The ACIL invites applications for PhD projects that are within the scope of the research programme on the International Rule of Law. In particular, candidates are invited to prepare research proposals on the following research topics:

• Shared responsibility in international law
  ACIL conducts a five year research project (SHARES) into legal questions raised in situations where responsibility is shared between multiple states or other actors. Candidates are invited to develop proposals on: fundamental principles in relation to shared responsibility (such as fault, causation, equity, joint responsibility), shared responsibility in particular issue areas (e.g. protection of the global environment, conversation of natural resources); and procedural aspects of adjudicating shared responsibility in international courts and tribunals. [1]
    
• Interfaces between international and national law
  ACIL is a leading research center on the interfaces between international and national law. Candidates are invited to develop proposals in this research area. Given that much work has already been carried out on the role of courts, candidates are particularly invited to submit proposals on the role of the legislative and executive branches in giving effect to or shaping international law and on the contestation and accommodation between legal orders.
    
• The architecture of postnational rulemaking
  This project investigates the architecture of postnational rulemaking from the views of public international law, European public law and European private law. Applications are invited to submit proposals for empirical (including case–studies) or conceptual research on the phenomenon of shifting sources of authority, on processes of rulemaking, and on postnational rulemaking between authority and autonomy.
     
• International criminal justice
  ACIL is the leading research center on international criminal justice in the Netherlands. Candidates are particularly invited to submit proposals on the development of new international crimes, such as piracy, and their conceptual place within international criminal law; the role and position of non-governmental organisations in international criminal proceedings and international criminal justice and the responsibility to protect; asylum and international criminal justice.
       
• Human rights
  International human rights form an important part of the process of developing an international rule of law. Specific emphasis is placed on the idea of pluralism in relation to international human rights. Candidates are invited to develop proposals on the development of new constitutions including international human rights norms and their national application; and the cultural context of specific international human rights norms and their implementation at national level in relation to international supervision.

Other proposals related to one of the above themes and more generally to the international rule of law may also be considered.

Candidates who consider to prepare a research proposal are advised to consult the list of ongoing Ph.D. projects at the ACIL to prevent overlap (available under ‘PhD Research’).

[1] The concept paper of the project ‘Sharing Responsibility in International Law’ is available on the SHARES website (www.sharesproject.nl).

Information

For more information please contact Martine van Trigt, Management Assistant at the ACIL, by email at: acil-fdr@uva.nl