PhD Candidate position on Corporate Law / Corporate Governance

The PhD researcher will perform research and write a thesis on a theme related to Corporate Law and / or Corporate Governance.

Corporate Law and Corporate Governance have strongly evolved over the past years. In particular, a company`s position in society and the role of shareholders and their interests in companies seem to be shifting. There is a trend towards more emphasis on the responsibilities of companies in and towards society, as can be seen in, amongst others, the public consultation by the European Commission on sustainable corporate governance and recent court cases, including the Shell-case by the The Hague District Court. These developments can also be seen in various legislative developments and research initiatives, such as the Accountable Capitalism Act, The New Paradigm and The Future of the Corporation.

These shifting views bring to the forefront fundamental questions on how to regulate companies and their stakeholders for the benefit of society. Questions such as: should shareholders hold decisive control rights and, if so, how should they use them? How should company groups be regulated, both from a control and liability perspective? How can companies effectively imbed sustainability into their corporate governance? These questions are part of an important debate on how and to what extent companies should be regulated as part of global challenges.

As a Phd researcher you will research these and / or related questions in order to contribute to this debate. More specifically, the proposed phd-research will address one of the following topics:

• The role of shareholders, management board and supervisory board in embedding sustainability in the company;
• The role of governance systems in embedding sustainability in companies;
• The governance of company groups and how to embed and monitor sustainability goals within the group;
• The role of shareholders when striving for the long term success of the company.

You will work together with experts from the Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation Policies (ICGI) and associated research networks. You will be part of an exciting and vibrant community where researchers from various disciplines meet to discuss Corporate Law and Corporate Governance. You will be offered the opportunity to expand your horizon, gain new insights and do research. For this, you will be encouraged and coached. You will be able to attend courses and workshops that will add social and legal knowledge to your skillset.

Tasks

Tasks are:

Supervision will be provided by individually assigned senior researchers. A small proportion (20%) of the appointment may be devoted to teaching activities/providing (administrative) support to the ICGI. The majority of the work (80%) concerns the tasks as mentioned above.