About the Project
This fully funded PhD studentship, supported by the AHRC MusicFutures Creative Cluster at the University of Liverpool, invites innovative research on music rights data, intellectual property and the digital music ecosystem. The successful candidate will develop an original project while helping translate research into practical metadata capability for music businesses.
The studentship involves working with the MusicFutures research team and 27 industry partners to examine the legal and policy challenges surrounding music rights data in the digital music ecosystem. The project explores how intellectual property frameworks accommodate — or obstruct — innovation in the creation, management and exchange of music metadata, and how rights information can be more accurately attributed, tracked and remunerated under UK law, with a focus on ownership and transparency in rights data. The research would be conducted under the joint supervision of Dr Sabine Jacques, at MusicFutures, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool and Dr Georgia Jenkins, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool.
The successful candidate will undertake their PhD at the University of Liverpool and contribute to the MusicFutures Clinic and Lab. The PhD will commence in January 2027 and will be undertaken on a full-time basis (3 years).
Description:
MusicFutures is an AHRC-funded programme hosted by the University of Liverpool. It brings together academics, music-sector organisations and creative industry partners to support inclusive, sustainable and R&D-led innovation and business development in the Liverpool City Region. Operating from a hub at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool (LEX campus), it empowers SMEs and entrepreneurs to innovate, attract investment, scale up and adopt inclusive and sustainable practices.
Music rights data is an important practical, legal and policy issue within the digital music ecosystem. The UK Intellectual Property Office’s Music Streaming Metadata Mapping Report (2026) identifies ongoing difficulties in the creation, exchange and use of music metadata across the supply chain, including incomplete or inconsistent information to connect recordings, musical woks and contributors. These problems can affect attribution, licensing, discoverability and remuneration with particular consequences for independent creators and SMEs.
This studentship invites applicants to propose an original PhD project that examines the relationship between intellectual property law, rights information and innovation in the music sector. Applicants are encouraged to define a focused research question and methodological approach that aligns with the broad themes of music rights data, ownership, attribution, transparency, governance, remuneration, creative labour and technological change. Possible areas of inquiry might include:
- The legal character, control and governance of music rights data and identifiers.
- The role and limitations of copyright, performers’ rights, moral rights, contract and data governance in supporting accurate attribution and payment.
- The legal and policy implications of voluntary metadata standards, industry coordination and technical infrastructure.
- Rights data challenges arising from collaborative, platform-based or AI-assisted music creation.
- Comparative approaches to music metadata, collective rights management and digital rights infrastructure.
- The distributional effects of deficient rights information for independent, under-represented or less-resourced creators.
- The relationship between rights-data literacy, business capability and participation in the digital music economy.
The project may adopt doctrinal, socio-legal, comparative, empirical or interdisciplinary methods. Depending on the candidate’s research design, it may involve engagement with creators, right-holders, collective management organisations, distributors, labels, platforms, policymakers or other relevant stakeholders. The successful candidate will be supported to develop an independent programme of research that makes an original contribution to legal scholarship and offers practical insights for the music sector.
Alongside their doctoral research, the candidate will work with the MusicFutures team and partners to design, pilot and evaluate a certificated metadata competency scheme for music businesses with the Intellectual Property Office. This will be modelled on safety and cyber-security passports already familiar with employers, as recommended in the IPO’s report. The candidate will draw on their research to contribute to sector-facing materials and knowledge-exchange activities.
In year one, the candidate will undertake doctoral training through the School of Law and Social Justice (e.g. legal, empirical and qualitative methods, ethics and data management). They will refine their research question, complete a literature review, develop their methodology and secure relevant ethical approval, while becoming embedded in the MusicFutures Clinic and Lab. Year two centres on the candidate’s independent research, where relevant, fieldwork, analysis and collaboration on the competency scheme. Year three will focus on thesis completion, evaluation of the competency scheme alongside academic, policy and sector-facing outputs. The PhD will be jointly supervised by Dr Sabine Jacques and Dr Georgia Jenkins.
Eligibility:
You’ll typically need to hold both of the following:
- A UK undergraduate degree (BA or LLB) at 2:1 or above, or overseas equivalent, in a relevant subject
- A UK master’s degree, or overseas equivalent, preferably in Law (LLM).
You'll need to demonstrate competence in the use of English language, unless you’re from a majority English speaking country.
