PhD Candidate ‘Articulating deterrence in data protection law’

Your task will be to conduct a doctoral research project in the field of data protection law: 'Articulating deterrence in data protection law' under the supervision of Dr. René Mahieu (daily supervisor) and Prof. Anna Berlee (supervisor).

Research:

The GDPR intends to safeguard the right to protection of personal data through a system of strict rules combined with strong enforcement through deterrent fines. However, since the notion of ‘deterrence’ has remained underdeveloped, practitioners (including data protection authorities and judges) do not know what it means to impose a deterrent fine in practice. This research project studies deterrence in both national and EU data protection and competition law to clarify how deterrence can be interpreted in data protection law. The project will develop and apply a theoretical framework (inspired by law and economics, and/or criminology, and/or legal philosophy dependent on the backgrounds and interests of the candidate) to evaluate the functioning of deterrence in data protection law,  and thereby contributes to understanding and solving the problems of enforcement in data protection law.

The candidate will work in the Data Protection and Privacy Law Section. This section is part of the Department of Private Law of the Faculty of Law and consists of two professors, two Assistant Professors (to which a third assistant or associate professor will soon be added) and three lecturers who mainly work in practice and another full-time PhD student. We are looking for an enthusiastic colleague who wants to help build this young and enthusiastic research group and our educational program in the field of the dynamic and socially important privacy and data protection law. In doing so, we collaborate with colleagues from different areas of law and from other faculties, such as specialists in artificial intelligence or data science from the Faculty of Science. The candidate may be involved in teaching part of a course or supervising thesis(s) in the new Data Protection and Privacy Law master's program that is related to the topic of the dissertation. The candidate is expected to participate in (international) scientific activities and events (conferences, workshops, etc.).

Requirements:

You hold a master's degree in the field of law (regular or research master's), preferably with a specialization in data protection law or adjacent areas of law. You have an affinity for multidisciplinary work and are interested in law & economics and/or philosophy of law and/or criminology. You have demonstrable scientific interest and research skills, preferably demonstrated by a scientific publication or highly regarded master's thesis in the field. You are enthusiastic and ambitious when it comes to conducting scientific research. Furthermore, you can work both in a team and independently, you have very good communication skills and you can place your research in its social context and make it socially relevant. You also have good ICT skills, are result-oriented and have a proactive attitude.

Salary Benefits:

Salary

The salary of the doctoral candidate is € 2,770.= gross per month during the first year, increasing to a maximum of € 3,539.= gross per month during the fourth year, based on a full working week and in accordance with the current salary scales according to Appendix A of the Collective Bargaining Agreement of Dutch Universities.

Work location

Your place of employment is Heerlen. In consultation with your supervisors it will be arranged when you work at which location: on campus, at one of the OU study centers, or at home.

38 hours per week

Postbus 2960