PhD position in Health Law (1.0 FTE)

Within the Groningen Centre for Health Law (GCHL), a centre of expertise of the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, a PhD position will become available. Prospective candidates are invited to express their interest for these vacancies until 15 February 2025 (see below).

The overall project focuses on the role of law and policy in reducing risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including smoking, unhealthy diets, and alcohol use. The PhD project will focus specifically on novel and emerging tobacco and nicotine products (e.g. e-cigarettes).

Research will be conducted within the Groningen Centre for Health Law (GCHL), a multidisciplinary research centre based at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen which comprises several PhD candidates in the field of Health Law. The PhD position is part of a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the University of Groningen under which PhD students are co-hosted and co-supervised. The work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Jan Wollgast (JRC, Italy). The candidate will spend two years in Ispra (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy), and two years in Groningen. To set the stage for the start of the project envisaged in Ispra for September/October 2025, the candidate will be offered the opportunity to do a student assistantship at the UG Faculty of Law during the summer months of 2025.

Organisation
The University of Groningen has an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 34,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

The Faculty of Law is a modern (inter)nationally-oriented Faculty with a broad and classic profile. While it has a four hundred year old tradition, it keeps renewing its teaching continually to educate broadly-oriented and skilled lawyers. The Faculty’s research largely transcends legal fields and is multidisciplinary in nature. With nearly 5000 students and nearly 400 staff members, the Faculty is a mid-sized Faculty in the University of Groningen.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the in-house science service of the Commission. The JRC provides independent, evidence-based science and knowledge, supporting EU policies to positively impact society. There are six JRC sites across five EU countries. The JRC in Ispra is considered one of Europe's leading research campuses, with several laboratories and unique research infrastructures. Scientists at the JRC carry out research in various fields to provide independent advice to EU policymakers and put science at the heart of European policies that affect millions of Europeans.

The successful candidate has

- An LLM degree in law, preferably European law, human rights law and/or health law.
- An interest in NCDs and their risk factors.
- A good command of English (oral and written) and excellent communication skills.

The successful candidate is

- A proactive, flexible team player with a willingness and interest to cross disciplinary boundaries and to conduct multidisciplinary research.

The successful candidate will first be offered a two-year contract period of research at JRC Ispra (a grantholder category 20 employment contract under Italian employment law; for more information see here: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/working-us/collaborative-doctoral-partnership-programme_en#phd-positions)

- A net monthly salary of indicatively € 2,100-2,900, depending on whether the candidate can benefit from tax reductions according to article 44 of DL 78/2010 (so called “Rientro dei Cervelli”).
- 24 days of annual holidays, plus all national and JRC Ispra holidays (approx. 17 days/year).
- Flexible working conditions (e.g. up to 60% teleworking).

The University of Groningen would offer an extension to the third and fourth year conditional on

- Sufficient progress in the first year to indicate that successful completion of the PhD thesis within the final year is expected; and

If this condition is met, the Faculty of Law would offer the candidate, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities

- A salary of € 3,537 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,707 gross per month in the final year, based on a full-time position.
- A holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income.
- An 8.3% year-end bonus.

The position must ideally result in a PhD thesis within the four-year contract period. A PhD training program is part of the agreement.