iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
PhD fellowships
Deadline for application: 28 January 2016

iCourts is a well-established Centre of Excellence at the University of Copenhagen. It is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. Its research focus is on the ever-growing role of international courts, their place in a globalizing legal order and their impact on politics and society at large. To understand these crucial and contemporary interplays of law, politics and society, iCourts has launched a set of integrated interdisciplinary research projects on the causes and consequences of the proliferation of international courts. In particular, the research agenda of iCourts explores the processes of institutionalization, autonomization and legitimation of international courts. By bringing together a transnational group of top scholars with a background in law and social sciences, iCourts encourages interdisciplinary exchanges, and promotes empirical research of new and well-established international courts.

iCourts seeks applications for fully funded PhD scholarships.
Potential PhD projects:
For this call, iCourts particularly welcomes research projects that deal with:
• Comparative analysis of the embeddedness of international courts in different political and social systems, considering the perceived legitimacy and/or the legal and political conflicts faced by international courts in different national systems.
• Comparative analysis of the impact of regional international courts on regional integration processes, especially in less explored settings in Africa and Latin America.
• The interaction between regional courts with jurisdiction over either human rights, or economic matters in settings with overlapping regional and international legal regimes. 
• The interaction between regional courts and the highest courts of contracting parties and/or global courts such as the ICJ, ICC, and WTO Appellate Body.
• The transformations of global governance and the role that international courts play in constitutionalizing legal regimes, examined via an empirical and/or theoretical analysis of the organization of public authority in pluralist/federal/hierarchical/non-hierarchical settings.

The PhD Programme
The goal of the PhD Programme is threefold: to prepare candidates for a continuing career in teaching and research; to educate a new generation of scholars to produce high-quality independent research; and to equip them with the analytical and problem-solving skills required for a successful career in both the public and private sectors.

Qualifications 
• Applicants must have obtained a degree that corresponds to the Danish Master of Laws or equivalent qualifications (see http://studyindenmark.dk/study-options/admission-requirements ). Applicants must have obtained a minimum overall grade average of 8,2 or above at the Master’s level in accordance with the Danish grading scale. 
• Applicants may submit their application before they have completed their Master’s Degree, however, they should have submitted the final evaluation for their course before 1 February 2016.
• Applicants must document an aptitude for research through the meritorious assessment of their final thesis, publications or academic recommendations in order to show that they are capable of undertaking the demanding task of writing a PhD thesis.
• Applicants whose native language is not English must document proficiency in English by having passed one of the recognised language tests. For IELTS a minimum score of 6,5 is required. For TOEFL a minimum score of 90 (internet-based) or 231 (computer-based) is required. Applicants who have obtained a university degree in a country in which English is the official language (Australia, USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada), and applicants holding a Master’s Degree from one of the Nordic universities are not required to submit proof of English proficiency.

Successful PhD candidates are required to:
• actively engage in the research environment at the University of Copenhagen; participate in international conferences, courses and meetings relevant to their research project;
• comply with the formal requirements of the PhD Programme; 
• contribute to teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses offered by the Faculty of Law;
• conduct independent and high-quality research under the supervision of a senior member of academic staff at the Faculty.

Interested?
The Faculty of Law offers supervision by highly qualified academics and provides an excellent opportunity to research contemporary legal issues in an intellectually stimulating environment.

If you are offered a PhD position, you will receive a regular monthly salary in accordance with Danish law and you will be entitled to an annual research budget. The Faculty does not provide accommodation. 

Application procedure
Click ‘apply online’ to access the online application form. We advise you to have the following documents ready before you begin your online application:
• Research project proposal. This should include the following: (1) objective(s) of the research, (2) major research questions, (3) review of relevant literature, (4) methodology to be applied in the research, and (5) a timetable that plans for all course requirements to have been met within three years. The project description must elaborate on the value of the proposed research project in terms of its relevance to existing and future research in the field (maximum 6 pages excluding bibliography). The document must be in Times New Roman, font size 12, spacing 1.5 and all margins (right, left, top and bottom) set to 2 cm.
• Curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages).
• Certified copies of original diploma(s) and transcripts (both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree) in the original language and an authorized English translation if they are issued in a language other than English or Danish.
• A certified explanation of grading scale in the original language and an authorized English translation if it is available in a language other than English or Danish.
• The name of a member of academic staff in iCourts whom you wish to have assigned as your supervisor.
• Letter of motivation that explains the choice of iCourts, the Faculty of Law, as a host institution for the proposed project and outlines how the project fits within the research priorities at iCourts (maximum 1 page).
• Complete, numbered list of publications, if any.
• Two academic reference (to be uploaded under 'other information to consider').
• Official results for TOEFL or IELTS.

Applications must be submitted in either Danish or English.

The Faculty actively supports academic staff with little or no knowledge of written and oral Danish (or another Scandinavian language) in the acquisition of skills in Danish. 

Terms of employment
Successful candidates will be employed in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the Ministry of Finance concerning the salary of PhD students.

Closing date for applications
The closing date for applications is 28 January 2016. Late applications will not be accepted. Furthermore, no additional documents may be submitted after this date. If your application does not include all the required supporting documents (see application procedure), your application will be rejected.

Following the application deadline, the Dean will pre-select PhD applications that will proceed to the assessment stage upon the recommendation of the Selection Committee. Applicants are pre-selected for further assessment in line with the Faculty’s recruitment needs as described in this job advertisement. This is carried out based on the overall evaluation of the applicant’s educational qualifications, the quality of the submitted research proposal and its relevance to iCourts’ research agenda, and other relevant qualifications (e.g. relevant professional experience, any previous academic publications etc.).

All applicants are then notified by the PhD administration as to whether their application has proceeded to the assessment stage. This assessment is carried out by an expert assessment committee. Selected applicants will be notified of the composition of the assessment committee. When the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the committee’s findings. 

Applications must be submitted electronically.

• Announcement on the iCourt website.