Call for applications: Junior Fund (post-doc research positions)

The Faculty of Law opens a call for applications within the so called JUNIOR FUND project of Charles University. 

We are looking for international junior researchers (holding already a doctoral degree), who would be interested to carry out a research on one of the bellow topics.Details regarding the eligibility criteria and other useful information may be found here.

If the project is accepted for funding, the beginning of the research period shall be January 1st, 2024. The duration of the project shall be 2 years.

The applications shall be sent via email to international@prf.cuni.cz by July 17th, 2023 at the latest. Online interviews with the short-listed candidates shall take place in the second half of July 2023.

Available 7 topics for the post-doc research are as follows:

1) Legal Aspects of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care

The introduction of artificial Intelligence to health care has a potential to disrupt and redefine the whole field. The variety of AI tools usable in health care is almost endless, from clinical decision support systems to image interpretation in radiology to the use of embodied AI in medical robotics (such as robotic surgery systems) to opening new horizons in telemedicine. At the same time, the legal and ethical issues are similarly immense and complex. The use of AI in health care is likely to represent one of the most pressing and discussed issues in law in the years to come, be it in the area of the human rights protection, standard of care, patient’s autonomy of will and free informed consent, data protection, tort and criminal liability, or others. There will be a crucial need to analyse these problems in depth and propose options to address them. The post-doc researcher will narrow the scope of their research according to their interests and expertise.

Workplace: Department of Medical Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: doc. JUDr. Petr Šustek, Ph.D., sustek@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2023 (for 24 months)

2) Security Incident in the Health Care Sector

The digitisation of health care industry in connection with the problematic geopolitical situation in today’s world emphasises the need to prepare for new security threats. Cybersecurity is going to be increasingly more important in the context of health care, protecting not only health systems from extensive financial loss and other resource reduction, but also lives and health of patients. At the same time, data protection in the broader sense brings about new and complex challenges for the legislators, providers of health services, and other agents. Apart from these pressing issues in the digital world, the possibility of a physical attack on soft targets (especially patients and personnel in hospitals) is still all too real and requires effective and balanced response, which cannot be separated from the above-outlined problems of cybersecurity and data protection as well as the protection of other human rights. The post-doc researcher will analyse these problems from the theoretical and/or practical perspective of their choice.

Workplace: Department of Medical Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: doc. JUDr. Petr Šustek, Ph.D., sustek@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2023 (for 24 months)

3) Challenges for governance of disruptive technologies in public law

Emergence of disruptive technologies represents a considerable challenge for governance and for public law in various jurisdictions. The prospective post-doctoral fellow will address either challenges, arising for governance of one particular disruptive technology (for example artificial intelligence, FinTech, hydrogen technologies etc.), or a cross-cutting topic, covering several of these technologies (for example permitting scenarios, regulatory sandboxes etc.). The prospective post-doc fellow is expected to publish results of her/his research in journals, indexed in either WoS, or Scopus databases. Also, she/he is expected to present the outcomes of research at international conferences, seminars and workshops. A precise publication strategy will be a clear benefit in the application procedure.

Workplace: Department of Administrative Law and Administrative Science, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: Prof. JUDr. Jakub Handrlica, Ph.D., LL.M., DSc. handrlic@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2024 (for 24 months)

4) Water Law and Protection in the Czech Republic and Israel (de lege lata and de lege ferenda) in the International and European Context

The research and the final monograph should be focused on the problems with the protection of water (both quantity as well as quality) in the valid legal regulations of Czechia and Israel. Israel is taken as the world leader in the water management and its legal regulation. The problems of the floods and dry seasons are general problems caused especially by the climate change. The monograph should be concentrated on the question of the good practice and its inspiration from the Czech Republic and whole EU. Both aspects - mitigation as well as adaptation of the water management and treatment - should be taken in account. The results may even be some drafts for the Czech and European legislation and decision making.

Workplace: Department of Environmental Law, Law Faculty of the Charles University, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor:  Prof. JUDr. Milan Damohorský, DrSc., damohors@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2024

5) Carpathian Convention and its application and enforcement in Czechia and Ukraine from the legal point of view

The research and the final monograph should be focused on the problems with the protection of forests, water, land, nature and landscape in the valid legal regulations of Czechia and Ukraine.

Both countries are the member parties of the Carpathian Convention (The Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians), adopted in Kyiv (May 2003 - this year we have the 20. anniversary) together with five other countries of the region (Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Serbia and Poland). Carpathian Convention is a good example of regional international cooperation of the sustainable developmentand management of one of the largest European mountain system (the total area of 190 000 km²).

 There are some troubles caused by climate change, bad forest management, tourism, water dry seasons etc. in the practice.

The monograph should be concentrated on the question of the good practice and its inspiration from the Czech Republic (western part of Carpathians Mountains) and Ukraine (the most eastern part of the Carpathian Mountains) and vice versa in Europe. Both aspects – legal regulation and its enforcement - should be taken in account. The results may be even some drafts for Ukraine (or vice versa) from the Czech and international law for its future legislation and decision making.

