Doctoral scholarship holder broad field of private family law

Organisation/Company University of Antwerp Research Field Juridical sciences » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 2 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

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The Faculty of Law is looking for a full-time doctoral scholarship holder in the broad field of private family law.

Position

• You work actively on the preparation and defence of a doctoral thesis in the context of the Personal Rights and Property Rights research group, under the supervision of prof. dr. Frederik Swennen and prof. dr. Elise Goossens. Your doctoral thesis should relate to the broad domain of private family law and preferably have a link to one of the following research topics:
• • Gender(s) and family(ies)
  • Similarities and differences between private family law and private economic law or between private family law and other (e.g., public law) rules governing the family, for example in relation to the (socio-economic) profile of the users of those rules (“dual system of family law”)
  • Family diversity in inheritance law
  • Pluralistic private family law and public order in light of (European) fundamental rights, particularly with regard to the protection of non-conventional families such as queer families or singles.
  • You may also propose another theme in the broad field of private family law. Your methodology may also be socio-legal, interdisciplinary (e.g. law & literature, the arts,…) or transdisciplinary.
• You publish scientific articles related to the research project.
• You will carry out teaching and research support tasks and service duties (e.g. examination supervision, sitting on committees or councils) within the Faculty of Law, and the Personal Rights and Property Rights research group.

Profile

• You hold a law degree or a master’s degree in law or you will have obtained it by the time you start work.
• You submit a concise English research proposal for the research you will be developing (see above). This focused proposal of 2 pages includes the following headings: problem statement, central research question, methodology and core bibliography. You pay attention to the international or comparative dimension of your subject. The proposal should allow you to successfully complete the PhD in 4 years.
• The prior conditions are conditions of admissibility.
• You can demonstrate excellent study results, in particular in the broad area of private family law. You substantiate this with a detailed overview of your study results (see 'Want to apply?').
• You have an adequate command of Dutch or English to be able to provide teaching (support). This means that one of these languages is either one of your higher education qualifications, or that you can express yourself fluently and spontaneously on complex (academic) subjects both orally and in writing. Preferably you master Dutch nonetheless (teaching and administrative language), at least as a basic user;
  
  you understand phrases and regularly occurring expressions and you can communicate in simple terms. If you do not yet master Dutch, you make arrangements in your goal-setting interview to still acquire sufficient adequate knowledge (i.e. at least as a basic user) of Dutch in the short term. These agreements are evaluated as part of the evaluation with a view to renewal of your appointment.
• Your teaching competences…