Driven by its ambition to expand its position as a leading research institute in Europe, Erasmus School of Law is recruiting a PhD researcher (5-years), with 20% teaching tasks.

Job description
Driven by its ambition to expand its position as a leading research institute in Europe, Erasmus School of Law Department Law & Markets, is looking for a PhD researcher (fulltime).

The overarching mission of the Department of Law & Markets is to develop and deliver cutting-edge, high-quality research and teaching on legal institutions shaping markets and their implications for sustainability and socio-economic justice. The research group specifically studies legal and societal problems generated in the complex dynamics of international, European and domestic laws regulating 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 public law, international and EU law, legal theory, and commercial law, and 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 6 Master programmes including in public law, international and European Union law and commercial law. Most of the bachelor teaching is in Dutch, while most of the master teaching is in English.

PhD position: Equitable Climate Finance Governance
As the climate crisis intensifies, the role of the financial sector in addressing the costs of mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage from climate change has grown. Public policy and legal attention largely focus on the design of ‘green’ financial responses, where a markets-led logic based on the commodification, assetisation and financialisation of ‘climate’ prevails. Here, the role of the state and public actors is to design climate finance markets and provide investment ‘incentives’ to private investors.

This approach facilitates important shifts in the legal identity, authority and agency of public and private actors; in the construction and prioritisation of vulnerabilities to be addressed, and in the articulation of the human-nature relationship for governance. Implications for climate governance include prioritising the spaces and activities with the most capacity to generate financial return over those where action is most urgently needed; narrowing the framing of possible responses to opportunities for financial returns over more plural values and diverting governance attention away from actions necessary to address the primary causes and locations of climate change.

Your research will critically examine a dimension of law, institutions and governance in this climate finance landscape, such as a specific financial sector or instrument; a level of governance or governance actor(s); scientific or technical dimensions to financial governance, a combination of these, or otherwise.

We especially encourage theoretically-informed research. Doctrinal, empirical, inter-disciplinary, socio-legal, comparative or other methodologies (and combinations of these) are welcome.

Key words:
Climate finance; financialisation; assetisation; law and governance; legal theory

Co-supervisor: Dr. Siobhán Airey, first supervisor: Prof. dr. Alessandra Arcuri

We are looking for candidates who:

• hold a master’s degree in Law or other discipline relevant for this PhD position;
• can demonstrate scientific research skills;
• have excellent oral and written skills in English (requirements: see application format)
• candidates capable of teaching in Dutch are particularly encouraged to apply.

Teaching will be in the Department of Law & Markets; the particular teaching tasks will be decided on the basis of the expertise of the candidate as well as the needs of the Department, and may be in the areas of Dutch constitutional and administrative law, international and European law, jurisprudence and legal philosophy and commercial law.

Teaching tasks will be mostly in Dutch if the candidate is Dutch-speaking; teaching in English may also be part of the tasks.

Current master students are welcome to apply. However, appointment will only be possible if the master’s degree has been obtained before the start of the employment contract. You can apply without having proof of obtaining your master’s degree, however, bear in mind that proof of a master’s degree is a formal requirement for employment and has to be delivered at least 3 weeks before the start date of the contract

An internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with good working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).

The position starts with a temporary employment contract for 18 months. This probationary period consists of an educational programme, offered by Erasmus Graduate School of Law, and individual research and entails an evaluation of the progress of the research after one year. In case of a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended. In the remaining 42-month period PhD researchers focus on their research and the completion of their thesis, next to the teaching tasks. In both phases structured guidance is provided by the thesis supervisors and a doctorate committee composed of senior researchers and one of the PhD coordinators of Erasmus Graduate School of Law. Every PhD candidate is supervised by two or three (co-) supervisors.

The start date of this position is 1 October 2024 and you will be based at Erasmus School of Law, Department Law & Markets in Rotterdam. In accordance with the conditions applied at Erasmus University Rotterdam as indicated in the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO NU) of the Dutch universities, the salary is based on the P-scale, with a minimum of € 2770 and a maximum of € 3539 gross per month, on a fulltime basis. Every PhD candidate starts in step 0 of the P-scale.

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, 41 days of paid leave with a 40-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

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 3.700 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.

Please find more information about Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Law and Erasmus Graduate School of Law on the websites.