LTMS Department – home of TILT and TILEC is looking for a Postdoctoral researcher in Legal AI Full time for 2 years

The Department of Law, Technology, Markets and Society (LTMS) – home of TILT and TILEC – has a vacancy for a postdoctoral researcher (1.0 fte, 2 years). We are looking for someone with the interest and ability to do interdisciplinary research in the fields of law and data analytics.

The selected candidate will contribute to the research program ‘From Regulating Human Behavior to Regulating Data’. This project is part of the Digital Legal Studies track within the sector plan for Dutch Law Schools funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This position fits within the Legal AI project, an interdisciplinary project that aims to understand the impacts of AI on the Dutch legal system.

By means of a number of case studies, the Legal AI project investigates the effects of AI at different levels in the legal system (digital infrastructure) on decision making processes (digital justice). Within this larger framing, this postdoctoral sub-project will focus on understanding problems of human interaction with AI in the legal system and organizational changes as a result of the introduction of AI. Focusing on empirical cases from the Dutch justice system, this sub-project will look at whether automation bias (a tendency not to question machines’ guidance) is occurring, what level of discretion is left to decisionmakers and whether that is changing with the embedding of AI in the broader sociotechnical system, how the quality and risks of decision-making processes based on AI are evaluated, and how explainability is conceptualized in different applications and environments.

The project will employ ethnographic methodologies to understand how members of the judiciary are using and interacting with automated decision-making systems, and how those systems are embedded and incorporated in the legal system.

The successful candidate

• Speaks fluent Dutch (C1 level or above)
• has a PhD in either Science and Technology Studies (STS), media studies, philosophy, law or relevant social scientific field
• has experience with interview-based and ethnographic research methods and interdisciplinary communication
• has demonstrable ability and interest in the translation and communication of research findings between the technical and social scientific/humanities communities;
• has strong communication and writing skills, including publications commensurate with the stage at which the candidate finds themself in their career but which are indicative of a strong ability to publish in the best academic journals;
• has experience with or is interested in working in an interdisciplinary environment (affinity and experience should be evident from the candidate’s education or past performance in teaching, research or publications);
• a ‘BKO qualification’ for those applicants currently working at a Dutch University is considered as an advantage.

Fixed-term contract: The appointment will be for a fixed period of two years.

The appointment will be for a fixed period of two years. Depending on the candidates’ experience and qualifications, the starting gross salary will vary between € 3,637 and € 4,978 per month (full time) based on scale 11 of the Collective Labor Agreement (CAO) Dutch Universities.

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. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary.

Tilburg University

Serving and enhancing society to help citizens. That is what drives us. It was the opinion of Tilburg University’s founding father, Martinus Cobbenhagen, that those who want to understand society should be actively and consciously involved in it.

This philosophy is still at the basis of what our university wants to contribute. Under the motto of ‘Understanding society’, its 2,000 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 values a culture of openness and inclusion. We unite people from many nationalities and backgrounds and embrace the diverse range of perspectives this brings about. We strongly focus on (gender) diversity and offer equal opportunities for all.

Additional information about Tilburg University, Tilburg Law School and LTMS – home of TILT and TILEC can be found on https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/.

Tilburg Law School

Tilburg Law School (TLS) is a modern and specialized university. With a broad variety of international programmes and innovating research, the Tilburg Law School stands for high quality. Research at the Tilburg Law School is conducted in an organisation that fosters diversity. The Tilburg Graduate Law School is responsible for the training and guidance of its Research Master students and of the Faculty’s PhD researchers. With its open and inspiring atmosphere, this school is a congenial working environment.

Tilburg Law School

LTMS – Department of Law, Technology, Markets, and Society

The Department LTMS is the result of a merger between the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) and the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC). With some 65 staff members, it is one of the leading European research institutes in the field of regulation and governance of economic activity (in a broad sense) in an age where information technology is the key driver behind innovation in many domains. LTMS is truly internationally oriented (with some 25 nationalities represented in its staff) and truly multi/interdisciplinary with legal scholars, STS and philosophy and researchers with other disciplinary backgrounds. LTMS research and education are highly ranked both nationally and internationally.