Vacant PhD scholarships at iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen

The Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen is inviting applications for 2 PhD positions available from 1 October 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. The PhD scholarship is fully funded and salaried.  

Successful candidates will join the Avant-Courts and AMICI projects at iCourts, Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance. The candidates will be part of dynamic, new, interdisciplinary research teams at iCourts, a leading research hub on the empirical study of international courts and legal governance.

About the projects

Avant-Courts - Decentring Legal Power: Avantgarde Courts at the Frontiers of the Global Economy: The project is led by Professor Mikael Rask Madsen and investigates the transformation of the global legal order caused by the rise of new hybrid courts at the frontiers of the global economy. It focuses on jurisdictional battles and legal knowledge exchanges between Western courts and new challengers, analysing how new litigation hubs are disrupting traditional legal institutions. The project starts out by examining avantgarde courts in three distinct legal spaces: new economic spaces, outer space, and virtual spaces. Other empirical sites may also be considered.

The PhD project is expected to address the new economic spaces and analyse the institutional frameworks of new courts in the area and how they are developing novel legal knowledge in terms of new fields of law and principles of law.

More information about the research project and its aims and methods may be found here: https://jura.ku.dk/icourts/research/avant-courts/.

AMICI - Friends or Foes? Amici Curiae in International Human Rights Courts: AMICI is led by Associate Professor Zuzanna Godzimirska and explores the role and impact of third-party interventions in international human rights law, particularly at the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Treaty Bodies. The project constructs a comprehensive dataset on interventions, analysing actors, strategies, and their impact on human rights bodies and law through interdisciplinary mixed-methods approaches.

The PhD project is expected to map the actors behind third-party interventions in human rights courts and assess how these actors seek influence through third-party interventions.

More information about the research project and its aims and methods may be found here: https://jura.ku.dk/icourts/research/amici/.

The PhD Programme
The PhD will be part of the wider PhD Programme offered by the Faculty of Law. 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.   

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. 

For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to:
PhD School at the Faculty of Law – University of Copenhagen.

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 in Danish or English offered by the Faculty of Law.
• Conduct independent and high-quality research under the supervision of the PI related to their project.

Qualifications  

• Applicants must have obtained a degree that corresponds to the Danish Master of Laws degree (or similar degree in the social sciences) which is a second cycle 120 ECTS degree (two years of full-time studies), that builds on a 180 ECTS bachelor’s degree (three years of full-time studies) or equivalent qualifications. Applicants with a non-Danish Master’s degree will have their degree assessed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science in order to establish, if the Master’s degree is equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree.
• 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 (for Danish scale, see https://ufm.dk/en/education/the-danish-education-system/grading-system?set_language=en&cl=en ).
• Applicants may submit their application before they have completed their master’s degree. The master’s degree must, however, be obtained before the start date.
• 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 must have excellent language skills in English and have excellent communications skills. Applicants must be able to teach at an academic level in Danish or English and to follow PhD courses in English.

Application procedure

Click ‘Apply now’ below to be taken to 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. It is recommended that the project proposal does not exceed 6 A4 pages (excluding bibliography). The document must be in Times New Roman, font size 12, spacing 1.5 with all margins (right, left, top and bottom) set to 2 cm.
• Curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages).
• Diplomas and transcripts: 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 other language than English or Danish.
• Grading scale: A certified explanation of grading scale in the original language and an authorized English translation if it is available in another language than English or Danish.
• Letter of motivation: Explain the choice of the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen as a host institution for the proposed project and outline how the project fits within the research priorities at the faculty (maximum 1 page).
• Documentation of English level: Documentation of English level can for instance be documented by an excellent IELTS or TOEFL test.

Submit your application electronically in English.

University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and therefore encourages all interested parties regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

Recruitment process  

Following the application deadline, the Associate Dean of Research 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 assessment of the applicant’s educational qualifications, the quality of the submitted research proposal and its relevance to the faculty’s research agenda, and other relevant qualifications (e.g. relevant professional experience, any previous academic publications etc.). All applicants are then notified by the HR Centre as to whether their application has proceeded to the assessment stage. The 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 assessment. A number of qualified applicants will be invited for an interview.

 
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. 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. If you are offered the position a certificate of criminal record must be submitted.

 
Additional Information

Questions about the Avant-Courts project may be addressed to PI Mikael Rask Madsen at mikael.madsen@jur.ku.dk.

Questions about the AMICI project may be addressed to PI Zuzanna Godzimirska at zuzanna.godzimirska@jur.ku.dk.

International applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Contact information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR at e-mail: HR-soendre@adm.ku.dk, please refer to ID number: 211-2118/25-2H #2.

Closing date for applications  
The closing date for applications is 4 May 2025, 23:59 CEST. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.