PhD candidate in Access, Actors and Accountability: The Role of Researchers in AI Governance

organisational frameworks to enable their work, while protecting their safety and academic freedom. If you want to help doing so, this position might be for you.

Join Us!
Access, Actors and Accountability: The Role of Researchers in AI Governance

Governing AI systems and digital platforms, identifying systemic risks and developing adequate policy responses is complex and requires research and expertise. In the new European Digital Framework, researchers are central stakeholder ins AI and platform governance, and regulations like the DSA and the AI Act, define prominent roles for them to produce evidence, audit big tech companies and public bodies, monitor the way AI technology impacts society and help to ensure transparency and accountability. At the same time, this role comes with new challenges for academic freedom, navigating dependencies on regulators and large technology companies, being meaningfully involved and heard, and sometimes even having to navigate issues around safety against personal attacks and threats to their safety. At the same time, the ability of independent researchers to study platforms and AI systems often depends on research exemptions and access rights, and so does the evidence base available to regulators.

This is what you will do

This doctoral project examines the legal position of researchers under the DSA and AI Act, and the research exemptions, safeguards and policy processes needed to allow independent researchers to generate evidence for regulatory learning and anticipatory governance without eroding legality or academic freedom. This research combines doctrinal, normative and comparative research with interviews (with academics, policy makers, civil society and other societal stakeholders) and participatory research to co-design how research exemptions and researcher-regulator feedback loops can be designed and operationalised. The work will build an evaluative analysis of exemption scope and adequacy, a typology of enablers and obstacles to researcher–policy engagement, and concrete proposals how to enable policy research while protecting academic freedom.

You will work on a legal PhD thesis at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam, as part of the REGULAIRE project. The PhD will provide the opportunity to contribute to the activities of the DSA Observatory, the AI, Media & Democracy Lab and the Amsterdam Law School Sectorplan initiative Democratic Digital Transformation (2026-2031) and offers a focused route into information law, platform and AI regulation.

About REGULAIRE

REGULAIRE (Regulatory Learning for the Governance of Transformative Technologies) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network bringing together 15 doctoral candidates at ten European universities to study how regulation can learn to govern transformative technologies such as AI, quantum computing and neurotechnology. Its projects examine how regulators sense emerging problems early, how balanced interventions encourage learning without overcorrection or underreaction, how such interventions alter institutional capacities, and how feedback can be institutionalised so that insights travel across organisations and jurisdictions. Across the network, regulatory learning means treating regulation as a learning architecture that generates, tests and refines knowledge about what works, rather than as one-off rulemaking. Each researcher joins an international cohort, receives supervision across institutions and takes part in three residential summer schools, methods workshops, monthly paper development seminars and joint work with regulators, standardisation bodies and international organisations. Every project includes a planned three-month intersectoral secondment. The network is coordinated by Prof. Urs Gasser at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

More specifically, you are expected to:

• Refine the 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 project-specific methods.
• Complete a doctoral thesis and related research outputs under the doctoral programme and the REGULAIRE plan.
• Take part in local and network-wide training, cohort activities, network reviews, dissemination and practitioner engagement, including three residential summer schools and monthly paper development seminars.
• Undertake the planned three-month intersectoral secondment with EDMO – The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), Florence, Italy.
• Contribute to the research and activities of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab and the DSA Observatory.
• Contribute to research integrity, equality and diversity, open science and FAIR data practices.

What we ask of you

• A Master's degree (or an equivalent qualification giving access to doctoral studies) in law, political science, media and communication studies, or related legal, social science and interdisciplinary fields, completed by the start date.
• A demonstrable interest in studying the relationship of law to digital technologies and services;
• Skills or a demonstrable interest in qualitative research, such as interviews and participatory design.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Willingness to engage in international mobility, including the planned secondment and network-wide activities.
• Fulfilment of the MSCA eligibility conditions listed below.
• A creative mind and strong critical and analytical skills;
• Collegial attitude and capacity to work not only independently but also in teams;
• Ability and willingness to organize workshops, lectures, and similar events (demonstrable experience with these activities a plus).

If the vacancy appeals to you, but you are doubting whether you might be THE person we are looking for, please do apply? We encourage all qualified applicants, including minorities, women, people with disabilities, and members of other groups underrepresented in academia. We wish to create a research group that consists of persons who each contribute in their unique way to the team. Complementarity and not homogeneity is what we are looking for.

Supervision, training and mobility

Your supervision team will consist of Supervision team: Prof. Natali Helberger (University of Amsterdam), Prof. Joris van Hoboken (University of Amsterdam), an external supervisor from the REGULAIRE project network, and a sectoral mentor at the anticipated secondment host.

The secondment enables the candidate to observe how a research-based civil society organisation engages in policy research, challenges involved and possible best practices. The candidate will be part of a supervisory team consisting of the primary supervisor at the host institution, an academic co-supervisor at a partner institution in another country, and a sectoral mentor at the secondment host. Candidates meet the primary supervisor at least monthly and the full team at least four times per year; progress and training are recorded in a personal Career Development Plan. Network-wide training includes three residential summer schools (regulatory learning and foresight at TUM; methods and analytics at BI Norwegian Business School; academic writing and impact at the University of St. Gallen), monthly paper development seminars, and annual network reviews aligned with major community events. Candidates obtain a minimum of twenty ECTS through local and network-wide training, of which at least ten from network-wide provision.

This is what we offer you

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 12 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is January 1st 2027. This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 3.204 to € 4.051 (scale P). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile 'PhD student' is applicable. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable. The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

What else do we offer

• a position where own initiative and input are highly valued;
• an enthusiastic and dynamic team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international working environment in the heart of Amsterdam.

You will work in this team

The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 39,000 students, 6,000 …