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The Faculty of Law and Criminology, Department Public Sector Law, Research Group Brussels Centre for Law, Government and Society is looking for a PhD‑student with a doctoral grant.
Overview
More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains:
Recent years have seen a rising tide of domestic and international climate litigation, including particularly cases based on human and constitutional rights. The TEMPORALAW project, led by Prof. Corina Heri, investigates how these cases engage with the factor of time.
Over the course of five years (2026‑2031), the project will engage with the temporal assumptions underlying human rights law, and adjacent legal fields, as exemplified in rights‑based climate cases.
From this shared starting point, project team members will engage with the legal, epistemic, institutional and political constraints on implementing future‑oriented, temporally inclusive approaches in rights‑based climate litigation more broadly.
What will your role be?
As a TEMPORALAW PhD team member, you will be an integral part of the Brussels‑based research team, as well as designing and implementing your independent PhD project. You will be expected to:
* Collaborate in the construction of the project’s conceptual framework, together with post‑doctoral project members.
* Collaborate on select project‑based publications and contribute to other project activities, such as the organization of project events or research dissemination.
* Independently conduct your own research on legal engagement with ‘the past’ (PhD1) and ‘the future’ (PhD2) of climate change (in the form of a monograph or article‑based PhD).
* Co‑supervise, in your third and/or fourth year, and together with other team members, a legal clinic group of MA students applying project findings to a concrete case.
* Contribute to academic life at both the Faculty of Law and Criminology and HYDR.
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
3 - Profile
What do we expect from you?
* By the start of the PhD, you hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in law (ideally human rights law, public international law, climate law, or a related field).
* You have a good knowledge of discourses surrounding the interface between (human rights) law and climate change.
* You are interested in research that combines theory and practice, including by applying critical perspectives to case‑law and thinking creatively and comparatively (experience with socio‑legal theory and methods is an asset).
* You possess strong English‑language skills.
* You are open to a combination of team‑based and independent research.
* As a (non‑EEA national), you meet the conditions for obtaining a valid permit for VUB and comply with the VUB residence requirements.
The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin colour, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
4 - Offer
Are you going to be our new colleague?
You’ll be offered a full‑time PhD‑scholarship, for 12 months (extendable up to a maximum of 48 months, on condition of a positive evaluation of the PhD activities), with a planned starting date 01/09/2026.
You'll receive a grant linked to one of the scales set by the government.
IMPORTANT: The effective result of the doctorate scholarship is subject to the condition precedent of your enrolment as a doctorate student at the university.
As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits:
* Extensive home‑working options, a telework allowance of 50 euros per month OR an internet fee of 20 euros per month.
* An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work‑life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave (based on a fulltime contract), closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days.
* Cost‑free hospitalisation insurance.
* Full reimbursement of your home‑to‑work commute with public transport according to VUB policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike.
* A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices.
* Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise, a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks) and Ecocheques.
* Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps.
* The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses.
* Great colleagues with a healthy drive.
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