The candidate will join the research group of Jurisprudence, Legal Philosophy, and Legal History, which is one of the units of the Department of Public Law and Governance (PLG) of the Tilburg Law School (TLS). PLG is a large, diverse and interdisciplinary department, home to nearly 100 academic staff and a range of legal and social science disciplines. You will develop and grow in teaching as well as research, both individually and as part of a team of ambitious scholars.

The candidate will work closely, both in research and teaching, with the Chair of the Philosophy of Law.

The candidate is expected to possess – or to be in the process of developing – a good reputation in research that deals with central issues of the philosophy of law, together with a strong interest in how these issues are relevant to key challenges confronting contemporary law and politics. S/he will be expected to develop an ambitious multi-year research strategy that yields publications, grant applications, and activities with societal impact within one or two of the research foci of the Signature Plan Global Law and Governance, which are globalization and the Anthropocene. The candidate will also be expected to participate in the supervision of doctoral researchers.

The candidate is also expected to have excellent teaching skills, as demonstrated by prior teaching experience. The teaching package includes courses in the philosophy of law at the Bachelor level in the law and philosophy programs of Tilburg University. In the case of the Bachelor level courses for law students teaching is to large groups.

Department of Public Law and Governance distributes, in principle, 40% of time for research, 40% for teaching, and 20% for service, such as membership of committees and collaboration in student-oriented events. 

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. 

The selected candidate will meet the following criteria:

• A PhD degree in the fields of the philosophy of law or legal theory.
• A portfolio of publications in international journals and/or publishing houses in the philosophy of law.
• Proficiency in the English language.
• Proof of teaching experience, including, if available, course evaluations by students and/or peers.
• The candidate is expected to acquire (or to possess the equivalent of) a University Teaching Qualification (Dutch: BKO).
• Professional proficiency in Dutch is not required from the outset, although it is an advantage. If the successful applicant lacks proficiency in Dutch, he/she will be expected to learn the language at a level of basic professional proficiency.
• Willingness to contribute to administrative and coordinating tasks.
• Willingness to contribute to an open and inclusive organizational culture.
• Demonstrable scientific integrity.

Fixed-term contract: 18 months.

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 several facilities and schemes to maintain an optimum balance between work and private life. Tilburg University fosters diversity and inclusion; that is why we pursue an active policy for inclusive teams where diverse talents can flourish.

The starting gross salary varies between €3,821 and €5,230  per month (full time) based on scale 11 of the Collective Labour Agreement Universities (vsnu.nl). Tilburg University actively promotes equal and transparent salary between men and women by strictly applying predetermined parameters based on the candidate’s experience. 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.

Tilburg University offers you an employment agreement for a fixed period of 18 months with the prospect of a permanent contract. 

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.

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

Tilburg University

Under the motto “Understanding society”, Tilburg University’s more than 1,500 employees develop knowledge, transfer it to over 19.000 students of 110 nationalities, and bring people from various disciplines and organizations together to learn from each other. In this way, we want to contribute to solving complex social issues. Our focus areas are economics, business and entrepreneurship, social and behavioral sciences, law and public administration, the humanities and digital sciences, and theology. We seek the connection between different disciplines in order to find solutions to the major issues we face as a society. Our students are trained to be responsible and entrepreneurial thinkers, driven by solidarity, a sense of responsibility and empathy, who are able to influence and give direction to a rapidly changing society in an innovative way. Tilburg University has a culture of collaboration and co-creation, at local, regional, national, and international levels.

Since its founding in 1963, Tilburg Law School has become one of the leading law schools in Europe.  Through top-level research and the provision of high-quality university education, the School contributes to society. Tilburg Law School is organized into five Departments: Public Law and Governance (PLG); Law, Technology and Society (TILT); Private, Business and Labour Law (PBLL); the Fiscal Institute Tilburg (FIT) and Criminal Law. The mission of the School is to understand and improve the role of law and public administration in addressing the social problems of today and tomorrow. Through research and education, our scholars contribute to that mission.

More than 4,000 students pursue a Bachelor's, pre-Master's or Master's degree at Tilburg Law School. Through this education, we train students in law, public administration, and data science. The Tilburg Educational Profile (TEP) is unique in the Netherlands. Central to it are three core concepts: knowledge, skill and character. A university education provides students with the latest substantive knowledge and trains them to be critical thinkers and resilient professionals. In addition, the School is committed to innovative educational concepts and, partly in response to the coronavirus crisis, has invested heavily in the quality of online education and in innovative didactic tools to make and keep students inquisitive. 

Tilburg Law School's research is highly regarded nationally and internationally. The Tilburg Law School Departments work closely together in their research in four signature research programs: 1) Global Law and Governance; 2) Law and Security; 3) Connecting Organizations; and 4) Regulating Socio-Technical Change. 

The Department of Public Law & Governance (PLG) is a unique collaboration of researchers in the fields of International Law, European law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Public Administration, the Philosophy of Law, Political Science, Legal History, and Jurisprudence. Collaboration within the Department is very much inspired by joint research interests. For more information, see https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/about/schools/law/departments/plg