Workplace: Department of Environmental Law, Law Faculty of the Charles University, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor:  Prof. JUDr. Milan Damohorský, DrSc., damohors@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2024

6) The Conflict in Ukraine and Transitional Justice

The armed conflict in Ukraine, triggered by the acts of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, has brought about many violations of international law. There is a consensus among democratic States that those responsible for such violations must be held accountable and victims must be provided with adequate compensation. The criminal prosecution of perpetrators, both at the national and international level, other measures used within post-conflict settlement (vetting of individuals, etc.), as well as the ideal form of the compensation mechanism give however rise to many complex and complicated legal questions that are currently discussed by legal scholars and States alike. The task of the post-doc researcher would be to contribute to these discussions by carrying out high quality research of one or several of the institutions of transitional justice (to be) used with respect to the conflict in Ukraine.

Workplace: Department of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: Prof. JUDr. PhDr. Veronika Bílková, PhD., E.MA, bilkova@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2023 (for 24 months)

7) Crisis of the Rule of Law?

For more than a decade now, we have witnessed a serious rule of law backsliding in various countries of the world, including some of the EU members (especially Poland and Hungary). The process has revealed not only the insufficiency of the tools to counter the backsliding that the international community and its various actors (States, international organizations such as the EU) have at their disposal but also the lack of uniformity in the understanding of the rule of law concept. More prominently the concept features in the public and political space, less clear it is what it actually encompasses and how its state could be measured. The post-doc researcher will be expected to carry out original research related to the concept of the rule of law and its application with respect to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Workplace: Department of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: Prof. JUDr. PhDr. Veronika Bílková, PhD., E.MA, bilkova@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2023 (for 24 months)

8) Tax Fairness and Budgetary Determination of Shared Taxes

The topic deals with tax justice and the budgetary determination of shared taxes. The first part of the topic deals with both theoretical and practical aspects of the key element of fairness that should be reflected in practically all Czech tax law, especially in the area of income taxes. The research should focus on both horizontal and vertical tax justice. The second part of the topic is related to the preparation of an ideal model for the distribution of tax revenue between the individual public budgets. The main emphasis will be on the issue of tax sovereignty of municipalities and regions in relation to the model of fiscal federalism existing in the Czech Republic. Both parts of the topic are expected to be extensively compared with foreign legal systems in order to identify suitable concepts and models for the Czech legal environment.

Workplace: Department of Financial Law and Financial Science, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: JUDr. Petr Kotáb, Ph.D., kotabp@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2023 (for 24 months)

​​​​​​9) The influence of digitalisation on business entrepreneurship in Central Europe

Commercial law, especially the regulation of business and corporations, is currently affected by the massive wave of digitalization. A number of processes that are an integral part of business are moving from paper to digital.

An effort to eliminate the administrative burden, to strengthen cross-border activities and to increase the transparency and credibility of business, the registration of business authorisations, the formation of business corporations (in the spirit of the one-stop shop rule), the agenda of the business register,  the legal actions and decisions of entrepreneurs and their bodies (e.g. decisions of general meetings) or reporting duties are regulated by a number of Member States at the instigation of the European Union, but also on their own initiative.

The aim of this joint research by a foreign post-doc and members of the department (primarily post-docs) is to analyse the effectiveness (mainly in relation to transaction costs incurred by entrepreneurs, but also by the state when implementing the rules) and the necessity of these digitisation rules and measures, especially in the Czech Republic and other Central European countries.

Workplace: Department of Business Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: doc. JUDr. Daniel Patěk, Ph.D., patek@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2024 (for 24 months)

10) Implementing specific corporate governance rules from developed markets to post-socialist markets: does corporate governance really matter in Central Europe?

The rules of good corporate governance, especially for public joint stock companies, are already, according to the perception of the doctrine, an integral and established part of corporate law. However, in Central Europe, especially in the post-socialist countries, the development, state and enforcement of these rules is miles behind such developed capital markets as the British, German and French markets. One of the main reasons why this is the case is the historical experience of investors (linked to so-called coupon privatisation in Czechoslovakia, Poland or Hungary) and the weakened confidence in capital markets. For this reason, a number of changes that have been or are to be implemented into corporate and capital market law, particularly at the instigation of the European Union, pose significant problems and cause numerous embarrassments. The soft law rules and the rules contained in the Corporate Governance Code also exhibit a number of specificities. On the other hand, it should be taken into account that the functioning of joint-stock companies across legal systems, apart from established organisational differences, has a number of basically identical elements (such as the appearance of a principal-agent problem).

The aim of this joint research by a foreign post-doc and members of the department (primarily post-docs) is to analyse to what extent the rules transferred from developed capital markets to legal systems and best practices in post-socialist countries are implementable, feasible and functional. The project aims to assess whether the historical experience and specificities of post-socialist countries require a specific, idiosyncratic approach.

Workplace: Department of Business Law, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Contact/supervisor: doc. JUDr. Daniel Patěk, Ph.D., patek@prf.cuni.cz

Position available from: January 1, 2024 (for 24 months)