Open to international applicants but will be funded at the Home Fee level.
Applications:
Email application documents to slsjpgr@liverpool.ac.uk by the deadline date and time.
Prepare your application documents
You may need the following documents to complete your online application:
- A research proposal (this should cover the research you’d like to undertake)
- University transcripts and degree certificates to date
- Passport details
- English language certificates (international applicants only)
- A personal statement
- A curriculum vitae (CV)
- Names and contact details of two referees.
- Confirmation that you would be willing and available to receive training and supervision at the University of Liverpool according to the needs of the project.
- A 2000-word paper (including a 300-word abstract) considering what legal obligations, if any, apply to businesses handling music rights metadata, and whether voluntary certification could meaningfully improve compliance.
Please apply by sending the required documents to slsjpgr@liverpool.ac.uk in an email titled ‘Music Futures Studentship Application’. Please do NOT apply via the online portal until you are shortlisted and instructed to do so.
Application deadline:
15th October for submission of application (5pm).
Interviews to take place week commencing 02nd November 2026.
Start date: January 2027
Funding Notes
This PhD studentship will sit within the MusicFutures projects which is externally funded by the AHRC and will run through to February 2030.
The funding is provided by the School of Law and Social Justice, it will cover fees (at UK home rate) and an annual stipend (at UKRI rate) and will be awarded to the applicant selected by the interview panel, subject to successfully completing the formal UoL PhD application process. The successful applicant will also have access to an annual personal conference allowance, in line with other Law PhD candidates within the department.
Project supervisors
Dr. Sabine Jacques
Dr Sabine Jacques joined the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool in 2023 as a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law. Her research focuses on the balance between freedom of expression and intellectual property rights, promoting cultural diversity in creative industries through copyright, and the interface between copyright and artificial intelligence. Prior to her appointment at Liverpool, Dr Jacques gained recognition for her legal and interdisciplinary projects, including contributions to notable works such as 'The Parody Exception in Copyright Law' (Oxford University Press, 2019), 'The Playing Field in Audiovisual Advertising' (CERRE-funded project, 2019), and 'The Impact on Cultural Diversity of Automated Anti-Piracy Systems as Copyright Enforcement Mechanisms: An Empirical Study of YouTube’s Content ID Digital Fingerprinting Technology' (CREATe funded project, 2017). Currently, she serves as project co-lead for the £6.75m UKRI Creative Cluster initiative, MusicFutures, which aims to enhance Liverpool’s global reputation for music business and innovation. Dr Jacques is also involved in developing guidelines for judicial practice regarding humour and free speech jurisprudence, funded by the Dutch Research Council. Her work has been cited in EU Advocate General's opinions and quoted by the UK's Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. In 2024, she was named an expert by Columbia Global Freedom of Expression and serves as an expert analyst for the EU Law Live project. Dr Jacques is a member of the forum for Humor and the Law, where she engages with legal and humour scholars, artists, and comedians on the relationship between humour and law. In addition to her research, she is passionate about teaching and has co-edited 'Teaching Intellectual Property Law: Strategy and Management' (Edward Elgar, 2023). She developed the innovative IP revision game 'IntangAbility' to enhance learning experiences in intellectual property. Furthermore, she is a visiting lecturer at Maastricht University and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia. Dr Jacques is the University of Liverpool's contact for the Pan-European Seal Programme, which aims to bridge the gap between academia and the professional world in various fields, including intellectual property. She welcomes media inquiries and has provided insights to prominent outlets such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, BBC, and L’Echo on topics related to intellectual property law.
Dr Georgia Jenkins
Dr Georgia Jenkins is a Lecturer in Law at Liverpool Law School and serves as the Director of the intellectual property (IP) law LLM programme. She studied law at the University of Western Australia and completed her LLM in IP law at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Dr Jenkins has practical experience, having worked as a trainee at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante. In 2023, she was awarded a PhD by QMUL, focusing on platform liability and user-generated content in the EU. This research is the basis for her forthcoming book titled 'Creative Reuse'. Dr Jenkins’ research interests lie at the intersection of IP and public interests, particularly in areas such as creativity, competition, and cultural heritage. Current research topics include generative AI and authorship remuneration, platform liability/responsibility and freedom of expression, as well as semiotic disobedience and trade mark law.
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