PhD Position: Informality in EU Migration and Foreign Relations Law or the Instrumentalisation of Migration in Europe

The Department of European and Economic Law at the University of Groningen offers you the opportunity to work for four years as a researcher within one of our research programmes. 

As a PhD researcher, you will carry out independent scientific research under the mentorship of Dr Jonas Bornemann, Dr Viktor Szép and Prof. Dr Ramses A. Wessel. 

What are you going to do? 

You are expected to carry out research in one of the following broadly defined areas: 

1. Proposals may focus on the growing use of informality in EU migration and foreign relations law. In EU migration law, informality has been used in recent crisis responses and informal “deals” are often preferred to formal international agreements. This research could assess the implications of such informal actions for the rule of law, governance, and accountability. 

2. Alternatively, proposals may focus on the instrumentalisation of migration. The war in Ukraine has pushed the issue of migration instrumentalisation to the forefront of the EU’s political agenda, as Russia and Belarus have been accused of using displaced people as leverage to destabilise societies in the EU. Policymakers now frame certain migration flows not only as humanitarian crises but also as hybrid threats aimed at destabilising the Union. This has prompted the EU to harden its border policies and develop new legal tools to respond to perceived orchestrated movements of people. However, critics warn that such securitisation risks undermining the rights of individuals and exposing them to extreme hardship at the border. 

For more information and to apply, go to: https://www.academictransfer.com/en/jobs/356849/phd-informality-in-eu-migration-and-foreign-relations-law-or-the-instrumentalisation-of-migration-in-europe/