The Fundamental Rights Research Centre (FRC) is seeking to fill one full-time PhD researcher position as part of FRC’s team working on human rights and data protection reform of the Codes of Criminal Procedures in the Digital Era.
The candidate will be based at the FRC at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels’ Faculty of Law and Criminology.
This PhD position is a part of a fundamental research project co-funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR). The project is called PROMODE - Modernising Codes of Criminal Procedure on digital investigative methods: combining the languages of criminal procedural law, data protection law and European human rights law. The project analyses a broad scope of digital investigatory measures, but with a focus on the most innovative ones, such as hacking, open-source investigation, undercover online investigations, or production orders. The project should result in proposals for guiding principles, as well as concrete norm proposals for Codes of Criminal Procedure. Such norms should not only be adapted to the nature of digital investigatory measures, but also embed the contemporary data protection and human rights requirements. This project is not focused on EU powers to harmonise, but is looking at bottom-up best practices, drawing from experiences of selected jurisdictions (Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany and France) and their criminal procedural laws.
The key research question of the project is the following: how can criminal procedural codes and data protection laws regulate digital investigatory measures in a coherent and comprehensive manner, while respecting human rights requirements?
FRC is looking for a motivated researcher, ideally a lawyer or a criminology student with legal capacity. The candidate should be fluent in English and French and be able to understand Dutch and German.
FRC expects the applicant to:
- Have the ability work independently and in a multidisciplinary and international team;
- Be able to cooperate with the other FRC members in other research group-related activities;
- Develop excellent writing/presentation skills;
- Work in a meticulous way and be able to manage deadlines.
The successful candidate will be offered a bursary employment contract. The funding is ensured for four years, during which period the candidate is expected to develop a PhD in law. The candidate should enrol in a joint PhD programme under the co-supervision of prof. Paul De Hert (VUB) and prof. Katalin Ligeti (University of Luxembourg).
To apply, please submit the following documents as one PDF file via email to Paul.de.hert@vub.be with the subject line ‘Application PhD research Criminal Procedure in the Digital Era”:
- A cover letter outlining how your professional experience and/or research experiences are relevant for this project, your motivation, and eventually your interest in pursuing a PhD on Criminal Procedure in the Digital Era.
- A detailed CV (including publication list, presentation and fieldwork experience, if available);
- A transcript of your degree (and grades, if available);
- A writing sample (max. 6.000 words in French, ideally an academic or research paper).
Deadline for application: 31 May 2023
Starting date: As soon as possible