Doctoral Student, Technology and Society: Regulatory Learning and Supervisory Competence

About the role

This is a doctoral student position at Lund University's Department of Technology and Society, within the MSCA pan-European network REGULAIRE, which studies how regulation can learn and adapt when technologies, risks and expectations change quickly. The project examines how flexibilities, delegations, open-textured duties and codes of practice distribute authority, with special attention to supervisory authorities, and uses the AI Act to structure comparisons across jurisdictions. The student is both admitted as a student and employed at Lund University.

Key responsibilities

• Map supervisory competence, organisation and tooling in selected jurisdictions, combining document analysis, interviews and process tracing to link design choices to firm predictability and citizen protection.
• Analyse flexibility mechanisms and their governance implications, and possibly contribute to an assessment framework for supervisory capability and guidance on balancing flexibility with legal certainty.
• Refine research questions and design with the supervision team, and prepare ethics, data-management and open-science materials.
• Collect, manage and analyse research data using the approved methods.
• Write the doctoral thesis and related outputs under the doctoral programme and the REGULAIRE plan.
• Take part in training, cohort activities, network reviews, dissemination and practitioner engagement, including three residential summer schools and monthly paper-development seminars.
• Undertake a three-month intersectoral secondment with a partner institution within REGULAIRE.
• Possibly take part in teaching and other departmental work (maximum 20% of working hours).

Required profile

• A second-cycle qualification, or equivalent knowledge, with at least 30 credits in the second cycle relevant to the subject.
• An educational background in law, socio-legal studies, political science, science and technology studies or a related social science or interdisciplinary field.
• Initiative, persistence, independence and good cooperation skills.
• Very good spoken and written English.
• No doctoral degree held on the first day of employment, and no more than 12 months of residence or main activity in Sweden in the 36 months before it (MSCA mobility rule).

Required skills

• Experience with qualitative methods such as document analysis, interviews or process tracing.
• Socio-legal knowledge of how society and law interact.
• Knowledge of emerging technologies.

What we offer

• A fixed-term, full-time position starting 1 January 2027 or by agreement, no later than 1 June 2027, with a monthly salary set by the MSCA grant agreement.
• Public-sector benefits: generous annual leave and an occupational pension scheme.

Applications are written in English and include a CV, a cover letter, copies of study certificates and any other supporting documents.