The field of legal history is currently represented at Tilburg Law School within the Department of Global Law and Governance by a team of 5 tenured/tenure track faculty (1 part-time professor, 1 associate professor, 3 assistant professors), plus a varying number of junior lecturers and PhD fellows (see www.historyofinternationallaw.org). The group provides several mandatory courses at the bachelor level in the LLB Dutch Law (Europese Rechtsgeschiedenis, The World’s Legal Systems) and the LLB Global Law (History of International Law; Global Legal History). It also offers legal history courses in at the master level and general history courses in the University’s bachelor in Liberal Arts and Sciences. It presently has two main research focuses: history of international law and, more recently, history of economic law. Both are included in the department’s research program Global Law and Governance.

The new chair in legal history is expected to develop an own research line and provide intellectual inspiration and leadership to the legal historians at Tilburg. The acquisition of external research funding is part of the portfolio of tasks. She/he will take a prominent and visible role in teaching, both in the mandatory courses at the bachelor level and in optional courses at the master level. Teaching may both be in English as in Dutch. She/he will also be available for managerial tasks within the department and the law school.

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 successful candidate

• Has obtained a PhD on the basis of research in legal history;
• Has an outstanding track record as a legal history researcher, indicated by her/his publication list, and enjoys a good international reputation;
• Has knowledge of the historical methodology
• Has an international research network to draw on for cooperation;
• Is an experienced, competent and engaging teacher;
• Has a positive track record at supervising graduate students, acquisition of research funding;
• Has a positive track record as an academic manager the middle rank level;
• Is proficient in both Dutch and English;
• Has good social, communicative and collaborative skills.

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 €5,843 and €8,508 per month (full time) based on scale H2 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 a temporary employment contract for the duration of 18 months (for external candidates) or 12 months (for internal candidates). After assessment this contract will be converted into a permanent position. 

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 | 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.

Department of Public Law & Governance (PLG)

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, Legal Philosophy, Political Science, Legal History, and Jurisprudence. Collaboration within the Department is very much inspired by joint research interests.