Kent Law School is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to undertake funded doctoral research in the emerging field of law, design and technology.
The PhD Research Studentship in Legal Design, New Technology and Human Values, is offered in association with the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship project led by Dr Connal Parsley.
This studentship invites prospective doctoral researchers to devise their own PhD research project, on a topic at the intersection of new information technologies, designed legal systems and processes, and changing approaches to norms, values, decision quality or evaluation.
New information technologies like automated decision-making are becoming increasingly central to legal systems. Attention is turning to their potential to affect those systems’ fundamental features, driven by a growing awareness of how technology can ‘design in’ values. On the one hand, new technologies impact legal concepts and norms, disrupt institutional processes and practices, and sometimes challenge long-held ideas about law and the values it is presumed to uphold. Yet on the other, design-focused approaches might catalyse improved legal and political processes for the era of digital democracy.
This studentship presents the opportunity to pursue a funded programme of doctoral research within this general field. Research proposals are particularly encouraged to take a critical, historical, or theoretical approach, bringing research paradigms from the humanities and social sciences to bear on the pressing questions currently facing law and government.
The studentship, based at Kent Law School, will commence in September 2023, on a three years full-time or five years part-time basis. Tuition fees are covered at the standard postgraduate rate, plus an annual maintenance stipend of £17,668. The deadline for applications is 16 February 2023, 29:59 GMT, with interviews being held in March 2023. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to arrange an informal 15-minute conversation about their research proposal, prior to submitting an application, with Dr Connal Parsley.
Further details about the studentship and how to apply can be found on the University’s scholarships page.
Notes
- Kent Law School (KLS), one of the UK’s leading law schools. It was ranked 2nd in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), with a scholarly environment judged as supporting world-leading research.
- The University of Kent offers a rich environment for interdisciplinary research. Kent’s ‘Future Human’ Signature Research Theme brings together established and junior scholars and doctoral researchers working on how science and technology affect future human development, including on the theme of automated decision-making.
- Dr Connal Parsley on LinkedIn.
- Search for a range of PhD Research Studentships offered at Kent.