In het kort
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Department
Faculty of Law
Organisation
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, University of Groningen, V25.0058
Job description
A large consortium of universities and companies will be studying the Dutch energy system in 2050 and the transition towards that system. This consortium, called ‘MODES’, is addressing these questions in a project funded by NWO (the Dutch Research Council). A major part of the future Dutch energy system constitutes of the energy generated on the North Sea. The University of Groningen leads the research done on the North Sea energy system as part of the Dutch (and European) energy system. A PhD position is now opened to contribute to this research from a legal and governance perspective.
This PhD position will develop a governance framework for a North Sea energy system that balances several ’public interests’, as described in the Nationaal Plan Energiesysteem, and will discuss the changes to the legal and regulatory environment that are necessary to achieve this. Although the research has a focus on the legal and regulatory system, there is an important interaction with other disciplines, such as energy economics and modelling. The research focuses on the energy system, so it does not directly address other topics such as ecology and fisheries. However, interaction with other projects that do focus on these themes is possible.
The envisaged research is subdivided into four phases. The first phase investigates the 2050 scenario: what type of governance framework is necessary in a socially optimal North Sea energy system? The second phase analyses how the societal costs, benefits and risks should be shared between participating countries, and researches the regulatory incentives for socially optimal investments to facilitate a seamless integration of national zones in the North Sea energy system. The third phase focuses on the regulatory supervision of the North Sea energy system: this entails the framework for offshore grid tariffs and operator revenues, the offshore grid planning process, and the quality of grid operation, which are all heavily influenced by EU law. The fourth and final phase concentrates on the transition path towards the 2050 North Sea energy system. How to develop regulations that stimulate system integration between electricity, natural gas and hydrogen, as well as between offshore and onshore? And how to develop a regulatory transition pathway that maintains an attractive investment climate?
The methodology for this PhD project is interdisciplinary and combines law and economics: how to reach a socially optimal division of costs, benefits and risks is an economic question, but the solution needs to be implemented in the legal and regulatory framework. A law-and-economics methodology is applied, which reflects the interaction between the legal system and its outcomes in terms of optimal allocation. At the same time, legal principles on the allocation of costs, benefits and risks provide input for determining the economically optimal allocation. The research outputs are used to propose regulatory interventions, which are again analysed from an economic perspective, using both existing modelling studies and qualitative (informal) cost-benefit analysis (CBA).
Envisaged starting date: 1 June 2025
Consortium
Next to the University of Groningen, several other universities, organisations and companies are involved. As a result, the PhD student will work closely together with other project partners and the PhDs and postdocs that they will be hiring. TU Delft is the main applicant of the overarching project (MODES).
Organisation
The University of Groningen is a research university with a global outlook, rooted in Groningen, City of Talent. Quality has had top priority for four hundred years, and with success: the University is currently in or around the Top 100 on several influential ranking lists.
The Faculty of Law (https://www.rug.nl/rechten/) is building on a longstanding tradition of four centuries of quality legal research. It is an ambitious top-ranking faculty of law with both high-quality education and research, with a strong international orientation, firmly rooted in the North of The Netherlands. The faculty creates and shares knowledge through outstanding education and research, benefitting society. With more than 4000 students and 350 staff members the faculty is heavily involved in educating students, both Dutch and international. The faculty is a modern, broad and international institution, educating students to become forward-looking, articulate and independent lawyers.
The PhD candidate will be integrated in the Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS). This centre brings together expertise from all branches of law within the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen to develop cutting-edge research and educational programmes relevant for the energy transition. Its research covers the entire energy chain as well as the transitions necessary to move towards a more sustainable society. This includes all legislation and regulation applying to the production, transport, storage and supply of energy, the promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, the need to secure energy supply, as well as climate action and environmental protection.
All PhD students participate in the Groningen Graduate School of Law (GGSL). The GGSL organizes the education of research master students and PhD students in the Faculty of Law. The inspiring and stimulating research environment is evidenced by the last external research audit in 2022 which concluded that the research of the faculty is of outstanding quality and praised the GGSL for the way in which PhD students are supported and supervised from the start until the very end of their PhD. Through the graduate school, the PhD candidates will be invited to several trainings and courses that are relevant for the candidates’ projects.
Requirements
We expect the candidate to have
- Completed or be close to completing a Master's degree in law.
- Ability to analyse and apply the relevant international, European and national regulatory framework of energy law, in connection with other environmental and social regulatory and policy aspects.
- Independence and availability to travel to carry out international academic activities.
- Eagerness to publish international articles and write a dissertation.
- Enthusiasm to work in an interdisciplinary research team.
- Demonstrable competences including conceptual capacity, presenting, monitoring, planning and organizing.
- Good social and communication skills.
- Excellent command of English and academic writing skills. (Some) knowledge of Dutch is a plus, because the project - although the working language is English - involves investigation of Dutch legislation and policy, and interaction with Dutch partners.
Conditions of employment
Contract length: 48 months.
We offer you, following the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:
The position offered is for four years (48 months) at full time employment, with
- A salary of € 2,901 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,707 gross per month in the fourth and final year for a full-time working week.
- A holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and an 8.3% year-end bonus.
- A full-time position (1.0 FTE) for four years; first, you will get a temporary position of eighteen months with the option of renewal for another thirty months; prolongation of the contract is contingent on sufficient progress to indicate that successful completion of the PhD thesis within the contract period is to be expected. A PhD training programme is part of the agreement and you will be enrolled in the Graduate School of the Faculty of Law.
Job Application
The application should include a: - Cover letter explaining your motivation for the position. - CV. - List of names and contact details of two referees, and an indication of whether we can contact them at this stage. - Overview of grades. - Writing sample (e.g. master thesis or other written work). Candidates admitted to the interview stage will be required to submit a two-page research proposal which includes (i) a short background on what you think are relevant sources to perform this research (ii) how you would approach the questions and methodologies described above. You will give a short presentation on this at the beginning of the interview. You may apply for this position until 13 February 11:59pm / before 14 February 2025 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). Only complete applications submitted by the deadline will be taken into consideration. The interviews for the position are scheduled in the week of 24-28 February. The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/ Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/ and the European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code We provide career services for partners of new faculty members moving to Groningen. Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
Additional information
For additional information, please contact:
Dr. Ceciel Nieuwenhout, Assistant Professor of Energy Law
[email protected]
In your application, please always include the job opening ID V25.0058
