and undertake teaching and project tasks in parallel to the PhD-research.
• Be proactive and accountable, able to prioritize across responsibilities, and manage varied commitments.
• Have excellent interpersonal, as well as strong and effective communication skills.
• Have excellent communication skills in Dutch, given the Dutch case studies, and English, both orally and in writing.
• Be available to start working in September 2020.
• Be present at Tilburg University during working hours, and commit to integrate in the environment provided by the Department PLG and Tilburg Law School.

Tilburg University offers excellent terms of employment. We believe flexibility, development, and good employee benefits are very important. We make clear agreements on career paths and offer all kinds of facilities and schemes to maintain an optimum balance between work and private life. Tilburg University also fosters diversity & inclusion; that is why we pursue an active policy for inclusive teams where diverse talents can flourish.

The starting gross salary is € 2,325 per month (full-time appointment) and will raise every 12 months to a maximum of € 2,972 based on the PhD salary scale of the Collective Labor Agreement Dutch Universities.

The total duration of the PhD trajectory is four years (48 months) and 1.0 fte. You will initially be appointed for a fixed period of 16 months. After 12 months, an evaluation will take place. If the performance evaluation is positive, your employment contract will be extended for the remaining period of 32 months.

Tilburg University is rated among the top of Dutch employers, offering very good fringe benefits, such as the possibility to determine your benefits individually through a labor choice model and reimbursement of moving expenses. Employees recruited from abroad may be eligible for the 30% tax facility – this means that 30% of your salary will be paid as a tax-free reimbursement.

You are entitled to a holiday allowance amounting to 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross yearly income. If you work 40 hours per week, you receive 41 days of paid recreational leave per year.

Tilburg University provides you with an annual budget (€400 in 2020) that you may use towards an options model. The options model allows you to mix and match benefit modules that work best for you and your family. Employees at TiU accrue pension in the ABP pension fund on top of your gross salary; the university pays a monthly contribution into your personal pension scheme. For employees living outside the Brabant region, TiU offers a compensation for commuting or relocation costs.

Please visit Working at Tilburg University for more information on our employment conditions.