PhD position Circular Economy, Additive Manufacturing and Law (4 years)

Erasmus School of Law, department Law & Markets, is looking for a fulltime PhD researcher in Circular Economy, Additive Manufacturing and Law (4 years).

PhD project Circular Economy, Additive Manufacturing and Law
Are you interested in how law and policy can accelerate the transition to a circular economy? Do you want to conduct critical and in-depth legal research at the intersection of sustainability, technology and regulation?
Then this PhD position at Erasmus School of Law is for you. Within the Law & Markets team, you will spend 4 years researching how European and Dutch regulatory frameworks can support the advancement of the circular economy through additive manufacturing (AM). How can legislation overcome obstacles such as consumer protection rules that prioritise “new” products over repair, intellectual property rights that restrict access to spare parts, or fragmented tax regimes? And how can binding, principle-based legal frameworks help turn circular economy goals into enforceable practice?

This PhD project will be part of a larger, NWO-funded project on Additive Manufacturing in repair and remanufacturing (called ADD-ReAM), which includes, in total, 15 PhD researchers who focus on other aspects such as technical design aspects, logistics, sustainability assessment, consumer behaviour, and more. This project will focus on the legal aspects of this challenge.

What will you research?
The circular economy is a cornerstone of the European Green Deal, yet current legal frameworks remain too focused on linear product lifespans. Existing initiatives like the Circular Economy Action Plan, Ecodesign regulation, Extended Producer Responsibility and the Right to Repair have laid important groundwork but fall short of enabling a systemic shift. At the same time, lobbying pressures, greenwashing risks and inconsistent regulatory incentives create barriers for innovative sectors such as additive manufacturing, which has the potential to radically change production and repair practices.

In this PhD research, you will legally analyse these regulatory barriers and explore how law and policy can create a clearer, more effective framework for circular practices. You will investigate both general legal challenges and selected case studies, combining desk research with stakeholder engagement through surveys, interviews and workshops. The aim is to develop actionable legal insights and recommendations that support the integration of circular economy principles into practice, with a specific focus on additive manufacturing.

There is plenty of room to develop your own research angle within this broad theme. We encourage a critical and independent perspective – your contribution matters.

Supervisor: Prof. dr. L. (Leonie) Reins, co-supervisor: Dr. A. (Alberto) Quintavalla

We are looking for a candidate who:

• has completed or is about to complete a master's degree in law (LL.M);
• is interested in legal-scientific research and social impact;
• has demonstrable experience or interest in the topic of the legal aspects of the circular economy
• is able to also communicate and engage with other disciplines
• has excellent writing and communication skills in English, and preferably also in Dutch.

Are you planning to complete your master's the coming months? Even then we encourage you to apply. Your degree must be obtained no later than 3 weeks before the start of the contract.

Candidates who have already obtained a Dutch doctoral degree - or the degree 'Doctor of Philosophy' (PhD), or an equivalent - or are preparing to obtain such a degree elsewhere, in principle cannot be admitted to the doctoral programme at EUR.

What do we offer

• A fully funded 4 year PhD-position (fulltime), start date between January-March 2026
• Gross month salary with a minimum of € 3059 and a maximum of € 3881 (CAO-NU, P-scale). Every PhD candidate starts in step 0 of the P-scale.
• Guidance from an enthusiastic team of researchers and Erasmus Graduate School of Law and being part of the bigger ADD-reAM project
• A professional work environment on Campus Woudestein in Rotterdam
• A temporary contract of 18 months that will extended after a positive evaluation.

Next to that, we offer you:

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 29 days of paid leave with a 38-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 (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 4.100 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.

The selected candidate will be embedded within the Law & Markets department, home of a vibrant and diverse academic community. The overarching mission of the Department Law & Markets is to develop and deliver cutting-edge, high-quality research and teaching on legal institutions shaping markets and their implications for socio-economic justice and sustainability. The research group specifically studies legal and societal problems generated in the complex dynamics of international, European and domestic laws regulating technology, trade, industry, investment, money, and more generally markets. The focus is on how to make the law in any form socially, environmentally and financially sustainable, how to deal with technological innovation on an inclusive basis and how to combine private and public interests responsibly. Researchers have different profiles, including law and technology, public law, international and EU law, legal theory, and commercial law. The Department is keen on multidisciplinary research.

The Department is responsible for a considerable part of the bachelor and master curricula of Erasmus School of Law. Specifically, Law & Markets provides bachelor teaching in, constitutional and administrative law, international and European Union law, jurisprudence, legal philosophy and commercial law. Furthermore, Law & Markets is responsible for several master programmes including in law and technology public law, international and European Union law and commercial law.