Post-Doctoral or Doctoral Researcher in law

The Faculty of Law is looking for a Post-doctoral Researcher or a Doctoral Researcher for a one-year temporary position at its Helsinki unit, starting from 1.3.2023 or by agreement. The position will involve legal research in the STN project Generation AI.

The Generation AI project investigates children's rights in the field of artificial intelligence. The research will utilise legal-dogmatic methods to – among other things – problematise the legal requirements of technology and identify the risks of AI for children's rights from a protection and participation perspective. The legal framework will be compared with children's attitudes and perceptions of their rights in relation to data use and algorithmic manipulation. The project will provide recommendations to governments, guardians and educators (e.g. schools) on how they can meet their obligations regarding AI and children's rights.

The project will explore legal concepts of children's consent and decision-making capacity in AI-based systems. It analyses the legal age of consent of children. The project will critically examine the legal standards on children's consent, in particular in relation to data protection regulation.

The Post-Doctoral Researcher or Doctoral Researcher will be asked to examine how the evolving regulatory framework for digitalisation has taken into account children's rights.

Requirements for the position and assessment of qualifications

An appointee to a Post-Doctoral Researcher position shall hold an applicable doctoral degree obtained by the beginning of the appointment. An appointee to a Doctoral Researcher position shall have a master’s degree obtained by the beginning of the employment contract. A Doctoral Researcher must gain a study right in a doctoral programme at the University of Helsinki within the trial period, if they do not have it already. If the study right is denied, the employment contract will end at the end of the trial period.

When assessing applicants’ qualifications, attention will be paid to the applicant's expertise in the regulation of technology and artificial intelligence or in the regulation of children's rights. Scholarly qualifications include scholarly publications and other research results of scholarly value.

What we offer

The salary for the position will be based on levels 5 (Post-Doctoral Researcher) or 2 - 4 (Doctoral Researcher) of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. The salary of a Doctoral Researcher increases as the doctoral work progresses. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The gross annual salary is approximately €42,000 - €46,000 (Post-Doctoral Researcher) or approximately €29.500 - €38.500 (Doctoral Researcher).
There will be a six-month trial period for the position.

How to apply

The application must be accompanied by the following documents in PDF format:

• A curriculum vitae
• A report (max. 3 pages) describing the applicant’s research activities, such as activities in the scholarly community, success in obtaining research funding and international research
• A list of Publications

Further information about academic portfolios is available on our website .

Other attachments, including letters of recommendation or certificates, are not required at this point.

Applications must be submitted through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system by clicking on the link below. Current employees of the University of Helsinki must submit their applications through SAP Fiori’s Suffeli recruitment portal.

Further information about the position can be obtained from Professor Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo (susanna.lindroos(at)helsinki.fi). Further information about the recruitment process can be obtained from HR Specialist Rosa Beckmann (hr-oiktdk(at)helsinki.fi).

The Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki is the leading Finnish institute of legal education. Some of the degrees awarded by the Faculty are completed at its bilingual Vaasa Unit of Legal Studies . The Faculty’s mission is to train qualified, ethically responsible legal professionals for both the Finnish and international markets through research of an international standard and research-based teaching. The Faculty offers undergraduate degrees in Finnish, Swedish and English as well as a bilingual degree in Swedish and Finnish.The Faculty has a teaching and research staff of around 120 people and 2,400 undergraduate and postgraduate students.