1 PhD position in European competition law in Netherlands | University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG)

The research will be carried out at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG), one of the Centers of Excellence at the Faculty. The research focus at the ACELG is on the interaction of formal European law with legal and institutional practices. ACELG’s research programme is primarily a legal one but takes in addition an empirical and a normative perspective on processes of constitutionalisation and governance. ACELG is looking for a candidate who will pursue a research project on the following theme: Balancing Competition and Non-Competition Interests: Towards a European Toolkit.

Project description

Supervisors across Europe have been increasingly struggling to balance competition and non-competition interests, especially since politically sensitive sectors such as healthcare and energy have become subject to market forces. On the one hand European law has strengthened the supervisors’ inde­pendence vis-à-vis the national governments. On the other hand it increasingly requires supervisors to consider a multitude of objectives and policies when exercising their powers, taking into account non-competition interests, such as sustainable development, public health, consumer protection and culture.

In this altered legal setting the national supervisors need better guidance on how to balance conflicting interests. The objective of this multi-disciplinary Ph.D. research project is to formulate European le­gal principles for balancing competition and non-competition interests. Ultimately, the study aims to develop a European toolkit specifying which procedures, arguments and tools can be applied to put the principles into practice.

Tasks:

• engage in supervised scientific research that will result in a doctoral thesis
• Present intermediate research results at international workshops and conferences, and publish them in proceedings and journals
• Contribute to the organization of research activities and events, such as conferences, workshops and joint publications at ACELG
• Candidates may also assist in teaching on subjects relevant to the thesis in the Faculty’s curriculum.

Requirements

Qualifications of the PhD candidates:

• completed law degree with excellent grades;
• affinity with economic themes and interest in or experience with empirical research are an advantage;
• excellent analytical, social and organizational skills;
• excellent academic writing skills, fluency in English;
• ability to work independently;
• creative researcher and writer.

Conditions of employment

The appointment will be either full-time (38 hours) or 30,4 hours a week. The starting date is 1 April 2014. The appointment will initially be for 1 year and preceded by a three-month appointment for development of a research plan. Extension of the contract to a maximum of four years is subject to satisfactory performance after the first year.

The gross full-time monthly salary will be in accordance with the salary scales for PhD candidates at Dutch universities, i.e., ranging from €2,083 in the first year to €2,664 in the final year. Secondary benefits at Dutch universities are attractive and include 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end of year bonus.