PhD researcher in (Multi-Disciplinary) Legal Research in the Field of Migration

The Brussels School of Governance, Department Instituut voor Europese Studies, is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant. 

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains: 

You will complete a PhD by drawing on law and migration studies, that can also have a broader multi-disciplinary perspective by drawing on legal and political philosophy and/or theory. PhD proposals that push the analysis of state sovereignty regarding migration a bit further than traditional eurocentric analyses by integrating insights of TWAIL or CRT approaches to international law, or democratic theory, are certainly welcome. 

As a PhD candidate you will develop a research proposal for the following researchs line of the Migration, Diversity and Justice centre: The Role of International Courts in Revisiting the Sovereignty of the Nation-State in the Field of Migration.
The traditional understanding of the state as the primary subject of international law, implies a central role for state consent in the making and development of international law. Furthermore, states’ sovereignty and particularly their territorial sovereignty implies that states have the (sovereign) power who can enter and reside in its territory (and who cannot). At the same time, states have accepted to restrict their sovereignty by ratifying human rights treaties. Relatedly, many states have accepted the jurisdiction of international courts to pronounce legally binding judgements, in relation to their compliance with international conventions ratified by them. However, these international courts are all too well aware of the constraints they face: ultimately sovereign states cannot be forced to comply with their judgements. Hence, several international courts have developed strategies to manage this delicate balancing exercise, while gradually rescaling the notion and strength of state sovereignty.

As a PhD candidate you will develop a research proposal that, focuses on the jurisprudence of the ECtHR and the CJEU, and the way in which these courts assess compliance by European nation states (EU member states and non-EU member states) with international human rights in the field of migration and refugee law. It is possible to zoom in on particular of these human rights, provided that this choice is justified.

The project is carried out within the Migration, Diversity and Justice (MDJ) Centre of the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG), which focuses on the multi-level governance of migration, immigrant integration, equality and diversity policies (from the local level to the EU and UN). Research at the MDJ centre explores the ways in which Europe and the wider world address today’s policy challenges. 

For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.