Research Fellow in IT Law

Closing date 14 June 2022 at 5pm.

Fixed term, 1 Aug 2022 – 1 Aug 2024.

The Opportunity:

The post-holder will be part of an exciting new 2-year £1.2m interdisciplinary research project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council called “Fixing the Future: The Right to Repair and Equal-IoT”. We will investigate how the lack of repairability in the consumer Internet of Things (IoT) will adversely impact citizen inclusion, cybersecurity, and sustainability in the digital economy. The project involves academics from Universities of Edinburgh, Nottingham, Lancaster and Napier, with expertise across law, ethics, computing, human computer interaction, design, and digital humanities. Our programme of research explores how to build more equitable IoT devices that redress poor long-term cybersecurity, exploitative uses of data, and lacking environmental sustainability that define the current IoT. Our research programme is driven by stakeholder engagement and co-creation with citizens and our project partners from repair communities (The Making Rooms, Blackburn), consumer rights groups (Which?), artists (Rachel Jacobs/Active Ingredient), government bodies (Canadian Government) and cybersecurity firms (NCC Group).

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with a background in technology law who will bring a mix of socio-legal and empirical research expertise to the project. Key responsibilities in the role include providing leadership and expertise in legal analysis, running empirical research studies and conducting data analysis, planning knowledge exchange activities with partners and the public, contributing to the project toolkit development, disseminating high quality research outputs and being a core member of the interdisciplinary team.

The post-holder line manager is Dr Lachlan Urquhart (PI), and will be based in the School of Law, University of Edinburgh. The post-holder will work closely with other investigators at the University of Edinburgh, namely Prof Melissa Terras, Dr Ewa Luger and Dr Susan Lechelt, and the wider team at Nottingham, Lancaster and Napier Universities.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• PhD (or near completion) in Technology Law or cognate discipline with knowledge of regulatory and socio-technical impacts of emerging smart technologies.
• Prior experience or interest in working in an interdisciplinary project.
• Key skills in legal analysis, empirical research, public engagement, and knowledge exchange activities.
• A growing track record in publishing and disseminating research outcomes.
• Initiative and independence in managing research workload, whilst being a core member of a highly collaborative interdisciplinary team.

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.