Postdoctoral Position in Law

Postdoctoral Position in Law - Legal and Policy Framework for Green Hydrogen Transport Innovation Ecosystems in the North Sea Region
The Center for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA) at the Faculty of Law of the University of Copenhagen is seeking applicants for a postdoctoral position in climate change and the social contract in the EU.
The position has an 12-month employment period starting March 1, 2025 and is part of the EU Interreg Research Project Igniting H2 Transport Innovation Ecosystems in the North Sea Region (H2Ignite) , which is carried out by a consortium of various institutions in the EU.

H2Ignite
Regional innovation ecosystems for green hydrogen have emerged in the North Sea Region in recent years, creating enormous opportunities for energy security, economic growth, and green hydrogen innovation capacity (€591bn global market by 2030, Deloitte 2023). However, there are a number of challenges, including that most H2 ecosystems are small private sector groups in early test phases, with no public sector coordination or exchange and the lack of public policies and transnational deployment strategies. The overall objective of H2Ignite is to provide a way forward for these challenges and foster policy innovation in the North Sea Region.

Within H2Ignite, the postdoctoral position at CLIMA aims to shed light on the opportunities and challenges in the existing legal frameworks and policies related to green hydrogen in the EU and the relevant national jurisdictions. The aim is to identify legal and policy gaps across the North Sea Region and point towards ways to address them.

About the position
We are seeking an enthusiastic and outstanding post-doctoral candidate with a strong interest in energy and climate change and EU Law. The ideal candidate must hold a relevant academic degree (in law or in another social science discipline, provided the applicant can also document sufficient knowledge in law) and possess the appropriate theoretical and methodological tools to carry out the research. Crucially, the successful candidate will have the ability to work in a collaborative international environment both independently and as part of the team.

The postdoc will be part of the larger research team at CLIMA , which carries out work on climate change and sustainability. The center offers a nurturing, lively, and expanding research environment that has developed frameworks that enable researchers to receive feedback on their ongoing work and interact with other researchers in their field.

Required qualifications
The position requires academic qualifications PhD, JSD, or equivalent degree in law or in another social science discipline, provided the applicant can also document sufficient qualifications in law. All applicants are expected to be able to use English as the working language (written and spoken). Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear potential to deliver high-quality peer-reviewed research publications.

In the overall assessment, emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s research potential. Special emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s ambition to develop and implement new research ideas, which may have an international impact. Furthermore, the Faculty places emphasis on the applicant’s interest and preferably, prior experience, in working with other researchers to conduct collective research and welcomes the applicant’s proven ability to make a valuable contribution in this regard.

Salary and terms of employment
The appointment is temporary and will be made in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). In addition to the basic salary, you will receive an annual supplement per month and a total contribution to your pension fund equal to 17.1% of your salary and annual supplement is paid. It is possible to negotiate further salary supplements.

In addition to the above, the researchers will receive a yearly DKK 25.000 research allowance that can be utilized for work-related expenses such as books needed to conduct the research, conference fees, research stays, etc.

The position includes research and some administrative responsibilities.

Application
Letter of motivation, appendices, and the submitted research publications (including papers, articles, and books) must be written in English. The application will be rejected if not all the required documents are submitted.

It is essential that you fill out all the mandatory fields in the electronic application even though the info is already stated in your CV, application, publication, or other material you may find relevant to upload. The completed fields will be screened during the shortlisting and assessment process.

The application MUST include the following eight (8) elements:
1. Letter of motivation (a one-page document explaining the reasons for applying.)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Research project . Applications should include a proposal for a research project to be completed during the post-doctoral period. Proposals should be no more than four pages long. The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop a postdoctoral project, identifying the relevant methodological tools to achieve the outlined project.
4. Diplomas, PhD or JSD diploma or alternatively a document showing that the applicant submitted or will submit a dissertation.
5. Publication list . (Complete, numbered list of publications)
6. Academic references , if available (please upload under “other relevant material”).
7. A maximum of five (5) scientific publications that the applicant wishes to have included in the assessment, of which no more than one (1) may be a monograph . Applicants who have written a PhD or JSD thesis or equivalent must always submit the complete thesis (if the thesis is written in Danish, English, Swedish, or Norwegian) and the written assessment of the thesis as part of submitted publications.
8. If citing work where the applicant has been a co-author, a co-author declaration , which addresses the applicant’s share of these works, must be submitted. Material that has not yet been published can be submitted. However, please indicate if this is the case.

In addition to the material which the applicant wishes to be included in the assessment, the Assessment Committee may require further material to assess the applicant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide such supplementary material, should this be requested.

Application procedure
Upload letter of motivation, appendices, and the research publications electronically using the link below. We advise you to have the above-mentioned documents ready before you begin to fill out your online application, and it is essential that all required documents are enclosed.

Applications must be addressed to the Associate Dean of Research and uploaded electronically.

An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application.

Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email.

Following the application deadline, the Associate Dean of Research selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. Applicants are selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment needs of the Faculty as described in this advertisement for the post. This is compared with the applicant's research and teaching profile as set out in the application, CV incl. list of publication, teaching portfolio, and any research/development plan. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and when the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicants themselves.

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

For further information about the positions, please contact Associate Professor Beatriz Martinez Romera at

Further information about the recruitment process is available from HR at Please refer to ID number 211-1939/24-2I #1.
The application deadline is 1 December 2024 at 23:59 GMT+1.
Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be accepted.