Vacancy: 2 PhD Researchers in Migration Law and Governance, European Research Council Grant SoftEn (Law Faculty, Maastricht University)
The Department of European Law at the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, has a vacancy for two full time doctoral researchers (1.0 FTE) for the duration of 4 years. We are looking for two aspiring researchers in migration law and governance with a strong interest in socio-legal and qualitative empirical research for participation in an ERC-funded research project on the enforcement of EU migration law.
The selected candidates will join the team of the SoftEn project that Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi, Associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair in EU Migration Law and Governance, leads at the Law Faculty.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
SoftEn – Soft Enforcement of EU Migration Law – is a five-year project running 2025-2029 that is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) as a Starting Grant. The core project team will consist of four researchers, the Principal Investigator Lilian Tsourdi, 1 post-doctoral researcher, and 2 doctoral researchers. In addition, Dr. Sarah Tas and Dr. Lukasz Dziedzic will respectively co-supervise one doctoral researcher. SoftEn conceptualizes soft enforcement and unlocks the black box of its operationalisation in the context of migration. It brings together theoretical insights from legal and political science on governance, enforcement, and accountability, combining legal analysis with empirical qualitative methods.
Its groundbreaking nature lies in three characteristics. First, the project will generate a new interdisciplinary, legally grounded, and empirically informed theory of soft enforcement in the migration context. Second, it will generate datasets on soft enforcement along three axes (steering policy implementation; supervising policy implementation; and ensuring actor accountability) across the EU’s migration policies. Moving beyond ‘law on the books’, it will also generate unique qualitative empirical insights at EU and selected national levels. Third, it will generate a new evidence-informed governance framework for soft enforcement that can impact the work of public institutions at EU and national levels, and ultimately, individuals.
For more information and to submit your application, go to: https://vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastricht-PhD-Researchers-in-Migration-Law-and-Governance/812455802/.