Postdoctoral Positions in Energy and Climate Law at University of Copenhagen

The Center for International Law and Governance (CILG), forthcoming Center for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA) in January 2024 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Copenhagen, is seeking applicants for two postdoctoral positions in climate and energy law.

The positions are part of two interdisciplinary research projects:

The positions are available from 1 February 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

About the projects

To achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and address the climate emergency by securing the 1.5°C temperature goal set by the Paris Agreement, it is imperative that the shift from fossil-based energy production and consumption to renewable energy sources happens in the next few years.  However, achieving this shift is not only a matter of hard science breakthroughs, but also of advancing policy paths and legal frameworks to deploy the available GHG emissions control knowledge and technologies at the speed and scale required to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

DART – The Danish Government has decided to quadruple the production of renewable energy by 2030. While a vast majority of the Danish population support the renewable energy transition, municipalities and developers still experience substantial skepticism and widespread concern from local citizens and interest groups when wind turbines, solar parks and PtX plants are to be implemented in local sites and communities. The skepticism and concern often turn into local resistance and concrete conflicts, leading to a number of challenges at the global scale, national scale, corporate scale and civil society scale. We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher for Work Package three of the project, entitled: A regulatory framework for enhancing citizen engagement in RES. The primary target is to assess the current legal framework for citizen engagement in the development of RES in Denmark, and put forward potential avenues and tools for improving and enhancing citizens’ engagement. This includes incentives for companies, public authorities and civil society to enter into renewable energy partnerships, thus mitigating the risk of costly and time-consuming conflicts. The project envisions a review of the Danish legal framework, and relevant international and EU legislation, and map best practices of key existing legal frameworks in selected countries for citizen engagement and an interview round with relevant political stakeholders and experts from universities and independent think tanks. The duration of the project is two years.

RIGHydro – The project entitled: Regulatory Innovation to Incentivize Green Hydrogen aims to contribute to the deployment of green hydrogen as a key component of the green transition in Denmark, the EU and beyond. Through a comprehensive understanding and analysis of the latest regulatory developments, the project will point out how to enable, from a legal and institutional perspective, the deployment of green hydrogen in Denmark. The project aims to contribute to the planning of a green hydrogen infrastructure by tackling regulatory, implementation and institutional barriers, support the design of financial incentives for the production and commercialization of green hydrogen, and propose ways in which to increase green hydrogen’s social acceptance, including consumers-centered solutions. The duration of the project is 21 months.

About the positions

We are seeking two enthusiastic and outstanding post-doctoral candidates, one for each of the projects described above, with a strong interest in energy and climate change law. The ideal candidate must hold a relevant academic degree (in law or in another social science discipline, provided the applicant can also document sufficient knowledge in law), and possess the appropriate theoretical and methodological tools to carry out the research. Crucially, the successful candidate will have the ability to work in a collaborative environment both independently and as part of the team.

The postdocs will be part the larger research team at CILG (https://jura.ku.dk/cilg/), which carries out research on climate change and sustainability. The center offers a nurturing, lively and expanding research environment that has developed frameworks that enable researchers to receive feedback on their ongoing work and interact with other researchers in their field.

Applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the faculty’s research areas and education programmes by visiting the Faculty’s website: www.jura.ku.dk.

The Faculty actively supports the effort to learn Danish.

Required qualifications

The position requires academic qualifications PhD, JSD or equivalent degree in law or in another social science discipline, provided the applicant can also document sufficient qualifications in law. All applicants are expected to be able to use English as the working language (written and spoken). Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear potential to deliver high quality peer-reviewed research publications.  

In the overall assessment, emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s research and teaching potential. Special emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s ambition to develop and implement new research ideas, which may have an international impact. Furthermore, the Faculty places emphasis on the applicant’s interest and preferably, prior experience, in working with other researchers to conduct collective research and teaching activities and welcomes the applicant’s proven ability to make a valuable contribution in this regard.

Salary and terms of employment

The appointment is temporary and will be made in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). In addition to the basic salary you will receive an annual supplement per month and a total contribution to your pension fund equal 17,1 % of your salary and annual supplement is paid. It is possible to negotiate further salary supplements. 

The positions include research and some administrative responsibilities. Teaching is not possible for these positions.

Read more about the qualification requirements for postdocs in the ministerial order on the job structure for academic staff at universities 2019.

Application

Letter of motivation, appendices and the submitted research publications (including papers, articles and books), must be written in English. The application will be rejected if not all the required documents are submitted.

It is essential that you fill out all the mandatory fields in the electronic application even though the info is already stated in your CV, application, publication or other material you may find relevant to upload. The completed fields will be screened during the shortlisting and assessment process and in order to generate your final assessment, which we will send to you after the assessment work is finalized.

The application MUST include the following eight (8) elements:  

1. Letter of motivation (a one-page document explaining the reasons for applying. Please specify which project you are applying for DART/ RYGHydro. It is possible to apply for both.)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Research project Applications should include a proposal for a research project to be completed during the post-doctoral period. Proposals should be no more than four pages long. The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop a postdoctoral project, identifying the relevant methodological tools to achieve the outlined project.
4. Diplomas, PhD or JSD diploma or alternatively a document showing that the applicant submitted or will submit a dissertation.
5. Publication list. (Complete, numbered list of publications)
6. Academic references, if available (please upload under “other relevant material”)
7. A maximum of five (5) scientific publications that the applicant wishes to have included in the assessment, of which no more than one (1) may be a monograph. Applicants, who have written a PhD or JSD thesis or equivalent, must always submit the complete thesis (if the thesis is written in Danish, English, Swedish or Norwegian) and the written assessment of the thesis as a part of submitted publications.
8. If citing work where the applicant has been a co-author, a co-author declaration, which addresses the applicant’s share of these works, must be submitted. Material that has not yet been published can be submitted. However, please indicate if this is the case.

In addition to the material which the applicant wishes to be included in the assessment, the Assessment Committee may require further material to assess the applicant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide such supplementary material, should this be requested.

Application procedure

Upload letter of motivation, appendices and the research publications electronically using the link below. We advise you to have the above-mentioned documents ready before you begin to fill out your online application, and it is essential that all required documents are enclosed.

Applications must be addressed to the Associate Dean of Research and uploaded electronically.

An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application.

Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email.

Following the application deadline, the Associate Dean of Research selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. Applicants are selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment needs of the Faculty as described in this advertisement for the post. This is compared with the applicant’s research and teaching profile as set out in the application, CV incl. list of publication, teaching portfolio and any research/development plan.  All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and when the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicants themselves.

University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and therefore encourages all interested parties regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

For further information about the positions, please contact Associate Professor Beatriz Martinez Romera beatriz.martinez.romera@jur.ku.dk.

Further information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk

The application deadline is 15 December 2023 at 23:59 GMT+1.

Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be accepted.

If your application does not include all the required supporting documents your application can be rejected and not be considered by the assessment committee.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.