Call for Applications: for Postdoctoral Researcher in Energy Law, at Tilburg University, Apply Now

Department: Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT)
Location: Tilburg, The Netherlands
Contract size: 0.8-1.0 FTE (32 – 40 hours per week)
Full-time gross monthly salary: € 4728 – € 6433
Contract Duration: 36 months, temporary contract
Intended start date: November 1, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter

Your Position

The evolving European and Dutch energy regulatory landscape demands a reassessment of legal frameworks. The energy and battery storage market is fundamentally transforming with legislative instruments including Energiewet, Wet collectieve warmte, and EU Green Deal instruments.

Tilburg University seeks a postdoctoral researcher to support the batteREstore project by examining legal, regulatory, and governance challenges surrounding repurposing EV batteries, neighbourhood-scale energy storage, community energy models, and data management.

The role focuses on Dutch energy law, frameworks for circular economy, localised energy governance, renewable energy and data-driven markets. The researcher will analyse legal challenges in decentralised systems and explore frameworks for collaborative, neighbourhood-scale energy solutions.

The successful candidate will:

Conduct independent and collaborative legal research in battery reuse, energy law, data privacy in digitalised energy markets, and sustainability, leading to peer-reviewed international publications and outputs such as industry memos or policy reports,
Collaborate with municipal and societal partners to develop legal frameworks supporting second/third-life battery use and community-driven energy innovation,

Contribute to the legal discourse on energy, data governance, privacy, digital energy platforms, and regulatory innovations within academia and practice,
Contribute to ongoing projects and collaborative initiatives,
Closely collaborate with both fellow researchers and diverse societal partners and external stakeholders, bridging the gap between academia and practice,
Proactively seek funding opportunities at Dutch and EU levels, coordinating grant applications and research projects for government bodies and other institutions,
Be an active member of the TILT and ACC communities, participating in and organising events, workshops, and conferences, and presenting research findings at national and international forums, and
Engage in limited educational tasks (0.1 – 0.2 FTE), including contributing to the teaching of energy law in the LLM in Law and Technology, supervising and grading theses and assisting in LLB/LLM courses or executive training programs.

Your profile

We recognise that no candidate will meet every requirement, and we do not want lists of requirements to discourage talented applicants. If you’re excited about this position but don’t tick every box, we encourage you to still apply! In your application, share your qualifications and passions.

For this position, we are seeking a motivated and talented postdoctoral researcher who has:

A PhD in law, in a field related to the position, or at least having your PhD manuscript approved at the time of application (strict requirement). Your PhD research can focus on any aspect of energy law, competition law, international trade law, law relating to circular economy or battery storage, data regulation, or innovation law, among other relevant fields,

A strong background and keen interest in sub-sectors of the Dutch energy law, regulatory governance, and/or digital transformation in energy markets,
Given the close collaboration with Dutch and international partners, excellent command of Dutch and English (C1 – C2), demonstrated through publications and conference presentations,
Experience in collaborating with diverse stakeholders, and bridging connections between researchers and practitioners, and the ability to switch from working with researchers to working with partners from practice,
A commitment to Tilburg University’s vibrant research community on climate and energy and to fostering an inspiring work environment,
A proactive, independent, and creative mindset with a vision for innovative research, and
Availability to be present at Tilburg University at least two days per week, in accordance with the university’s hybrid working policy.

We kindly invite you to apply before October 13th; this can only be done online. Address your cover letter to Prof. dr. Giorgio Monti

For more details, refer here