Your function
As a PhD student, you will prepare and defend a doctoral dissertation. Your PhD research will focus on human rights and/or democracy and/or the rule of law, approaching these topics from a self-chosen perspective that engages with recent developments in a socio-legal context.
The concrete topic and methodology will be determined in consultation between you and your supervisor. Therefore, you are expected to include a research proposal with your application. You will publish in peer-reviewed (inter)national scientific books and journals and actively participate in (inter)national academic conferences within your research domain. You are also open to conducting research stays abroad and contribute to research proposals and workshops.
You will take on a limited package of teaching and support tasks (for example: supervising tutorial groups, mentoring theses, participating in information sessions for prospective students, exam invigilation, or representing PhD candidates on committees). To this end, you will follow training in teaching skills. Finally, you will participate in the doctoral school.
Your team
Having an impact on the switch to a more sustainable and resilient society, from a legal perspective, in the region and far beyond, is what we aim for. To achieve this, we combine our research in the research group CORe (Centre for Government and Law). We focus mainly on the relations between citizens and the government with a special emphasis on resilience and sustainability. We opt for high-quality research in selected core areas and believe in the added value of multidisciplinarity. More information about our research activities and our team, which includes about 15 professors, 40 PhD students and an enthusiastic support staff, can be found on CORe's website. Besides high-quality research, we of course also consider high-quality and innovative education very important. In an academic bachelor's and master's degree programme in Law, in collaboration with KU Leuven and Maastricht University, we train students to become creative and problem-solving legal professionals. We do this through assignment- and problem-based learning and always with an open view on society. Both our workplaces and classrooms can be found on the UHasselt city campus, in the renovated Old Prison near Dusartplein. This site is easily accessible by public transport.
Your talents
Our offer for you
You will be appointed and paid as PhD student.
You will receive a doctoral scholarship for 2 years, renewable once for another 2 years upon a positive interim evaluation. It's a fulltime employment. You will be provided with a workplace at the Hasselt University city campus (Oude Gevangenis), IT equipment and a budget for attending scientific conferences in Belgium and abroad.
Apply for this position
The selection procedure consists of a preselection based on application file and an interview.
The interview will likely take place during the week of 12 January 2026. Please include with your application in English a motivation letter (max. 1 A4 page) stating the title of your research proposal, a CV (max. 2 A4 pages) and a research proposal (max. 4 A4 pages) on human rights, democracy and/or the rule of law. The themes are broad, but must be related to international and/or European law. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): the Mario Draghi report, the EU Green Deal, critical raw materials, geopolitics in the EU's external relations, import restrictions on products made with forced labour, the right to sport, sustainability in free trade agreements, social movements, etc. Include the following sections in your proposal: state-of-the-art, knowledge gap, objectives, research questions, timeliness, innovation, planning and methodology. These formal requirements must be strictly observed.
