The UvA is looking for an internationally recognized scholar who will initiate and carry out research and education in Law and technology with special emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), as part of its university wide initiative to strengthen expertise in the area of AI. The University Professor in Law and Technology, with special emphasis on AI will perform these tasks in close collaboration with colleagues in the Amsterdam Law School and with the other University Professors in AI.

Recent developments in information technology, AI, and robotics have added to the challenges faced by law and legal scholarship but have also opened up new fields of research and pathways that could potentially transform the legal profession. New technologies and AI raise multiple legal issues, one being the legal issues relating to autonomous systems. A wider set of issues relates to the impact of new technologies on society, as well as on normative and legal systems, for instance relating to property, privacy, citizenship and democracy. New techniques for data retrieval, visualisation and analysis are yet another area in which new technology and AI create both opportunities and challenges for the law.

As one of the four University Professors to be appointed by the Executive Board, the chair will realise the following ambitions:

• bring about innovation in AI research and teaching, and its use in society, with a focus on collaborative inter-faculty research into AI issues, also with the other University Professors;
• modernise the curriculum, increase its relevance to academic and social innovation;
• seek the involvement of external parties (businesses, civic organisations, all levels of government) in research, education and other types of valorisation;
• proceeding from a position of excellence, bring about innovation within the university by inspiring students, researchers and lecturers;
• engage the academic community and encourage debate within the university on (the impact of) AI;
• generate more social visibility for the UvA in terms of its research, teaching and public-private cooperation.

The chair will conduct and lead research in relation to the area(s) identified above, actively work across legal disciplines and research groups, and bring together expertise within the Law School and university relating to the above issues. The chair will support and initiate initiatives to strengthen the place of technology and AI in the existing programmes of the Amsterdam Law School, work with other (interdisciplinary) programmes to provide a firmer place to the legal implications of AI, and explore possibilities to set up a minor or a master programme relating to law and AI.

The ideal candidate will initiate new research within the broad field of Law and technology, especially artificial intelligence. The candidate will also be capable of bridging AI-research in Law and other academic disciplines.

Candidates for the position are expected to meet the following requirements:

• a Law degree and demonstrable expertise in a subject related to Artificial Intelligence (e.g., but not limited to: computer science, logic, economics, econometrics or mathematics);
• proven ability to engage in cutting-edge research at the intersection of Law and Artificial Intelligence;
• an extensive publication record;
• documented excellence in teaching and commitment to stimulating and supervising PhD research;
• a wide international network, strong leadership skills, and a willingness to further build a promising interdisciplinary research group, to carry out certain administrative, organisational and managerial tasks and to engage with initiatives at an inter-faculty level;
• experience and enthusiasm for teaching at all academic levels (corresponding with the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ), or Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs BKO; candidates lacking this qualification are expected to acquire it upon appointment);
• experience in developing new teaching programmes;
• experience with collaborative projects;
• a proven track record for acquiring external research funding;
• an extensive national and international network of academic and cultural institutions;
• the ability to contribute to knowledge exchange in public as well as in an academic setting;
• the ability to establish productive connections with other academic disciplines.

Position within the University of Amsterdam

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) has taken up a leading role in the technical developments of AI and, as a comprehensive university, has invested strongly in research into the applications and societal embedding of AI. The UvA operates in an environment that devotes considerable resources to AI-research; the business community, civic organisations and (local) government are also extremely active on this front. The Executive Board expects that the appointment of four new University Professors specialised in the field of AI (AI and Information Retrieval, Humanities and AI, AI and Medical Imaging, and Law and Technology with special emphasis on AI) will invigorate the various research projects, programmes and partnerships that currently exist throughout the UvA.

The University Professorship in Law and Technology with special emphasis on AI will be appointed by the Executive Board and liaised with the Amsterdam Law School. In principle, the professorship will become part of the Law School after five years. To enhance their university-wide impact, University Professors are given centrally located offices as well as one at their liaised Faculty. University Professors confer regularly as a group and meet with relevant stakeholders from within and outside the UvA and participate in the activities of the research institute with which they are liaised.

Terms of employment

The University Professorship entails a permanent appointment that in principle converts to a chair at the Amsterdam Law School after five years. Salary and benefits will be in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities and with the university regulations for academic personnel, and, depending on experience, range from a minimum €5,582 to €9,812 gross per month (salary scale H2 or H1, €77,902 to €136,936 per annum, including 8% holiday pay and an 8,3% end of year payment) on a full-time basis (38 hours per week).

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Faculty of Law

With around 3,500 students and over 300 staff members, the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam is one of the largest faculties in the Netherlands. The Faculty of Law is housed at Building A at the Roeterseiland Campus, a brand new building situated in the centre of Amsterdam. 

The Faculty of Law offers a number of Master's programmes, several of which are taught completely in English: International and European Law, International Criminal Law (joint programme with the Columbia School of Law), European and International Labour Law, European Private Law, and research master's programmes in Information Law and Public International Law.

http://www.uva.nl/en/faculties/faculteit-der-rechtsgeleerdheid/faculty-of-law.html