The Utrecht University School of Economics is looking for a PhD candidate in applied economics. The PhD candidate will engage in research (0.9 FTE) in a project on Dutch commercial court cases and the economic implications of verdicts by judges, and is expected to generate high-quality research resulting in a doctoral dissertation. The PhD candidate’s teaching (0.1 FTE) will be complementary to research activities: it will encompass courses in the areas of data science, and programming.

The research project will focus on identifying consequences of judges’ verdicts, and on firms’ strategic behavior involving their decision to go to court, which can affect their market and litigation behavior during and after court cases. There are two separate data sources, which have not been matched so far: there is information about the court proceedings, and the judge’s verdict. The other is a database containing financial data of firms involved in court cases.

The candidate is expected to use the latest innovations in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to curate, extract and quantify information and use it to analyze the data.

We are looking for candidates with a Research Master’s degree in economics, with an interest and specialization in Data Science, and particularly, in natural language processing and associated deep learning methods. An ability and enthusiasm for programming, data science, natural language processing, and methodological investigation of the research in practice is a must.

The research project will focus on identifying consequences of judges’ verdicts, and on firms’ strategic behavior involving their decision to go to court, which can affect their market and litigation behavior during and after court cases. There are two separate data sources, which have not been matched so far: there is information about the court proceedings, and the judge’s verdict. The other is a database containing financial data of firms involved in court cases.

The ideal candidate is expected to have:

• a (Research) Master’s degree in a discipline relevant to the PhD project (preferably Economics, or another quantitative discipline);
• good study results and analytical skills;
• programming ability in Python;
• an interest in and motivation for scientific research;
• good command of spoken and written English;
• good knowledge of written Dutch (the primary data involves Dutch-language transcripts of court cases).

Candidates are selected on the basis of their CV, academic qualifications, motivation, and interview(s) with the supervising team.

You will be offered a temporary position (1.0 FTE) for the duration of 3 years.
The gross salary ranges between €2,541 in the first year and €3,098 in the third year of employment (scale P according to the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities) per month for a full-time employment. Salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% per year.

In addition, Utrecht University offers excellent secondary conditions, including an attractive retirement scheme, professional development, (partly paid) parental leave, sports and flexible employment conditions (multiple choice model). For more information, please visit working at Utrecht University.

U.S.E. offers appointments as a PhD candidate for 3 years, with a preferred starting date of September 1st, 2023 earliest. The candidate's performance is evaluated after 18 months and after a sufficiently satisfactory assessment, the contract is extended for the remainder of the project. During this time, 90% of the position is reserved for research and 10% is dedicated to teaching activities.

Sharing science, shaping tomorrow. A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance is a faculty at the heart of society, with a strong focus on social issues. Our subjects of Law, Economics and Governance give us a strong mix of academic disciplines that complement and enhance each other. This is a unique combination and a mark of our faculty's strength.

The candidate will become a member of the Applied Economics Section at the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.). U.S.E. is part of the Law, Economics, and Governance Faculty of Utrecht University. U.S.E. aims to contribute to an economy where people flourish by taking a broad view on welfare and its causes. We aspire to be an internationally renowned school of economics, with scientifically rigorous and societally relevant research and education. We enrich economics with other disciplines to better solve problems and identify opportunities, from a business and government point of view. Well-being, cooperation, innovation and curiosity are our core values. U.S.E. maintains an excellent international network of academic relationships and is continuously working on extending this network. It teaches its curricula fully in English.