The Department of TILT (Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society) has a vacancy for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Law (full time for 2 years). We are looking for someone whose research covers the regulation of the infrastructure sectors, such as the energy sector, and the regulation and governance of data sharing in the infrastructure sectors. 

The postdoctoral researcher will work on the NWO/NGinfra VIA AUGUSTA project which aims at developing regulatory governance, inter-organisational governance, and IT governance frameworks to coordinate the operators of large Dutch infrastructures such as the roads, rail- and waterways, ports, and electricity networks toward a ‘system-of-systems’ (SoS) approach, as if they were one infrastructure. The focus lies on digitalisation, which on the one hand attempts to speed up this coordination in a cost-effective manner, but which also entails many governance challenges. These challenges are related to IT (e.g., deciding on and coordinating systems, content, and flows), the organisations involved (e.g., dealing with differing objectives, sharing investments versus returns), and the regulatory frameworks under which the various infrastructures operate (e.g., dealing with sector-specific laws and regulations, especially in relation to broader welfare aspects of activities and investments).
To handle the challenges, we pursue a SoS approach for enhanced coordination and collaboration (i.e., integration), and specification and allocation of tasks (i.e., differentiation) among the large Dutch infrastructure operators through data sharing for coordinated planning and decision-making. We work with infrastructure managers to advance our knowledge in two areas: (1) in what situations a SoS approach can be meaningful (i.e., leveraging such an approach without compromising individual infrastructures); and (2) how to facilitate such an approach by means of effective IT governance, inter-organisational governance, and regulatory governance frameworks.

The VIA AUGUSTA project is led by Prof.dr.ir. Wendy van der Valk and involves a multidisciplinary research team that aims to bring together expertise in the areas of IT governance, inter-organizational governance, and regulatory governance to determine when operating in a coordinated fashion offers potential for the infrastructure operators, and how such potential can be leveraged without (severely) compromising individual infrastructure operators. Experts come from the Information & Supply Chain Management group at the department of Management at TiSEM, and from the Tilburg Institute of Law, Technology and Society at the Tilburg Law School. The project furthermore involves close collaboration and co-creation with multiple infrastructure operators, i.e., Alliander, Port of Rotterdam, Prorail, and Rijkswaterstaat. 

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. 

More specifically for the legal part of the Via Augusta project, we are looking for a candidate who has:

• Completed a PhD in Law, preferably in the area of European law, law and technology, energy law and/or economic regulation;
• Knowledge of, or demonstrable interest in data governance and the regulation of data sharing in the infrastructure sectors; 
• Experience with carrying out interdisciplinary research e.g., carrying out qualitative interviews and observations;
• Excellent communication skills in English, orally and in writing. Knowledge of the Dutch language would be an asset as it is required to work with Dutch legislation;
• Demonstratable interest in technical questions surrounding data sharing and critical infrastructures; 
• The ability to independently carry out research; 
• The ability to co-work in a research team;
• The ability to write research proposals;
• The ability to supervise and coach students in writing their Ma thesis Law & Technology; 
• The ability to read and grade Master theses on a variety of topics;
• Demonstrates scientific integrity; 
• Contributes to an open and diversified culture of excellence.

The successful candidate may be asked to perform other duties occasionally which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role of Postdoc. 

Fixed-term contract: 24 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 all kinds of 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 gross per month (full time) based on scale 11 of the Collective Labor Agreement Dutch Universities. 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 24 months and 1.0 FTE (40 hours per week). 

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 of ‘Understanding society’, Tilburg University’s more than 1,500 employees develop knowledge, transfer it to others, and bring people from various disciplines and organizations together. 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. Tilburg University is internationally known for its high standards in education and scientific research, as well as its good support facilities. The Tilburg University campus offers both quietness and connectivity as it is located in a wooded park, ten minutes away from the city center, main highways, and railways. A mid-sized city of 200,000 inhabitants in the South of the Netherlands, and in proximity to cities like Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and London, Tilburg is situated at the very heart of Western Europe. 

Tilburg Law School offers highly ranked national and international education and research in law and public administration. Currently, almost 4,000 students are enrolled at Tilburg Law School. Students in Tilburg can choose from five Bachelor's programs, one of which is taught in English (Bachelor Global Law) and ten Master's programs, eight of which are taught in English. The international orientation of Tilburg Law School is reflected in these Bachelor's and Master's programs. The research conducted within Tilburg Law School is aimed at social relevance and provides students with the tools and skills to study and deal with current issues at an academic level. The research within Tilburg Law School is organized into five cross-departmental research programs: 1) Global Law and Governance; 2) New Modes of Lawmaking and Governance in a Multilayered Order; 3) Law and Security; 4) Connecting Organizations: Private, Fiscal and Technology-Driven Legal Relations in a Sustainable Society; and 5) Law and Technology.

Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT)

TILT is one of the leading research groups in Europe at the intersection of law, technology, and society. It is premised on the multidisciplinary study of socio-technical change, aiming at understanding the interaction of technology and social and normative practices, in order to clarify how regulatory challenges of socio-technical change can be addressed. TILEC, a Center of Excellence at Tilburg University and a global leader in the study of economic governance, consists of some 40 committed members working on economic law and regulation as well as institutional, behavioural and experimental economics. In addition, Tilburg University is a social science specialized institution, hosting various research groups on topics covering multiple aspects of transnational, comparative and global law from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint.